...The United Kingdom is a “Representative Democracy”, which is a type of political system where the majority of decisions are made by elected representatives rather than the people themselves. This form of democracy is common through the modern world, as it offers a viable alternative to the purest form of democracy; “Direct Democracy”, which is no longer effective in a modern society. Representation in the UK currently works in a number of ways. The main way is through MPs, who are members of Parliament who represent individual constituencies, whole constituencies, sometimes sectional interests, sometimes causes and sometimes the national interest. Most MP’s however, represent their party and its electoral manifesto. The public vote for the MP of their constitution, therefore presenting their views....
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...Elbe Vargas HIST 2340 November 1, 2011 Iraqis journey to Democracy The Iraqi government was the last government to try to build a democratic government. Mostly known for its ruling dictator Suddam Hussein, it is known for having a tyrant type of government rooted in Islamic religious practices. But with the help of the United States, and other countries, Iraqis will create a new era: the era of democracy. It all started on January 30, 2005 when an Iraq election promoted and built democracy. The world was speechless by the results of the significant amount of numbers to vote for Iraq’s Transitional National Assembly. The Iraqi government took a huge risk by publically announcing that voting was a human right in practicing Democracy. The United States played a huge role in helping Iraq promote and build democracy, with the final goal of ending dictatorship. For the past twenty five years the U.S. has provided crucial support for democracy as well as a basic principle of the U.S. foreign policy. Not only has America helped Iraq turn away from dictatorship, but it has also helped other countries such as Philippines, Nicaragua, Indonesia, and Ukraine toward democracy. The U.S. has grown to have the label of “leadership” stamped on them when it comes to helping other countries towards Democracy. Today electoral democracies now exist in 120 out of 192 countries that are about 63 percent of the world’s population! (Soudriette, 2005) One author however disagrees with the outcome...
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...It was 1775, and the Americans were beginning a war with Britain for control of the colonies. The British were taxing, quartering, making unjust laws driving the Americans to a decision as to whether or not they were Loyalists, Patriots, or undecided. A network of spies for both the Royalists and Patriots further increased tension. Truths were produced on both sides, and these words had significant effects on people's actions. Although weapons were the reason America won the Revolution, words were what inspired a revolution for independence, united the colonies, and enabled post-Revolution revolts that in the end strengthened democracy. Words were necessary to establish American independence, the strength of someone's opinion, let alone a couple thousand, could start a war. Thomas Jefferson publicly accused the British King of having “waged cruel war against human nature itself, violating its most sacred rights of life & liberty in the persons of a distant people who never offended him, captivating & carrying...
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...Philosophy paper choice 1 Democracy is considered as a normative goodness in contemporary society but it has been a contested topic throughout history. Recognizing and examining those critics of the past will instigate a firmer understanding of the concept. Hearing arguments against democracy will help establish a belief based on an informed conscious rather than blind acceptance. Both Plato and Aristotle were philosophers who scrutinized this form of government for different reasons, their ancient judgments still hold weight today and can be used to evaluate democracy as a whole. My thesis for this paper is that Plato offers a stronger criticism against democracy and Aristotle is a better friend to democracy by comparison. First to establish a similarity between the two philosophers would be the way in which they describe the origins of democracy. Plato starts by explaining how democracies emerge because of the decay of oligarchies. He claims that oligarchies will lead to a schism within the city, where one city becomes two, the city of the rich and the city of the poor.1 Since the poor faction contains the majority of the population, they will overpower the rich faction who are softened by their luxurious lives and cannot resist the poor. Aristotle defines democracy similarly as “where the poor rule”8 and how he defines the poor is when you combine “poverty with mass.”9 Plato asks “is not the transition from oligarchy to democracy brought about by…the necessity...
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...Society and Democracy In today’s world, it is impossible not to know society. This is a concept that is introduced to human as soon as someone is born. Interacting in society and in a social environment are things people are teaching to help them live in a society. The origin of this society one is so familiar with is discussed in Jean-Jacques Rousseau’s Discourse on the Origin of Inequality. Not only does he discuss the inequality of society but also how this society forms democratic government. According to Rousseau men joining leads to laws being made, causing the division of people because of their opinions, which brings about the need for representatives, resulting in a democracy. Society causes democracy. Society creates the need for laws. When a single man claimed land as his own, he has founded the first society (44 Rousseau). When one claims...
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...Modern Democracy: An Online Chaos? In Cass Sunstein’s book Rupublic.com 2.0, he discusses advances in modern technologies and communications and the affect each have on our democratic society. Sunstein makes reasonable arguments supporting both the positive influences on our nation of these steps forward as well as the detrimental issues they have caused. Though Sunstein does recognize that the modern media is a blessing for society as a whole, he makes the argument that one must be careful with it if the United States wishes to maintain a fair democratic form of government. Cass Sunstein is not wrong to be concerned with the power and changes that the advances in technology, especially the Internet, have caused. However, Sunstein has an overly radical view of what must be done, an unrealistic view of the true good, and how that good outweighs the cons brought by this new digital world. The discussion begins with a firm statement of Sunstein’s concerns about the negative affects of the Internet on the liberal democracy intended by America’s Founding Fathers. His principle concerns are the momentous increase in the availability of personalized filtering and the decrease in general-interest intermediaries such as national newspapers and news networks. Both of these concerns are plausible ones, for they truly have changed the way democracy functions and the way that ideas flow in the United States. Filtering today is different than it used to be in the past...
