Debate Or Debacle, Democracy Dazzles

True democracy is progressively dynamic. It is healthy if it keeps improving; sick if it deteriorates.

- Ameen Izzadeen

A healthy democracy entails a political system where citizens have the right to choose or replace governments, while elected leaders respect and encourage the people’s active participation in political and civil life by upholding the rule of law, human rights, free speech, good governance principles such as transparency and accountability. This is basic democracy.

But much more can and should be done to make democracy stronger and healthier in a democratic nation’s march towards high levels of political development. The level of development of any nation cannot be measured by economic indicators alone. Rather, it needs to be assessed also by a nation’s social, cultural, political, and moral progress. Political debates indeed are an indicator of a high level of political development in a state. They certainly contribute towards the health of a democracy. Advanced democracies such as the United States, Canada, Britain, Australia, and Germany have made it a key feature of their political process, while some developing nations such as Chile, Argentina, and Mexico also conduct leaders’ debates during elections. In Asia, the only two countries that have adopted this democracy-promoting feature are Iran and the Philippines.