Mudabicara.com_ The indirect democratic system is one of the implementations of a democratic political system based on channeling the will of the people.
In practice channeling the aspirations of the people, a democratic government system uses two methods, namely direct democracy and indirect democracy.
Now! This time, Mudabicara will review in depth what indirect democracy means , starting from its meaning and characteristics. For more, see the following reviews:
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What Is Indirect Democracy?
The closest explanation to indirect democracy comes from a political expert named Charles Frederick Strong or better known as CF Strong .
CF Strong gives the notion that democracy is a system of government in which there is a representative council from the community.
The representative council is fully active politically based on a representation system with duties and functions as check and balancing , supervision and budgeting for the government so that the government is able to be responsible for all government activities.
Therefore, indirect democracy is a democratic system in which the voices of the people’s aspirations are channeled through representative institutions.
In practice, indirect democracy is suitable for use as a political system in modern countries with large territories and large and multi-ethnic populations.
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General elections are a space for people to channel their aspirations and elect a representative council that will represent their political voice.
Unfortunately, in an indirect democracy , political participation is only counted in numbers or nominally, so that the community is often not involved in policy decisions.
Therefore, the people cannot have the opportunity to openly determine their rights as citizens in politics.
And not infrequently the aspirations of the people are not fully accommodated in the form of decisions and policies that favor the public interest.
In democracy there are several standard principles that must become a shared understanding, namely recognition of human rights, separation or division of powers, government according to law, constitutional guarantees of individual rights, including procedures.
Then a judiciary that is free and does not vote, free elections and political togetherness, freedom of expression, freedom of association and position and finally political or civic education.
All of the above principles should be the guideline for all citizens in living social and community life.
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Thus the aspired democracy in order to realize a just and prosperous society can be realized properly and quickly.
In the ideal of democracy, all forms of interest are aimed at the people, by the people and for the people so that the narrative of power above the people’s sovereignty should really be created.
Characteristics of Indirect Democracy
1. Political Parties
In an indirect democracy, political parties are an important element in the development of democracy. The function and role of political parties is as a vehicle for candidates for the council to sit as members of the representative council.
Usually a person who will sit as a member of the council must meet the criteria for the minimum number of voters in an electoral district.
If a person does not reach the number of votes, then he is considered not meeting the prerequisite criteria as a member of the representative council.
On the other hand, in a democracy every citizen has the opportunity to become a candidate for a contestant, but in an indirect democracy the conditions for becoming a contestant must go through a political party.
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If there are people who run independently, they usually have political strength and a qualified figure, and even then when they enter elections, they are not necessarily elected.
In addition to being a vehicle, political parties also function as a forum for political education for the public to understand democracy in its ideas and practices.
2. Honest, Fair and Free General Elections
As a form of openness in the democratic process, elections must be based on the principles of honesty, fairness and freedom. This is so that democracy runs in a transparent and accountable manner.
Elections are usually likened to a people’s party so that every citizen has the same opportunity to express their aspirations and interests.
Apart from that, elections are a forum for people’s politics in channeling their aspirations by voting for one of the candidates for members of the council.
3. Has a Wide Area
The practice of indirect democracy usually occurs in countries that have large territories. This is so that every aspiration is easily accommodated based on the proposal of the members of the representative council.
On the other hand, a country with a large area certainly has a variety of interests so that in order to facilitate decision making, an appropriate system is indirect democracy.
4. The Number of People Many and Multi Ethnic
In a complex society situation sometimes decision making and policies are so complicated because they have to accommodate every wish and interest of various parties.
Therefore, indirect democracy is suitable as a scheme for accommodating interests and forming policies through council meetings.
If the number of people is large and multi-ethnic but uses direct democracy, it is prone to conflict horizontally and has reached consensus deliberation.
5. Requires High Costs
Indirect democracy requires a lot of costs because it requires electoral and supervisory institutions in elections both at the national and regional levels.
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Even though in the digital era like today, there is a possibility that the structure and infrastructure in elections are digitally based. However, in certain countries digital narratives cannot be used because they are still constrained by internet equity.
6. Vulnerable Paradox of Interest
In an indirect democratic system , political parties have a vital role in conducting political education. Political parties as political institutions are obliged to provide training and insight into how ideally democracy takes place.
However, in practice, political parties experience a paradox in fighting for the interests of the people, is it really true for the interests of the people or only for the interests of the voices of political parties.
Moreover, in the practice of indirect democracy, it is not uncommon for various political parties to exist, so of course it results in political negotiations that are conditional on interests.
7. Decisions and Policies Based on the Will of the People
In democracy all forms of decisions and policies should be based on the full and binding will of the people.
Indirect democracy that is carried out using this representative system does not involve the community directly in the policy-making process.
However, in practice each representative council has to go down and often meet with the community so that they know the wants and needs of the community directly.
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Even worse, political party institutions have experienced democratization in the absence of a democratic replacement of general chairmen because they tend to be feudal and dynastic politics emerge.
So many explanations about indirect democracy this time, hopefully it will become a place for young friends to talk in studying political science. See you in the next discussion, happy reading!