Democratic Debate: A Comparative Study of Presidential and Parliamentary Systems in Southeast Asia

With the rapid rise in democracies around the world, the debate over the structure of government has become increasingly relevant and more complex. The dominance of the presidential and parliamentary democratic systems has given rise to a dispute regarding public representation over governmental efficiency and vice versa. As the very essence of democracy is “rule by the people”, the effectiveness of a democratic state can theoretically be measured through factors that are conducive to the people’s ability to effectively give their opinion on political matters. These factors include the political rights that allow a person to vote and to what degree elections are free and fair, civil liberties such as freedom of expression and the press, and access to information, most often through the internet, and to what degree this information is censored. This study will analyze the effectiveness of these two main styles of democracy through these factors by using data from the non-profit organization Freedom House.