...Liberal Internationalism: Peace, War and Democracy, 1997). Therefore, there are barely any disputes between first world countries which embrace democracy and liberalism as the main doctrine of their governance. This essay argues about the impact of democracy towards peace and how comes peace is embraced successfully among the representatives of democracy. Following paragraphs briefly explain liberalism’s role in today’s world and society, how liberalism reflects in business, what...
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...Democracy and participation: Democracy = a political system based on the idea that government should serve the interests of the people. Legitimacy = the extent to which a government has the right to rule and exercise power. Power vs. Authority: * Power= the ability to make someone do something that they would not do of their own free will * E.g - Coercion – the use of force to achieve ends – the military * Authority = the right to exercise power (based on the consent of those being ruled) * E.g - Legal/rational – HOC * E.g – Traditional – HOL Modern democracies have: Political tolerance Peaceful transition of power Free, fair and regular elections The government is accountable to the people The rule of law Freedom of the media Modern democracies have: Political tolerance Peaceful transition of power Free, fair and regular elections The government is accountable to the people The rule of law Freedom of the media What makes a government legitimate? * Referendums (‘Yes’ answers) * High turnout * Free, fair and regular elections * Lack of dissent * Displays of public support How legitimate is the UK? Legitimate | Not legitimate | * House of Commons is elected | * Electoral system unfair and distorts political representation (FPTP) | * Government elected with mandate to govern | * Every government elected has only achieved the minority of the popular vote | * House of Lords has traditional authority...
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...Essay Topic Paper- Types of Democracy Direct Democracy and Representative Democracy both have their positives and negatives. But in the end I think that if they were intertwined, you could have the ultimate government. Representative Democracy has a way of making it easier for ideas of the people to be represented. Whereas Direct Democracy lets the people actually voice their own thoughts and help the average person be heard. Both of these forms of government are talked about in multiple chapters of Dunn’s book about Democracy. They both have their ups and downs but in the end the best form of government in my point of view would be a mixture between both types of Democracy. In Dunn’s book on Democracy, they talk about how having a Representative Democracy effects society and how it could be either beneficial or harmful. A Representative Democracy is a form of democracy in which the people allow others to represent them in the various forms of democratic process. An example of an early Representative Democracy is during the Old Regime of France. In the article “Democracy and the French Revolution” Fontana states how there was a group of representative’s set up to voice the peoples opinions and bring their voices to the leader (Fontana 117). The Assembly was a group of these representatives who were basically the spokesperson for the people, who voiced their complaints and requests to the Crown (Fontana 117). The people aren’t directly involved in any of the decision making...
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...1.Define democracy? a system of government that is entirely in peoples hands, it's ruled by people. a. direct democracy- It's a political decision where the people decide what they want the public business to be. They do this by meeting in assemblies. b. representative democracy- A system where people choose their representatives. 2. Explain the contrasting theories of direct democracy and representative democracy, and determine the types of circumstances in which they could operate. Direct democracy requires people to meet up daily to talk about the good and bad things that are going on. Representative democracy isn't quite different except that it is mostly for places with a bigger population. Since they can't have meetings daily with everyone to discuss problems, they rely on representatives that they elect. Direct democracy I think can really only work in small places, since that allows people to...
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...The United States may be considered a representative democracy. This is because the people don’t necessarily vote for the president, they vote for a selected group of people who choose who will become the president. These group of people are what are known as the electoral college. They were created so that the normal day to day people would not have the complete decision on who will become president rather they only give their opinions by the popular vote. The main reason for the electoral college is so that the government has control and authority and with the electoral college they get to control who will run their place. In the book “United Stated Government” by Sandy Maisel, she asserted that “the United States is a constitutional government...
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...groups over time, they formed states. 7. Divine right theory; God created the state and gave a chosen few the right to rule. 8. Social contract theory; people voluntarily agreed to create a state and give to the government just enough power to promote the safety and well-being of all. Government exists to serve the will of the people, and the people are the sole source of political power. Chapter Outline 2 I. Section 1: Government and the State A. Definition of Government and the State 1. legislative, executive, judicial 2. state B. Political Ideas and the Purpose of Government 1. force 2. evolutionary 3. divine right 4. social contract 5. Preamble II. Section 2: Forms of Government A. Who Can Participate? 1. representative democracy 2. direct 3....
