...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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...When a member is elected to represent his or her state’s constituents in a representative democracy they have 3 options of how they want to represent. They choose between either being a delegate, trustee or a politico representative. The delegate theory states that the person elected will vote the way the people of his State want them to vote regardless of what the personal opinion is of the elected representative. This theory is mainly used in highly competitive districts. This theory was highly contested by Edmund Burke who created the trustee theory. The trustee theory states that the elected representative will listen to the opinions of his or her constituents and then use their best judgment when making voting decisions. This theory...
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...“The word democracy is Greek in origin and literally means people power. In ancient Athens all adult male(women and slave were exclude) were directly involved in making decision which affected the whole community.”(Lowe C & Owen V, 2015) Now, Britain is using representative democracy, which means not everyone can influence decision making, and decide questions of national importance, except constitutional change. That is a good idea, because the use of referendums has more disadvantages. Nowadays, with the increase of number of citizen in the UK, although the citizen is a part of the UK, they do want to take part in deciding issues of national importance, and their opinion are really important, but we should know that is difficult or impossible...
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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 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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...Career politicians seem to have less incentive to represent their constituents and more incentives to stay elected. If America is to uphold our founders’ intentions, term limits may help curb the present unfair advantages given to incumbent politicians, restore the voice of the people in Congress by ending the idea of “career” politician, and stop the abuse of power. Through our Constitution, the founding fathers established a system known as “representative democracy”. This is a system where all eligible citizens get to vote for their representatives who pass the laws. Since the daily governance of a fully-developed nation is too complex for every citizen to have a direct say in it’s affairs, a representative system works most efficiently while preserving the hallmarks of democracy (Volokh). Unfortunately, when elected, officials aren’t always placed in check and may obtain too much power or authority which makes their representation far less representative. With no limits to how long they may serve, it is far too easy to get caught up in the position and...
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...qualities needed for the good governance. But the present scenario has completely been changed. Now the people who are in the politics appear to be the criminals. They have a number of criminal cases under trial against themselves. Still they rule the state and the country. They are being elected as public representatives for Assembly and Parliament. Whether they win or snatch victory in elections no one can say. It seems that politics has become synonym for crime. Criminalisation is a term which comes of the word 'crime' which appears to be very unpleasant and devouring politics in the name which is given to the art of governance. While on one hand crime is an unlawful act of handling anything, politics is the legal way which takes or deals anything socially. Thus, these two terms are quite contrary to each other but in the present scenario they appear to be synonymous to each other particularly in India. Criminalisation of politics means moulding politics in a criminal shape. This trend has been growing fast since a few decades in our country. .Our Constitution provides that the representatives elected by the citizens of our country will govern it. The representatives should be idle and they should have the qualities of a social servant. They must think and work for the welfare of the people at large in the interest of the nation. Our constitution ensures a Socialist, Secular State and equality, fraternity among its citizens. Our country has a democratic set-up which...
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...United State and Colombia: two different form of governments Both the Unite State and Colombia those two counties had many differences and similarities in their forms of government, as all governments have an official form. Colombia has a system of government very similar to Unite States. The United States It is a constitutional republic and representative democracy, just as The Republic of Colombia. However, there are many differences and similarities between the two countries in their forms of government. One difference is the party system. Unite State of America have two-party system, Democratic Party and Republican Party; it is exceedingly rare that a third-party candidate manages to win a seat, and it never takes long before the seat goes back to the two parties. By contrast, in Colombia there are multi-party systems with three main parties, However, The constitution of 1991, in order to increase the participation of more people in politics, promoted the end of bipartidism making easy to create new political parties. Another difference between Colombia and the United State is how the name their cabinets members. The cabinet is the accumulation of ministers or secretaries of a government which run a country. Each minister will have their own areas of responsibility, but will formally meet to discuss their problems and overall policies of the government. The United States calls its cabinet members "secretaries", this is divided into 15 cabinet departments that...
