Sheila Israel

• Democracy


  Government where the people hold the supreme power; where power is vested on the people; and where the people posses the sovereign will
• Abraham Lincoln: '"… government of the people, by the people, for the people…"'
• What democracy has come to mean

  • Separation of powers
  • Fundamental civil rights
  • Freedom of religion
  • Separation of church and state
• Features of Democracy


  • The final decision making power must rest with those who elected by the people
  • Based on a free and fair election where those currently in power have a fair chance of losing
  • Each adult citizen must have one vote and each vote must have one value
  • A democratic government rules within limits sets by constitutional law and citizen's right
  • The opposition parties are allowed to function freely before and after the elections
  • The democratic governments are based on fundamental principles of political equality
• Merits of Democracy


  • Ethical defense - Democracy recognizes the worth of a man, rejects the right of one or few to rule over the others, the community as a whole is the custodian of sovereignty state
  • Common welfare - The government will respond to the needs of all since power of sovereignty vests in all, enhances the dignity of citizens based on political equality
  • Rule of law - Guarantees rights and freedom
  • Develop patriotism
  • Equality - No ruler and ruled, people can live and regulate their lives according to their needs and choice
  • Education - Innate educative value, ruling opposition parties constantly educate the people
  • Self-government - Government of the people, by the people and for the people, allows us to correct its own mistakes
  • Freedom - Recognition of duties of government and rights of people, personal freedom and equal consideration for all
• Demerits of Democracy


  • They like dictatorship - It is a false democracy
  • Voters can be bribed
  • Not everyone votes
  • Violence during election
  • Elections are very expensive and huge revenue
  • Political stability, Political Dynasty and Political Corruption
• Democratic Practices


  Ways citizens can work together - even when they disagree - to address shared problems
• Suffrage


  • Gives the people the opportunity to exercise sovereignty by choosing the candidates who will govern and serve them, an inalienable political right of the citizens so that no one, unless declared by law as disqualified, should be deprived of its exercise
• Exercise of suffrage


  Not without controversies, election fraud such as vote buying and results manipulation surface during the election period
• Protest against election fraud

  • Walkout of 35 computer programmers at the quick count for the 1986 snap election where they detected a discrepancy between the computer tabulation results and the figures on the tally board, favoring the incumbent President Marcos against the oppositionist Corazon Aquino
• Civic responsibility


  Acts and attitudes related to social involvement and democratic governance (e.g. voting, behaving ethically, obedience to laws and regulations, participation in community activities)
• Civic duty


  Acts which the citizens are legally required to do such as paying taxes, attending school, or registering for military service
• Public assembly


  Rallies, demonstrations, marches, public meetings, processions, or parades held in public places to express opinion, to protest against, or to air grievances on certain issues
• Conduct of a plebiscite


  An electoral process for approving or rejecting a change or amendment in the Constitution, change should be ratified by a majority of the votes cast in a plebiscite within a period specified by law
• John F. Kennedy: '"Ask not what your country can do for you – ask what you can do for your country."'
• Democratic Participation


  Involvement or engagement with something which is freely done, without coercion, and without threat or fear
• Low voter turnout during elections, signifying the voter's neglect in exercising their political rights and in choosing the quality of government they would have, can lead to the erosion of democracy
• Undemocratic practices


  Oppressive acts or practices that curtail human rights and obstruct the exercise of one's free and sovereign will
• Impacts of undemocratic practices

  • Gender bias
  • Wealth distribution and poverty
  • Race relations, suffrage, and political marginalization
  • Cultural domination, representation, and the politics of recognition
• Gender bias


  Prejudicial act or attitude toward males or females
• Matriarchal society


  Characterized by female rule or female dominance, including women's control of property
• Matrilineal society


  Where the descent or lineage, birthright, and social classification are traced through maternal rather than paternal lines
• Patriarchal society


  Demonstrates unequal treatment between males and females, in favor of the males
• The widening gap between the rich and the poor, the diminishing number of the "haves" and the increasing number of the "have-nots," and the widening areas occupied by the homeless throughout the world are only few of the negative impacts of undemocratic practices in income distribution, which is one of the major causes of poverty
• People are deprived of their rights to a decent life and their dignity is trampled upon when they cannot afford three square meals a day, when they can only occupy dilapidated shanties, and when their young children grow up in the streets and work out of necessity instead of studying in school
• Unless revoked by law, every citizen is entitled to exercise suffrage or the right to vote people to whom he or she entrusts the authority to govern
• People who are subjected to political marginalization are unable to fully exercise their sovereign power they are deprived of the opportunity to do so
• In society nestling multicultural, multireligious, and multiracial populations, domination by major cultural or ethnolinguistic groups over cultural communities is not surprising
• Recognition of cultural group's identity becomes problematic if they are treated as less important and as if having a marginal existence
• Advantages of Democracy


  • It protects the interest of citizens
  • It prevents monopoly of authority
  • It promotes equality
  • It makes for a responsible and stable administration
  • It brings a feeling of obligation towards the citizens
  • It imparts political education to the people
  • It helps make good citizens
  • It allows a little chance of revolution
  • It promotes change
• Disadvantages of Democracy


  • It might allow misuse of public funds and time
  • It instigates corruption
  • It risks the wrong choice of public servants
  • It allows not exercising the right to vote
  • It may put more emphasis on quantity, rather than quality
  • It can take long to make decisions
  • It may involve immoral practices during elections
• Crime and the fear of crime have permeated the fabric of American life
• Collective fear stimulates herd instinct, and tends to produce ferocity toward those who are not regarded as members of the herd
• Criminology


  The scientific study of crime
• Criminology


  The study of lawmaking, law-breaking, and the response to law-breaking
• Criminal justice


  The response (policing, courts, and corrections) to criminal behavior
• Deviance


  Anyone who violates social norms
• Norms


  Guidelines that define for members of a society the types of behaviors that are appropriate or inappropriate in certain situations
• Folkways


  Norms against actions that may evoke a snicker or some teasing as a response
• Mores


  Norms that evoke a more serious response from others when violated