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...CHAPTER ONE INTRODUCTION 1.1 Background to the study Structured election process is one of the indicators of stability in Nigeria’s democracy. Elections in Nigeria continue to elicit more than casual interest by Nigerian scholars due to the fact that despite the appreciation that only credible election can consolidate and sustain the country’s nascent democracy, over the years, Nigeria continues to witness with growing disappointments and apprehension inability to conduct peaceful, free and fair, open elections whose results are widely accepted and respected across the country (Ekweremadu, 2011). All the elections that have ever been conducted in Nigeria since independence have generated increasingly bitter controversies and grievances on a national scale because of the twin problems of mass violence and fraud that have become central elements of the history of elections and of the electoral process in the country (Gberie, 2011). Despite the marked improvement in the conduct of the 2011 elections, the process was not free from malpractices and violence (National Democratic Institute, 2012). Thus over the years, electoral processes in the history of Nigeria’s democratic governance have continued to be marred by extraordinary display of rigging, dodgy, “do or die” affair, ballot snatching at gun points, violence and acrimony, thuggery, boycotts, threats and criminal manipulations of voters' list, brazen falsification of election results, the use of security agencies against...
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...Edexcel AS Politics Edexcel AS Politics ExamBuster 2009 Introduction to Unit 1- People and Politics Understanding the Examination and Exam Technique Choosing your questions In this unit you are presented with four questions. They are of equal value and each question covers one of the four sections of the specification. These are: Democracy and political participation Party policies and ideas Elections Pressure groups There is no significance to the order in which questions appear. Each question is divided into three sections (a), (b) and (c). When choosing which questions to do, the following principles are recommended: It is almost certain that you will be better off choosing your strongest question to do first. You should choose questions on the basis of how well you can answer the section (c) part. The (c) part carries 25 of the 40 marks available for the whole answer. Do not choose a question simply because you can do part (a) especially well. The (a) question is only worth 5 marks. It would be illogical to choose your strongest (a) part if you cannot do well on section (c). If you cannot decide between several (c) parts, i.e. you can do more than one equally well, make your choice on the basis of part (b) which carries 10 marks. But remember, it is the (c) parts that will determine most what your overall mark will be. So, when you first look at the exam paper, look at the (c) sections first. Assessment Objectives Each question is divided into three sections,...
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...major philosophical consideration has now degraded so much as to exclude any trace of real discussion. Deliberately entrenched ideas of dictatorship and democracy situated as if they were in opposition to each other rather than highlighting the reality that both systems are simply a method of maintaining control, one through the use physical power the other through the illusion of choice. In reality a definite democracy in its real sense meaning direct democracy free of powerful external influences and with the provision of a free educated populous does not exist anywhere today. Instead the West is saturated with prolific supporters of a representative democracy and lauded as the bastion of the ´Free World´. This system, in reality, does not stand up to scrutiny as it should be obvious to an observer that firstly big business, military and financial institutions have a huge vested interest in maintaining the type of government that ensure economic monopolies, monetary ´bailouts´ and a stable base of power. In relation to the Arab Spring: The governments of Tunisia, Egypt and Libya were supported economically, morally and politically by many of the major Western powers throughout...
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...Democracy is a form of government in which people are governed by their own elected representatives. It is a government of the people, for the people and by the people. In this system of government, it is the people who are supreme and sovereign. They control the government. They are free to elect a government of their own choice. Freedom of choice is the core of democracy. Democracy existed in ancient Greek and Roman republics but with little success. It had very little scope in ancient India. Democracy entered its golden stage in he twentieth century. Many countries in the world today follow the democratic form of government. Democracy depends on the following conditions (i) co-existence of ideas and of parties; (ii) the right to free discussion; (iii) universal adult suffrage; and (iv) periodic elections. Indian is the largest democracy in the world. The Constitution of Indian was enforced on 26 January, 1950. It ushered in the age pf democracy. India became a democratic republic infused with the spirit of justice, liberty, equality and fraternity. The Preamble, the Directive Principles of State Policy and the Fundamental Rights reflect the Indian ideology as well as the caste, creed, religion, property, or sex have the right to cast their vote. After and election, the majority party or coalition forms the government and its leader become the Prime Minister. Political parties are the vehicles of ideas. Parties act as the bridge between social thought and political decision...
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...Democracy and Communism Looking at democracy through both its weaknesses and strengths in comparison with other forms of government makes it evident that it is the best form of political system we have. In a democracy, the government is the spokesperson for their people and the needs they would like to be met. The government is a group of people in the state who have an authority to act on behalf of that state. A democracy is a state in which citizens vote to choose the best candidate to be the leader of the country. Democracy appeared from liberalism, which is the ideology when individuals develop their capacities to the fullest. A democracy reflects the liberal value that individuals are responsible for their own choices. Citizens can be free to run their lives as they want. Democracy requires an attitude of mind, a belief that every citizen has the right to outspeak and hear what is going on. However, one of the challenges of a democratic electoral system is even if we have the right to express our views, we would not take advantage of it because of its unpredictable consequences. Despite all the democratic weaknesses of this ideology, democracy is still highly consistent and about unpredictable outcomes. What makes democracy highly consistent is not knowing what the next election turnout will be, but having confidence that the candidate with a majority of votes would be elected. The essential goal of democracy is to provide a fair degree of uncertainty. What makes...