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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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...according to GNI http://data.worldbank.org/about/country-and-lending-groups * The CIA World Fact Book can provide a brief overview of many of the criteria listed below https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/resources/the-world-factbook/ * Transparency International posts a country Corruptions Ranking every year http://www.transparency.org/cpi2014/results Criterion You should use the 7 criteria from the course textbook to structure your profile (pg 64): 1. Type of economy: Is the nation an advanced industrial state, an emerging economy, a transition economy, or a developing nation? 2. Type of government: Is the nation ruled by a monarchy, a dictatorship, or a tyrant? Is the nation dominated by another state, or is it a democracy with a multiparty system? Is it an unstable or terrorist nation? 3. Trade and capital flows: Is the nation characterized by almost completely free trade or incomplete free trade and is it part of a trading bloc? 4. The commanding heights: (e.g. the transportation, communications and energy sectors) Are these sectors state owned and operated? Is there a mix of state and private ownership? Are they all private, with or without controlled prices? 5. Services provided by the state and funded through taxes: Are pensions health care and education provided? Do privatized systems dominate? 6. Institutions: Is the nation characterized by transparency, standards, the absence of corruption, and the presence of a free press and strong...
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...In the United States, political ideology is governed by the philosophy of democracy, and economic ideology is governed by capitalism. It is widely accepted that these two concepts dictate public policy, and they are usually regarded as symbolizing “freedom” or seen as the reason for America’s success as a nation. Not very often in our society do citizens speak out against our system of government or question if democracy and capitalism are “worth” it. Democracy and capitalism are an effective form of government, but they do come with “costs” or negative effects on public policy. Democracy is a system of government in which the people are in power, either directly or indirectly. In the U.S., the power falls in the hands of elected officials. Some would argue that this system of indirect democracy is not ideal because the “majority” makes important decisions, while the “minority” gets left behind. Indirect democracy is faulted because it is impossible to take in consideration each citizen’s wants and needs. Capitalism has been under attack for many different reasons; some would say that the costs of capitalism are very grave. A few of the disadvantages of capitalism are inequality, advertisement, and waste. Capitalism promotes inequality because it allows the “rich” to get richer and the “poor” to get poorer; naturally the wealthy will have an excess of stuff and it will lead to waste. Capitalism also causes advertising to be very abundant in our society which can lead to demoralizing...
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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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... concept or model of democracy, but clearly a pluralism or plurality of different theories and models. The concept of "democracy" is contestable. It is understood by many people to mean a form of government in which a significant portion of the governed society has a franchise to elect members of the governing body. Other observers would argue that a "true" democracy is a system of government that embraces a universal adult franchise. While flaws exist in all democratic systems of government, most advocates accept Churchill's dictum that contemporary democracy as we know it is the least bad of all systems of government. What is democracy? The popular understanding of the term "democracy" is that there are three basic forms: direct, representative and constitutional. Direct democracy is a form of government in which the right to participate in making political decisions is exercised directly by all citizens, acting under procedures of majority rule. Representative democracy is a form of government in which the citizens exercise the same right of participation in making political decisions, not in person but through elected representatives. Constitutional democracy developed to counter this possibility and is a form of representative democracy in which the powers of the majority are enshrined in constitutional provisions designed to guarantee the individual and collective rights of all citizens. There is an abundant literature relating to democracy theory, with countless...
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...Democracy May 9, 2011 Ericka Short Democracy is a form of government that can be found in several different nations worldwide. Though it is a common form of government, it doesn’t just appear one day. Democratization needs to take place within a country before democracy to be formed. Democratization, though it doesn’t generally take an identical path to democracy, generally exhibits four basic conditions. The first of these conditions is that there needs to be a larger middle class established. Along with this, the middle class needs to be reachable by the population. This will allow a population to improve their standards of living. The second condition that needs to be met is that literacy needs to be present. Because democracy is based on the principles of an electoral vote, in order for democracy to work well, the population needs to be politically informed. This is not possible if the population cannot read or write. The third condition that needs to be met is that health or more over the access to health care needs to be established. In order for a population to be able to successfully build a strong economy and political government, they have to be healthy enough to establish it. This requires not only a health system to be intact at some level, but it would also require that the population would have access to the health care. The fourth and final condition that needs to be met during democratization before democracy can be formed is that modern technology needs to...
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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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