Knowledge Management English Debating Society Universitas Indonesia Internal Division DEMOCRACY

Democracy is a system of governance that seeks to maximize accountability, representation and participation. Accountability means that at every level there is some sort of oversight and everyone is answerable to someone. Basically, its what people mean by check and balance. So the lower houses of both state and federal parliament, (the government at least), are held accountable to their upper houses, and the whole parliament is answerable to the people every 3-6 years when there are elections. Plus the decisions of parliament can be scrutinized by the court system, in accordance with the constitution-which is enforced by the high court and the governor general. But the courts themselves are also accountable. Firstly the judges are picked by the parliament and can be sacked by them too. Plus the constitution can be changed by the people via a referendum (or in some jurisdictions by a simple act of parliament) and the courts can usually only interpret lawsn, not create them. In short, its called representation. Representation refers to the fact that democracy is a system where leaders derive their credibility, their mandate, directly from the people. Finally, participation. Participation is the most basic and important principle of democracy. Its so crucial because it underpins the other two principles a good participation is when everyone deserves a vote and all votes should have equal weight. There are several types of democracy that has been used around the world. Liberal democracy, social democracy, and guided democracy. Liberal democracy is a form of government in which representative democracy operates under the principles of liberalism. It is characterized by fair, free, and competitive elections between multiple distinct political parties, a separation of powers into different branches of government, the rule of law in everyday life as part of an open society, and the equal protection of human rights, civil rights, civil liberties, and political freedoms for all persons. To define the system in

practice, liberal democracies often draw upon a constitution, either formally written or uncodified, to delineate the powers of government and enshrine the social contract. Liberal democracies usually have universal suffrage, granting all adult citizens the right to vote regardless of race, gender or property ownership. Historically, however, some countries regarded as liberal democracies have had a more limited franchise, and some do not have secret ballots. There may also be qualifications such as voters being required to register before being allowed to vote. The decisions made through elections are made not by all of the citizens, but rather by those who choose to participate by voting. A liberal democracy may take various constitutional forms: it may be a constitutional republic, such as France, Germany, India, Ireland, Italy, or the United States, or a constitutional monarchy, such as Japan, Spain, or the United Kingdom. It may have a presidential system (Argentina, Brazil, Mexico, the United States), a semi-presidential system (France and Taiwan), or a parliamentary system (Australia, Canada, India, New Zealand, Poland, the United Kingdom). Social democracy is a political ideology that considers itself to be a form of reformist democratic socialism It advocates for a peaceful, evolutionary transition of the economy to socialism through progressive social reform of capitalism. It asserts that the only acceptable constitutional form of government is representative democracy under the rule of law. It promotes extending democratic decision-making beyond political democracy to include economic democracy to guarantee employees and other economic stakeholders sufficient rights of co-determination. It supports a mixed economy that opposes the excesses of capitalism such as inequality, poverty, and oppression of various groups, while rejecting both a totally free market or a fully planned economy. Common social democratic policies include advocacy of universal social rights to attain universally accessible public services such as education, health care, workers' compensation, and other services including child care and care for the elderly. Social democracy is connected with the trade union labour movement and supports collective bargaining rights for workers. Most social democratic parties are affiliated with the Socialist International. Guided democracy, also called managed democracy, is a term for a democratic government with increased autocracy. Governments are legitimated

by elections that are free and fair but emptied of substantive meaning in their ability to change the State's policies, motives, and goals. In other words, the government has learned to control elections so that the people can exercise all their rights without truly changing public policy. While they follow basic democratic principles, there can be major deviations towards authoritarianism. Under managed democracy, the electorate is prevented from having a significant impact on policies adopted by the State's continuous use of propaganda techniques. The term was first for Indonesia, but it is now also widely employed in Russia, Other examples include Hungary under Viktor Orban. Sources : Monash Debater first principles Wikipedia