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...Critical Response on Democracy DeVry University Political Science 330 July 16, 2011 Democracy when looked at as a system of government is when power is vested in the people who rule either directly or indirectly through freely elected officials. (democracy. (n.d.) The American Heritage® New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition, n.d). There are certain criteria and conditions that must be place in order for a government to be considered democratic. In a democratic society the government will get its power form the people that it is to govern over. The people will elect representatives who are given the responsibility of being their voice in the state capital or countries capital. The representative’s job is to make sure they are trying to do what is in the best interest of the people that they represent. This way is called a representative democracy. The representatives under this type of representation are allowed to be in office for a specific period of time through elections. When they have completed the set term they were elected for then they must step down or try to stay in office by seeking re-election. (Dr. Almon Leroy Way, n.d.). Today you have current events that provide evidence of democracy at work in America. Looking at 2006 and 2007, our economy started to collapse and you could see that the American public as a whole was not happy with the direction of the economy and the government. They had grown weary of the War in Iraq and the drain on America’s...
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...(A) What is a government? The word "government" is defined by the oxford English dictionary like: “the group of people with the authority to govern a country or state; a particular ministry in office”. A government is a very useful tool for organize the human society, because we need an orden system that manages all the efforts of the same for their own benefit and prosperity. The origin of the government lies in the State. In the beginnings, the human’s societies were small and were governed by the law of the stronger. If you could protect your properties, or even rob other, which would be fine because that was the normative. This is the state of nature, or what we call "Natural Law", where people organize themselves around self-sufficiency and self-interest, as well as self-survival. But, when the societies grew, became intolerable this type of behaviors. In a scenario where there is a government, people are organized in a society with rules or laws which govern their conduct. The state was created to protect the physical and material integrity of the members of a society. (B) Utility and functions of a government organized. In the human history, have existed many types of government, and some have been better than others, regarding the division of property and justice among different social strata comprising citizens who form the state, but all have been "organized" in one way or another. From my perspective, an organized government works as a social regulator, handing...
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...Government and Politics 04) Explain the term referendum used in the extract (5 marks) A referendum is a general vote by the electorate on a single political question which has been referred to them for a direct decision. They may be used to raise issues for discussion rather than to decide or confirm policy questions. In relation to the extract, Walsi is being accused of not having the knowledge base of understanding of actual independence. Walsi was being accountable for shortfall in any economic growth expected and being able to financially match the living needs of people, the needs of all generations - from health / population growth. 05) Using your own knowledge, as well as the extract, consider the circumstances in which the UK government might choose to call a referendum (10 marks) Only one nationwide referendum had taken place in the UK before the alternative referendum. This occurred in 1975 when Harold Wilson (the British Prime minister at the time) asked ‘Do you think the UK should stay in the EU?’ In answer to his question, 67% of the voters answered ‘yes’ so therefore the UK is still part of the EU today. Not only one referendum has happened, several referendums have also been held in particular regions of the UK such as Scotland and Wales. In 1997, voters in Scotland were asked whether they wanted a Scottish Parliament while voters in Wales were asked whether they wanted a Welsh Assembly. The answer to both of these referendums was yes. Also, just recently:...
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...Government and Politics Megan Barry ‘Should direct democracy be more widely used in the UK?’ Direct democracy is a form of government in which all laws are created by a general vote of society. This means that political decisions are put forward to the people as they are the ones who are going to be directly affected by the outcome of the decision. An example of direct democracy used occasionally in society is referendums. A referendum is a general vote by the electorate on a single political question which has been referred to them for a direct decision. Within this essay I am going to be arguing whether direct democracy should be used more widely by weighing up the benefits and the disadvantages of direct democracy and the result on the general public. One argument for direct democracy being used more extensively in the UK is that it gives a more advanced and more accurate representation of the public’s attitude on an issue raised in parliament. Many local citizens do not often communicate with their MP; occasionally it can be difficult for Parliament to come to a decision that accurately reflects public opinion. MPs have to make choices bases what they personally feel is right and is not always entirely what the public want. Referendums give a distinct result that reflects the public’s demands. This is better as the public are satisfied and there is little need for ‘guess-work’ by the government. An example...
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