Essays on Democratic Society

The public sphere is a unique "space" in which a big amount of citizens lives and interacts, and each of them is different from each other. If one considers the emergence and transformation of the public sphere, for example, from the times of Antiquity to the present day, it becomes evident that the public sphere is created and changed mainly due to interpersonal communication. In addition, the public sphere has many different issues that have a significant impact on the state and the society. These problems may be associated with the inequality, which is manifested at different levels of ...

Leadership and public policy making play a major part in the management and development of a democratic society. In this 21st century. Policy making and leadership decisions require knowledge driven students with the necessary programs that manage the society. The modern society appears to work differently from the previous centuries. The focus on democracy according to Gerston helps analyze the society as well as their needs (Gerston, 23). Leadership and policy making for modern and democratic society work effectively when knowledge-driven programs are used. These makes the leadership of a democratic society effective because democracy requires the policy makers ...

Abstract

Social justice has always acted and will act as the most important indicator of the effectiveness of social development, being one of the fundamental bases of civilization and progress. Social justice is the foundation of any developed society, and it determines many aspects of the interaction between people within the state and society. Justice is category of a moral-legal and socio-political consciousness that is both an inalienable natural right of a person. Understanding social justice changes over time and depends on the specific social conditions in which people live. The content of this concept is in line between the ...

Introduction

The interest groups are extremely powerful in the Western countries as the source of the representation of the population in the political life of the country. In the contemporary society the shifts in the political arena of the communities are made as the result of the actions of the interested groups. These groups represent the formation of the citizens having the leverages for the exercising influence over the population. They have the power and opportunity to control the spread of the political ideas and behavior among the population. Meanwhile, the political life of the Western democratic countries is not ...

Article 8 of the Human Rights Act1998 (HRA) provides that every citizen has a “right to respect for” their private life, their family life, their home and their correspondence” (HRA). Generally speaking, Article 8 provides for the enjoyment of a general right to privacy. More specifically, Article 8 states that no public authority will interfere “with the exercise of this right except such as is in accordance with the law and is necessary in a democratic society”. In Catriona’s case, what Article 8 means is that the Metropolitan Police, as a public authority is per se prohibited from ...

Today, Syria faces a serious crisis. The country that once boast diversity is now engaged in a civil war bloodier than any war in history. Millions have been displaced and nearly a quarter million have died. The civil war initially rose as an Arab Spring. Arabs across the Middle East were seeking a democratic society. However, with the rule of the al-Assad family in Syria, violence is dominant and the country rests in a blood bath.

History of Syria

Originally, Syria consisted of a large amount of land that is now many countries today, including Syria itself, Lebanon, Jordan and Israel. The ...

Introduction

The law designed and implemented in any society is relevant in ensuring unchanging application of cultural values and civic cultures that create a democratic society. It is imperative to solve the issues brought about by a dystopic society that is limited in efforts to prevent actions that could interfere with sustainability of future generations. Children of Men depicts the consequences of a society incapable of establishing equality and flexible obedience to the rule of law that is essential for a democratic society. Uniform laws are the pillars that make people respectful and obedient to the rule of law ensuring ...

The Reconstruction Era was a very complicated period in the American history. Many historians think the Reconstruction Era was in general unsuccessful, because a large number of the pre-war issues were not resolved even though slavery was abolished and the Congress initiated some profound reforms in order to reintegrate the Southern States. However, a historian Eric Foner from the Columbia University thinks that despite the multiple failures the Reconstruction Era was a very important period for the development of the American society and set up of the basis for the complex economic, political and social transformations in the future. ...

Police misconduct is not a frequent news headline. Yet, when incidents of police conduct do hit the news, the reason is the serious nature of the misconduct and its widespread impact. Even with the recognition that police misconduct cannot be completely eliminated, preventive measures and strategies to mitigate the impact of misconduct need to be in place. Existing measures and strategies also need continuous evaluation to support the necessary reforms to address emerging issues on police misconduct. Media frenzy, public outcry, and politicization of police misconduct often complicate effective response to this issue. When this happens, it helps to ...

Introduction

Multicultural education is essentially designed to prepare all students to be good citizens in a democratic society. This is done by teaching the students to be considerate of the needs of every single individual in the society. Multicultural education essentially clarifies how issues related to culture; race, gender, religion, disabilities and ethnicity are intertwined or connected with the process and content of education (Banks, 2009). This is why there is a great need to adapt the current curriculum for multicultural classrooms.

At my current placement, the curriculum cannot be considered to be considerate of multicultural student body. Although most of ...

The Irish Way

Analysis of Chapters The book, “The Irish Way” by James R. Barrett describes the life of Irish immigrants who went to start new lives in America after conditions at home became un-accommodative. The author of the book has structured it in a very interesting manner. To show the various interactions of the Irish immigrants, the book has been subdivided into sections namely, The Parish, The Street, The Stage, The Workplace, The Nation and The Machine. This essay however focus on two of three sections that is, The Workplace, The Stage and The Nation as well as the introductory part ...

