Yogyakarta, October 23rd 2020—IRCCT INKA KOMAHI cooperated with Scandinavian Community (Scanity) UGM held a discussion to discuss social democracy from the United States and Scandinavian’s point of view. The topic was raised because in the United States, ideas about social democracy have increased in popularity in recent years. Figures like Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren, and various other United States progressive Democrats have also come up with ideas such as The Green New Deal and Universal Basic Income.
Meanwhile, the Scandinavian countries themselves are the references of the application of social democracy. The success of Scandinavian countries which were measured by various indicators made other countries, including the United States of America, want to adopt the same system. Entitled The Rise of Social Democracy: An American versus a Scandinavian Experience, this discussion presented Dr. Nanang Kurniawan, as the lecturer of the Department of Politics and Government UGM and Siti Kurniati Rasad, S.Hum., M.A., an alumna of postgraduate of American Studies, as the speakers.
Opened at 01.30 p.m., this discussion which was held on Google Meet was begun by a short material from moderator and was continued by the explanation from the first speaker, Siti. She brought a material entitled Social Democracy in America. Siti started her presentation by explaining the differences between democratic socialism and social democratic. She explained that these two things basically have different meanings. However, people and even well-known figures often misinterpret these two terms. In the opening of her material, Siti also explained why the issue of social democracy is a topic of conversation in the United States. To clarify the context of the topic which was going to be discussed, Siti did not forget to explain social democracy on a theoretical level. It was only after that Siti explained how the implementation and the latest development of social democracy in the United States as a closing material.
Continuing the material session, the next speaker—Nanang, discussed the conditions of social democracy in Scandinavia. However, before presenting his material, Nanang reviewed the material presented by Siti and its relationship with the material entitled The Rise of Social and Democracy: Scandinavian Experience. Nanang started the material by presenting the World Happiness Report 2019. From the chart he presented, Nanang explained that the majority of the top ten countries with the highest happiness levels in the world were Scandinavian countries. The level of happiness that he described earlier will relate to the core material later.
Entering the core of the material, Nanang explained how other countries have made Scandinavia the ‘qibla’ of the implementation of the social democracy system and the achievements made by Scandinavian countries as a result of the application of the social democratic system. Nanang explained that in social democracy, including those implemented in Scandinavia, apart from political equality, social equality is also considered important. By paying attention to the social equality of the community, trust and solidarity are then built, both between citizens and between citizens and the government. “There are three important pillars in social democracy: solidarity, equality, and trust.” Nanang concluding as well as closing the presentation of the material.
Not only Nanang and Siti, the participants also shared insights and things they knew about the issue of social democracy in the discussion and question and answer session. After all responses and questions were answered by the two speakers, the moderator invited all participants to take a group photo as the closing of the series of events. The event officially ended at 03.15 p.m.