A stable democracy typically is better off financially, less likely to go to war and better positioned to fight corruption. This is why states across the globe stride toward a democracy and depending on circumstances fail. For example, Bostonistan and Germany, established democracy, but due to divided parties and gridlock this form of government was no longer acceptable. There is no variation of democracy that ensures success, however it will triumph when the right systems align with the citizens ' values and states history. From there the Government’s commitment to root out corruption, abandon failed old practices, and take account public interest will lead to a steady successful state.…
Assimilation is one possible model of democracy and occurs when individuals yield their own cultural beliefs to allow for group harmony. In particular, assimilation does allow citizens to display their loyalty, when they sacrifice their own customs to become American. As expected, with the process of assimilation individuals can lose valuable cultural traditions, which shaped their identity. Moreover, multi-culturalism is another possible model of democracy and this philosophy deems diversity makes the United States stronger. One positive aspect of multi-culturalism it encourages discussions about culture and allows for cultural traditions to persist.…
Vietnam: Authoritarian or Democratic? Following the democratization of The United States of America after their secession from Britain, democracy spread to other states through various reforms. Many states, however, still hold on to authoritarianism as their modus operandi. A form of government defined by strong central power and limited political freedoms, authoritarianism chiefly describes Vietnam’s government today.…
This excerpt from Ralph Nader’s The Seventeen Traditions: Lessons from an American Childhood depicts the significance of the traditions of history, education and argument, and civics as well as express how these concepts are connected. While Nadar experienced these things as a child and his narrative refers to events when he is younger, these virtues are vital to the engage citizens to actively participate in government and impact their communities. To gain more aware and active citizens, these citizens must be equipped with history. In Nadar’s writing, history takes the form of stories and experiences of past places and peoples. As Nadar and his family visited their native country, they “absorbed the cultural history of custom, myth, folklore, festivities, food, humor, and religion ” (52).…
In Karabel’s article, “The legacy of legacies,” one can see how unfair our school systems are jut base solemnly on the information that some prestigious universities use when making an admission decision about a student. In this article it mainly focuses on how universities such as Yale, Princeton and Harvard used a family legacy or involvement with the university to make decisions on a student’s admission application. One example given here is the one of former president George Bush. He was a student who did not excel athletically or academically, who scored a mediocre score on the SAT’s. However, he got into the school because his father and his grandmother had been alumni of the university and contributed to it.…
Democracy wasn’t created overnight. It was made from years of wisdom and experience. Eventually the American colonists decided to refuse the British King in the American Revolution, but the colonists didn’t just do that out of the blue. They were influenced by the Age of Enlightenment and the men who induced it, the philosophes. Europeans no longer lived in the middle ages.…
In a democracy, the larger part can force its will on the minority, and is ruled by…
The rich was getting richer and the poor remained the same. During the 19th century, immigrants flooded NYC to live the American dream, but only would find…
How much does the public know about politics? This question has spurred debate about the adequacy of democratic decision making for many years. In political science, scholars such as Converse (1964), Delli and Keeter and many others have conceptualized and developed measures of political knowledge to understand its effect on political attitudes. In their book, What Americans Know About Politics and Why it Matters, Delli and Keeter find out that many citizens are informed about the details of politics, however, an equally large number of citizens are ignorant of “political facts”. In other words, they are questioning whether citizens are equipped with requisite knowledge to make democracy work.…
At the very basic level, a democratic structure can be defined as an ‘institutional arrangement for arriving at political decisions in which individuals acquire the power to decide by means of a competitive struggle for the people’s vote’ (Schumpeter 1942 cited in Menocal 2007). The positive relationship between prosperity and democracy has an enduring relationship in the subject of social sciences. Although there does exist a strong correlation, it does not necessarily mean causation.…
Democracy favors smaller organizational entities, such as the state or the town hall meeting. It is very difficult to deliberate among 6 billion people, and one need only look at the UN to realize that the larger an area an organization encompasses, the less democratic it tends to be. With so many distinct cultures on this earth, it would be a shame to lump them all together and subject them to the will of the majority whose moral outlook they do not share. The continued existence of the celebrated diversity of this planet and the democratic ideals they hold dear depends largely on the existence of a plurality of…
For us to get a better understanding of our state and local government there has to be a systematic approach that fits best. The comparative method is a systematic approach which focuses on the use of similarities and differences for explanation (smith 7). In many cases many states have differences for several things from one another and have similarities to one another. In using the comparative method it helps us break down the many reasons and gives the explanation to the differences and similarities. For example, in West Virginia they tax dogs, where the state county government authorizes and assess a fee for every dog in that jurisdiction (smith 7).…
In his article “The rise of illiberal democracy” Fareed Zakaria used a term “illiberal democracy” in the journal “Foreign Affairs” in 1997. In the article he discussed the level of liberties and freedom in the countries that are democracies officially. He divided them into two polar groups: liberal democracies and illiberal democracies. He also gave the description for each of the groups and the reasons why he determined this or that country into a particular group.…
It is a generally accepted fact that the people love the soil they are born on. However, in oppressed dictatorships and tyranny rules , the people who once had faith in their homeland may become emotionally depressed and start cursing their fate of being born in that particular country. Thus, these forms of governments can greatly have an adverse effect on one’s devotion to his birthplace which gives way to little or no patriotism. On the other hand, in a democratic form of government, everyone has their say in the leadership and they have access to human rights. Thus, this equity in the society together with the love of homeland creates such patriotism that is not apparent in any other forms of government.…
This essay was made to acknowledge and understand the importance of ways to be a good democratic citizen which is something that is a priority and very essential on daily basis. Especially in a diverse society which is a combination of different types of people in which there is a variety of races, cultures, physical appearances, skin colours, differences in opinions, differences in their belief systems or religion, etc. To understand the true meaning of the word ‘democratic citizenship’, it is also important to be able to understand the word ‘citizen’ in the first place. Referring to a research from a dictionary website on the internet, I would define the word ‘citizen’ as a native or naturalised member of a state, a nation, or a particular…