The 20th century has brought a lot of changes all aspects of contemporary social life and it specifically changed the mass media environment within the United States. Modern technologies and development of new ways of spreading information presented a new format of informing and communicating that could reach the audience in a serious number of different ways. New actors have recently entered the environment of political communications. They are the talk show hosts and the reports of popular tabloids, and their manner of informing altered the manner that was previously used by journalists and leaders to communicate with the audience. In ...

One cannot talk about cultural anthropology without the mention of the man popularly referred to as the “Father of American Anthropology,” Frank Boas. Frank Boas, a German-born anthropologist, was born on 9th July, 1858 and lived till 21st December, 1942 when the cruel hands of death took him away. He is accredited with founding the culture-centered, relativistic school of American anthropology that dominated the late 19th and early 20th centuries. A preview of his work reveals that he came up with arguments against contemporary theories that centered on racial distinctions between humans. His theory of relativism sought to downplay the ...

The popular belief that American independence was fought for economic reasons, such as unfair taxation without representation, has sometimes been challenged by historians. In his book, The Idea of America: Reflections on the Birth of the United States, Gordon S. Wood defies this view and proposes that the revolution was based on principles such as freedom, republicanism and equality. According to philosopher Isaiah Berlin, writers can be divided into two categories, those who know about many things, and those who decide to fixate on a single subject. Gordon S. Wood says he belongs to the second kind as his ...

The concept of net neutrality states that governments and internet service providers should treat data on the internet with no discrimination. Data should be treated equally despite the user, content, site, application, attached equipment and mode of communication. Critics argue that data discrimination of some type is not problematic but rather highly desirable. Opponents of net neutrality are of the opinion that the best solution to discrimination done by broadband providers is encouraging a larger competition among providers that is limited in many areas. The Federal Communications Commission is making new rules that will permit internet service providers to give ...

The issue of freedom of speech has been around for a number of years. The establishment of democracy in recent times led to the way people looked at the events in the country and share these events with the world. In the world, there is always the freedom of speech, and the yet there is the need to express information that could be kept from the world at large. Through democracy, freedom of the press and freedom of speech have become an integral part of the society and the way of life of these citizens. In fact, many citizens, and ...

The Reality of “Accepted Truths” Today

The Reality of “Accepted Truths” Today

Introduction

Studying political science necessitates critical thought on the status of “accepted truths” as applied to contemporary American politics in comparison to its past. Review of the literature whether this remains an appropriately assigned characteristic of American politics as recognized forty years ago frames the discourse of the scholastic task presented in this document. Von Eckardt (1995) advises “The truth of an argument alone makes it convincing (when it is) undeniable or self-evident, that is, evident by its own terms and definitions, it forms one of the axioms of politics (Von Eckardt, 1959, p. ...

Federalism can be defined as the process or act of sharing power between two or more entities with authority over the same people and in the same geographical area. In the United States, federalism is the DISTRIBUTION of power between the federal government and the state governments. It is regarded as the most innovative concept in the history of America’s constitution, although the word federalism does not appear anywhere in her constitution. A democratic government is a system of governance in which the supreme power is vested in the people, and it is exercised directly by them or their ...

The revolution period created change in the American society because people demanded socio-political freedom. Given that the American Revolution in the late eighteenth century marked the American Independence from the British, Americans wanted to enjoy freedom from any form of control (Hunt 139). The elites in the society denounced theocratic rule. For example, John Locke opposed the idea that people should be loyal to the crown because it symbolized a form of divine power or rule. Instead, most elites in the society wanted a democratic government that served the needs of the people and not oppressing them by taking their rights. ...

Cohen and Socialism I: Justice and Personal Behavior

- Who is G. A. Cohen? Gerald Allan (G.A.) "Jerry" Cohen (1941-2009) was raised in a communist family in Montreal, Canada. He later obtained his political philosophy there and then a doctorate in England. As professor at a university in Oxford, England, Cohen held analytic philosophical, Marxist, and egalitarian views. His notable ideas concern egalitarian ethos and strict difference principle. Some of Cohen’s works include a defense of Marxism, egalitarianism, justice, equality, socialism, as well as, other topics on moral and political philosophy. His political philosophical works, or refutations of others’ works, has been widely read, commented, critiqued and praised. Before ...

In 1620 a ship ‘Mayflower’ with the first colonists on board docked on the coast of the New World land. They left their Motherland in search of place where their religious views would not be suppressed and where they could love according to their own code of morality. And ever since no matter what the settlers did, their strivings were aimed to gain full independence from Britain. There had always been conflicts, but in 1775 the wish to separate backed with strong sense of national identity and to create new democratic and free country reached its climax. The years 1775-1783 ...

