Freedom and Democracy in Asia and Europe: Facts and Feelings

Freedom and Democracy in Asia and Europe: Facts and Feelings 

 

escrito por Dini Harmita

 

Abstract

 

This paper is aimed at summarising the process of freedom and democracy in Asia and Europe; given that it’s in the passage not the destination that defines them most. Thus since it’s difficult to measure results in summaries, this paper is summarising the process instead. The methodology of this research is purely literature review. 

 

Key words: Freedom, Democracy, Asia, Europe

 

In the sciences of the brain, reality is often confused because we tend to want to believe what we want to believe. If literature says a villain will be defeated by the army of horses in the current time we will not translate it in that way. Pinzan (2022)mentioned that feelings are produced by facts, including respect and freedom. When facts are related to democracy, fake news becomes one of the mediators (Giusti and Piras, 2020). 

 

To judge or assess whether a news is fake or real requires the determination to understand it as a feeling, fact, or both. One can say that it’s not fake news simply because he or she doesn’t want it to be the truth. Nonetheless, the feelings produced by the news are real, whatever the feelings are. The joys because of winning an election are real. The pain because of being framed is real. The trauma in democracy because of having zero freedom is real. The research is aimed at understanding the process. 

 

Freedom and Democracy in Asia and Europe

 

When civilians don’t like their countries they want to leave. When employees don’t like their jobs they want to quit. When parents don’t like their children they spend time outside and vice versa. Their freedom is challenged by a set of rules enacted formally, non-formally, and or informally in their entities or social units.

 

In South Asia, Nepal represents the cases of where freedom was taken from the people three decades ago for the epic and classic reason: oppression. Hutt (2020) mentioned that democracy facilitates their freedom by giving them more reasons to stay in the country. Nonetheless, it depends on the leaders in sustaining employment.

 

Bangladesh has been led by a woman leader since 15 years ago yet the children are still the main laborers in mining sectors there. To be fully democratic one regime should understand that the possibility of corruption, collusion, cartelisation, and nepotism is higher when the dynasty families keep ruling. It is not only happening in Bangladesh (Blair, 2020), but also in Indonesia (Kenawas, 2023), and other parts of Asia (Teehankee, Chambers, and Echle, 2023). 

 

Representative democracy is represented through participation in electoral systems. One of the main actors or institutions is a political party. The challenges consist at least of money (Casal Bértoa, 2017), public funding (Casal Bértoa and Rama, 2022), militant democracy (Bourne and Casal Bértoa, 2017), Party Institutionalisation and Party System Institutionalisation (Casal Bértoa, Enyedi, and Mölder, 2023), trust (Casal Bértoa and van Biezen, 2014), and direct presidential elections (Casal Bértoa and Weber, 2024). 

 

Asia might be later than Europe in enjoying the freedom to vote their leaders, nonetheless their experiences are beyond because of the occupations of authoritarianism and populism. What makes Asia a natural laboratory of democracy is simply because of the diversities. Borrowing Bourdieu’s classifications of capitals (1986), socially Asians are institutionalised in the exchange of knowledge and acquisitions even through an informal saving group activity such as arisan. Economically they survive even by only owning herbal drinks on their shoulders to sell from door to door. Culturally perhaps they are not educated because they don’t have parents to guide them but they have their own pride not to get food to eat for free. Symbolically-politically, most of them are trapped by neoliberalism. 

 

Europeans are the same, at least similar. They build platforms to communicate research, education, and development. They live longer indicated by their freedom to choose their health packages. They’re very civilised thus must be educated formally, non-formally, and informally. Nonetheless, they couldn’t free themselves from the neoliberalism trap either.

 

Current challenges brought by migration hit Europe in its ways including in Danish freedom within groups especially families (Rusten, 2022). As one of Scandinavian countries with a constantly high freedom index, Danish sounds more flexible than other Europeans. Several incidents concerning religions in the past tend to be resolved peacefully. 

 

Mamonova and Franquesa (2019) analysed European contexts in explaining the relationship between neoliberalism and politics. From their multiple cases they concluded that right-wing populists tend to be the causes of neoliberalism.

 

Drawing from development theories, neoliberalism is accumulation between westernisation and dependencies. Currently it’s institutionalised in the forms of exchanges through platforms that allow the fake news and cyberattacks to grow. The objective is no longer to become like western but to get what the subjects want. The goal in the electoral system is to win because winning is not everything but the only thing (A Good Year, 2006).

 

Facts and Feelings 

 

Neoliberalism is something too macro to explain by feelings thus it helps to understand the facts first. Understanding facts makes us realise that for the majority the skies are blue but for the minorities the skies could be pink. 

 

This paper is not aimed at understanding neoliberalism but to comprehend the facts and feelings in freedom and democracy. Bohman (2004) suggests that facts in democracy could be understood more from points of view of deliberative democracy. 

 

Deliberative democracy is represented by policies. Nonetheless, the facts of deliberative democracy says that the enactment of rules of law tends to ignore the implementations even in the process of the formulation itself. Thus Ostrom (1990)beautifully explained several processes of participatory democracy where the people could also govern the commons, not only the governments. 

 

Nonetheless, scholars and experts must agree that a generalisation built upon individuals as entities requires more work; because each of us is unique. A child with autistic perhaps would even say that the sky is purple. 

 

To relate natural sciences with the social facts thus becomes essential. The skies are generally blue because of the Tyndall effects’ length wave (Raghuprasad, 2017). When it’s covered by ozone the layers can make it less or more blue. The combinations could make it pink or purple. Nevertheless, the eyes of the people also influence the colours. The view of the exact sky at the exact time could be different when our eyes are sick and healthy, when we are sleepy or wide awake. 

 

The feelings produced by those facts also vary. The sky is blue but I saw it purple in the morning because an insect hit my eyes prior and my nephew said it was pink because he saw a glimpse of sun in between. The statement represents facts no matter what the colour of the sky.

 

I am feeling content because everyone understands that we can see the sky colours differently. In this context, the feelings I wrote become facts. It will be ensured and confirmed more with another fact: my lips and eyes were smiling sincerely when I said or wrote it. 

 

In freedom and democracy it’s also applied. Thus in the process of developing participation as the main fiesta in any kind of democracy it’s essential to respect different perspectives (Harmita, 2009). 

 

To what extent 

 

Only God has unlimited patience, nonetheless as the creations we must have it too though only a little. This is how the rule of law shall play the roles.

 

When a community could only earn a maximum £50 per month it’s impossible to punish them with a £55 fine for stealing chicken while the oligarchs from the same society could escape billions of charges simply by bribing the politicians or polices. 

 

Thus though it takes time and energy, as part of collaborative management planning in formulating the rule of law it’s important to involve related sides from the policy formulation. It’s also essential to harmonise the policies from every level; both for and with the majorities and minorities (Harmita, 2021). It reduces the possibilities of further conflicts. 

 

In political parties and democracy, Harmita (2022) drew lessons from the rise and fall in Asia. Even in a very specific type of democracy such as religion based democracy the mutual respect towards different perspectives is encouraged. Every one of us would say that it should be a freedom for everyone to say yes or no; not the money nor the owner of the funds. Even the freedom to be asked feels so surreal recently.

 

Conclusion

 

Feelings are also facts. As scholars and experts we should be the ones who sound it. Thus plagiarism checks for qualitative methodology research should be differentiated from the qualitative one including from one mixed methodology research. In terms of freedom and democracy this is essential to explain the micro-fact of individuals. It will help us to understand the meso and macro parts like interactions, changes, and systems between and in larger entities and universes.