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...whole another level. These men and women are dying every day, nothing could compare our veterans to that. This country stands unified, red white and blue with beautiful stars, that’s you. Honor our Americans Veterans whether they’re living or deceased, they’re on land, air, sea, during a war, and or setting up a democracy in any other foreign country, they need us, just as well as we need them. America is being protected against religious and political radicals every day. How could we not appreciate waking up every morning to a free nation? I feel we should honor them and pray for them every day because every day they do their job is another day of freedom for the United States. Could you imagine being afraid to worship as you please, having to cover your face in public, not being able to vote, go to school, become a lawyer or teacher, or even not having freedom of speech. You can be whatever you want to be in this nation, a free country that our military men and women fought for and still is. The things I see on TV, I couldn’t imagine being beaten in public, hung, or put in prison for doing things that are you’re certain unalienable rights? Without our military defending our freedom, we would be in serious danger of losing every freedom we enjoy and should treasure. So, I say go to any event that’s going on for our veterans, like parades, salute our flag, donate to the VFW (Veterans of Foreign Wars) and any other organizations that support our troops. Thank them when you see...
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...Chapter 6 Electoral College Assignment Explain the electoral college and its purpose as presented in the videos posted in the "Lecture and Video" tab. Do you think the electoral college is effective? Why? Yes I do believe the Electoral College is effective. I think the Electoral College is one of the most elegant systems in our republic. The key word here is republic and not democracy. We are not a true democracy in the sense that we are ruled by the will of the majority, but rather we are a constitutional republic that employs democratic methods. We have systems that check and balance power between the 3 branches of government, between states and the federal government and balance between majority rule and the rights of the minority. The people who are against the Electoral College are popularists. Meaning one vote per voter and the majority wins. This I believe ignores the right of the minority. If you want to abolish the Electoral College because it misrepresents votes, than why not abolish 2 senators for each state? Wyoming has as many senators as California has. The Senate has tremendous power in the legislature as the upper house. It can start legislation or it is the final deliberating body before a piece of legislation goes to the president’s desk. But it does not equally represent all the people, it represents the states. Also, even the congress has votes that require more than 50% to pass laws. Why? If a majority agrees, majority should win...
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...support. The proposed idea of compulsory voting is the idea that would make voting in a democratic parliamentary election mandatory for all citizens who meet the age requirement; failure to do so will result in a form of minor punishment such as a small fine. The theory behind compulsory voting is that it will increase participation in parliamentary election, thus creating a more legitimate representative democratic system. Current major democratic countries that currently employ an enforced compulsory voting system include Australia, Argentina, and Brazil. This paper will argue that voting should not be made compulsory in Canada, on the principles that there is no proof that increasing voter turnout will legitimize our representational democracy, and that we have the right to abstention. I will prove this argument by examining the political scholarship produced by Sara Birch, Justine Lacroix, and Annabelle Lever. The first academic journal I will be examining will be that of Sara Birch in her 2009 paper The Case for Compulsory Voting. In this paper, Birch is advocating that all democratic countries should implement a compulsory voting system. Birch’s primary point of reasoning behind this notion is that the electoral process has become illegitimate as a result of an unbalanced voter turnout in relation to age and class (Birch, 2009). Furthermore, she believes that by making voting a mandatory practice, it will increase “social, political, and procedural fairness.” (Birch, p...
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...American National Government Topic 1 American Government: An Introduction Assessment 1 Chapter 1 Directions: Answer the following questions after viewing the assigned Power Point presentation and reading related materials in the text. Be sure to use complete sentences. 1. Define government and politics. Compare these two terms and cite examples of each. Explain how the two terms are distinct but related to each other. · Government is the people who run the country. Politics is the process followed by the leaders of political groups who rule the country. Government implements the policies of the lands, such as with the judicial branch to enforce the laws, the legislative branch to create the laws, and the executive branch to perform national security duties. And politics are the tool utilized by the government. They both utilize political science which is the study of government and politics. While they both perform and aid the same basic function of running the country, politics is just the process while the government is the actual facility performing the tasks. 2. What is anarchy? Can anarchy ever a viable alternative to government, in your opinion? Why or why not? · Anarchy is living in a state of lawlessness. I believe it cannot, because humans do not function correctly without some type of structure. Without structure there will be total chaos. Murders and other unmentionable crimes will occur with no repercussions being put into place. 3. What...
