Managing political debates for constructive dialogue (SDG 16: Peace & Strong Institutions)

Abstract

The paper is addressing that political debate management can be adopted as a method of attaining healthy communication and enhancing the democratic institutions and SDG16 a goal that promotes peace, justice and strong institutions. Job arguments are an ingredient of democracy in which presidential candidates have the opportunity to not only argue out their policies, but also attack their opponent along with also connecting with voters. Democracy however is moderated and organized through them. The paper considers how debate management can influence the achievement of inclusivity, civility, and institutional trust with the help of a qualitative methodology, which is the thematic analysis of academic literature,

monitoring reports, and cases studies of 2019-25. Findings indicate that well-managed debates, i.e. equally timed, moderation well-made, fact checking, and citizen involvement, represent an increase in voter knowledge, transparency, and institutional legitimacy. Conversely, unregulated discussion may have a risk of becoming polarized even further, deceiving and losing trust in the democracy process. The case examples of Ghana, Germany, Kenya, Canada, and the United States have explored and highlighted possibilities and threats of debate management in various contexts. This study shows that debate management is a procedural as well as an ethical process directly associated with peacebuilding and democratic resilience.