Future of Democracy in Asia
Democracy
The word ‘democracy’ comes from a Greek which means ‘rule by the people.’ It’s used to describe a system of government where power is held by the citizens. They can impact important decisions, either directly or through the people they elect.
Democracy is based on freedom and equality between all people. It aims to protect the best interests of the people, regardless of their race, gender, sexuality, religion or political opinion.
Variable graphs have been prepared to compare three countries, namely, Philippines, South Korea, and Taiwan, in terms of the five V-dem indices: deliberative, egalitarian, electoral, liberal, and participatory.
Deliberative Democracy Index
The Deliberative Democracy is a type of democracy in which the deliberation is central to decision-making. It adopts elements of both consensus decision-making and majority rule. In the graph shown above, we can see that the Philippines has a rather stable index compared to South Korea and Taiwan which we can see as they increase in the late 90s to the early 20s.
Egalitarian Democracy Index
The Egalitarian Democracy is a type of democracy that builds on the theorized notion that individuals from all social groups ought to be equally capable of exercising their political rights and freedoms, and of influencing political and governing processes. We can see that the Philippines has a stable graph but is mainly on the lower half of the index which we can imply that we do not have any intention on gaining equality throughout our selves. While both the South Korea and Taiwan have increased dramatically which we can say that they put on effort on giving equality to everyone.
Electoral Democracy Index
The Electoral Democracy is a type of democracy based on election, on electoral vote, as modern occidental or liberal democracies. We can see that all three countries have shown a great increase in the early 90s and Taiwan being a little late which increased in the late 90s. This may pertain that modern voting systems has shown its effectivity to provide proper and fair elections for its citizens.
Liberal Democracy Index
The Liberal Democracy is a type of democracy in which its citizens abide to the law and in return the leader of their country, President, Prime Minister, etc., are constitutionally constrained to respect individual rights. We can see that South Korea has greatly increased in the start of the early 90s while Taiwan is a little bit late but is now on par with Korea, which may pertain to these countries giving great effort in respecting the individual rights of their citizens, while the Philippines which shows minimal change and is further declining.
Participatory Democracy Index
Participatory democracy or participative democracy emphasizes the broad participation of constituents in the direction and operation of political systems. We can see in this graph that all three countries show similar trends but South Korea and Taiwan both are currently above the middle mark.
What now is the future of democracy in Asia?
We can see that although there are countries with minimal changes like the Philippines, on average, all countries have shown growth in terms of the five V-dem indices. This may imply that democracy has been an effective form of government to a nation or country. The participation of the citizens towards governing the country is advantage of democracy as it is directly affected by the will and the needs of its citizens rather than a lineage which rules a nation or county.