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...are the personal and political freedom, legal equality and equality of opportunity and separation of powers and checks and balances. The importance of these three founding principles to America’s republican form of government will be discussed in this paper. Discussion Personal and political freedom is the first of the three founding principles to America’s republican form of government. Personal freedom means that the people need to experience the liberty to do what they want to do in their own lives provided that they do not violate any laws as provided by the Constitution. The people need to be able to exercise their right to make decisions and not be harassed or forced to make a decision that they do not like. Because America is a democracy, people have the freedom to express their ideas and opinions about important social issues that have a tremendous impact on their lives (Bardes, 2008). Thus, it becomes the responsibility of the government to be able to listen to these ideas and opinions of the people and make sure that they are able to integrate them in their decision making process. The ideas and opinions of the people are expressions of either their satisfaction to the programs and services that they are getting from the government or their suggestions for improvement that the government has to consider. Either way, the people and their personal freedom is very critical towards the smooth functioning of the government. Political freedom is giving the people the liberty...
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...Younger adults deserve to have a say on what they want because not everyone else takes into consideration to younger kids. Voting age should be changed to a younger age such as 16 and/or have an age limit of around 87 in the United States. Even though voting age has changed in the past, we have not really taken a look into putting a cap of around 87, also young adults are very much part of the community and they deserve a say. Voting age/privilege has changed a lot in the past 50 years. Many states set up barriers so specific people could not vote. Until they had set up the Voting Rights Act, did any of the barriers change. “Defending our freedom, though, is not just the job of our military alone. We must all do our part to make sure our God-given rights are protected here at home. That includes one of the most fundamental right of a democracy: the right to vote. When any American, no matter where they live or what their party, are denied that right because they can’t afford to wait for five or six or seven hours just to cast their ballot, we are betraying our ideals”(Obama). This proves that everybody should be treated fairly no matter the case. The very first Voting Right Act was signed on August 6th, 1965 by Lyndon B. Johnson. From this point on, it has be revised by many different Presidents. The many barriers that were put up in the early 1900s include: literacy tests, moral character tests, poll taxes, and many more. Being that voting age/privilege has changed...
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...THE ROLE OF THE MEDIA IN DEEPENING DEMOCRACY SHEILA S. CORONEL EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Since the 17th century, the role of the press as Fourth Estate and as a forum for public discussion and debate has been recognized. Today, despite the mass media’s propensity for sleaze, sensationalism and superficiality, the notion of the media as watchdog, as guardian of the public interest, and as a conduit between governors and the governed remains deeply ingrained. The reality, however, is that the media in new and restored democracy do not always live up to the ideal. They are hobbled by stringent laws, monopolistic ownership, and sometimes, the threat of brute force. State controls are not the only constraints. Serious reporting is difficult to sustain in competitive media markets that put a premium on the shallow and sensational. Moreover, the media are sometimes used as proxies in the battle between rival political groups, in the process sowing divisiveness rather than consensus, hate speech instead of sober debate, and suspicion rather than social trust. In these cases, the media contribute to public cynicism and democratic decay. Still, in many fledgling democracies, the media have been able to assert their role in buttressing and deepening democracy. Investigative reporting, which in some cases has led to the ouster of presidents and the fall of corrupt governments, has made the media an effective and credible watchdog and boosted its credibility among the public. Investigative reporting...
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...The private roots of public participation: Women’s engagement in democratic politics in Pakistan Dissertation – MA Gender and Development Marion R. Mueller, September 2004 Abstract This paper contributes to the discussion about the involvement of women as decision-makers in democratic political processes. It questions the conditions that are necessary to promote such involvement and that open up spaces for the translation of women’s representation into political influence. The context of the devolution of power process in Pakistan shows that it is not enough to only set up democratic institutions to achieve women’s political effectiveness. Instead there is need for significant support through the state, political parties and civil society. To personalise the political is necessary for successfully being able to achieve policy outcomes that reflect women’s interests. Table of contents Abbreviations & Foreign Words 4 List of Figures and Tables 5 Acknowledgements 6 1. Introduction 7 Choice of case study 8/ Methodology 9/ Dissertation structure 10 2. Locating women’s engagement in democratisation 11 3. Imagining the political: women and the nature of the state 16 The framework of the state 16/ Defining access: affirmative action policies in Pakistan 16/ Devolving power to the grassroots 18/ Personalising the political: the presence of women councillors 20 4. Institutionalising the political:...
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...destruction of the environment. 27 Civil disobedience is effective at changing the law. 28 Legal channels can take too long. 28 Consent to obey just laws does not imply consent to obey unjust ones. 28 Distinguishing between just and unjust laws to disobey can be universalized. 28 Civil disobedience can be stabilizing to a community by spreading a shared sense of justice. 29 Sometimes it is only the unjustified response to civil disobedience that has harmful consequence. 29 Civil disobedience is traditionally non-violent. 29 Civil disobedience is a form of exercising free speech- which is essential in a democracy. 30 Civil disobedience has been used to fight slave laws 30 Civil disobedience played a role in ending the Vietnam war. 30 Civil disobedience shouldn’t be punished- but recognized as enhancing democracy. 31 Even if laws are created by democratic means- civil disobedience can still be justified. 31 Civil disobedience is justified because it promotes equal marriage laws. 31 Civil disobedience is a integral part of American history. 32 Civil disobedience has certain criteria. It must be illegal, nonviolent, and the...
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