The Social Identity Theory indicates that we identify ourselves socially by the social groups we are part of. Members of a social group maintain their identity by the common beliefs they share and the emotional value linked to that membership. It is always expected for comparisons to arise within the group or outside the group. The members assess their social position in relation to a different social group. The desire of every social group is to achieve social distinction from another group. Normally, it is rare to find one social group trying hard to become similar to another group. The issue ...

Public entities must always act in a lawful, transparent and accountable manner. They must act in such a manner for two cardinal reasons. The first is that these entities utilize public resources from taxpayers’ pockets and must, therefore, do everything in their power to make prudent use of these resources. Secondly and most significantly, their actions may end up affecting thousands or millions of people`s lives and livelihoods and, therefore such actions need to be carefully examined, lawful and transparent. These are some of the best practices that are elements of good governance that characterize a democratic society. In a democratic society, ...

Is It Ever Just To Disobey The Law? Under What Circumstances?

The issue on whether it is justified to disobey some laws has raised endless debates among professionals and critical thinkers from all quarters. Some professionals support the ideas of disobeying the existing law while others are opposed to the ideas of violating laws. Some legal scholars argue that disobeying the law that is intended at bringing sanity in the society is highly detrimental. Individuals and organisations that disobey laws face criticism from diverse grounds. Some legal advisers argue that, citizens have an obligation of showing loyalty to their state by obeying the set regulations. Despite the rational arguments staged ...

[Institution Affiliation] The 1960’s and 1970’s were a time in the United States of America that will forever remain in the minds of many people. Long held values were broken and drugs, sex rock took over the minds of the youths. Melvin and William (1992) attribute the cause of the drastic rebellions to the governance system, Vietnam War, law enforcement and authority. The counter-culture of the 1960’s and 1970’s broke the norms of long held values especially among the youth. It was first witnessed in the United States of America and United Kingdom. It ...

Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) in the United States history were a radical student movement during the 1960s. This was a student activist organization in the U.S. that was one of the foremost representations of the New Left. In the prominent Port Huron (Michigan) Statement of 1962, the movement, established in 1960 , offered its vision for-Vietnam War America and invited students to join the organization to establish ‘participatory democracy’. On June 1962, less than 100 individuals show up during the initial SDS meeting at Port Huron, Michigan. During this convention, the group espoused an endorsed political philosophy, the Port Huron Statement, ...

Throughout history, most societies that created myths and legends about women regarded them as a distinctly weaker and inferior caste of beings, whose main role was that of wife and mother. Women who passively accepted their inferior status and did not aspire to economic and educational equality with men were glorified, particularly in myths about the Mother and the Virgin. Those who failed to limit themselves to the confines of these myths and stereotypes were demonized, or even literally condemned as witches. Nazi Germany and the other fascist states were the most extreme cases of all, with their totalitarian myths ...

Reporting to the idea of Condorcet that a democratic society that is free is only achieved when human beings master, in a competent way, the world of information, i.e. are educated, I agree with this statement. In fact, only when people have a strong understanding of what surrounds them, they can make true conscious decisions, knowing for certain what are the conditions and consequences of such. It is a rule, in my opinion, to build true democracy. When people receive education, they do not just receive the ability to read and write. They also learn to think, to have complex ideas and to ...

For some, smoking tobacco is a pleasurable experience to enjoy in moderation. For many, however, tobacco is a highly addictive substance which causes them, and those around them, many health problems. If someone is aware of the consequences of smoking and still wants to smoke, a democratic society would say they have the right to do so, but also the responsibility that goes with that right not to harm anyone else while doing so. Is it an act of freedom or fascism to force someone to do something, even if the action appears to be in the best interests of the individual? ...

Introduction

The issue of whether health care for all is a “right” and therefore should be provided free by social services, or whether it really should be considered as a personal responsibility, has recently been the subject of much heated debate. This essay discusses some of the views expressed and opinions offered, and illustrates why perhaps the answer is not as clear cut as proponents of either argument would have us believe. However, the following paragraphs will show that in fact it is really a personal responsibility, even though there should nonetheless – in a democratic society like ours – be a safety net providing basic care ...

Arguably, the society today is becoming too dynamic. In that, technological inventions and innovations have various impacts in the activities of human beings. Media is one of the ways in which media has influenced the democracy. As a matter of fact, media have several main roles in democracy. Accessibility of information is one of the essential factors to the establishment of a health democratic arena. Information is always a weapon that empowers the public on various issues namely political, social, as well as economic. The invention of media has changed democratic issues and perspectives in the entire world. In fact, the only ...

What were the origins of the interwar political parties in Iraq, Syria, andEgypt? Why did these parties (and their associated parliamentary systems)fail to survive?

The formation of interwar political parties had a start from the Ottoman Empire during the early phases of colonialism .Yaacov (2010) observes that, during the war II, the Ottoman empires started losing to the allied forces. The turn of events for the other forces in the allied force led to a number of political organizations. There was for instance the formation of polities like Turkey, Egypt, Palestine, Trans-Jordan(Jordan),Lebanon, Syria, and Iraq. Allen (2008) develops ...