“Democràcia a Amèrica” d’Alexis de Tocqueville
"Democràcia a Amèrica" d'Alexis de Tocqueville De Tocqueville va ser un autor francès que visqué durant gran part del segle XIX i a qui li preocupava molt la situació i futur dels Estats Units d'Amèrica que en aquell aleshores s'estaven formant. He decidit fer el comentari del llibre enfocant la segona part del segon volum: Influència de la Democràcia en els Sentiments dels Americans. En aquesta part del llibre, Tocqueville proporciona un anàlisi filosòfic del precari balanç entre igualtat i llibertat, qüestió que és centre dels seus treballs. Idealment, la igualtat i la llibertat són perfectament compatibles. Tocqueville afirma que "els homes no poden ser absolutament iguals sense ser del tot lliures". Per il·lustrar millor aquest punt, Tocqueville imagina un escenari polític un tant utòpic on la igualtat i la llibertat es barrejarien perfectament: "Deixa'm suposar que tots els ciutadans prenen part en el Govern i que cadascun d'ells té el mateix dret a participar-hi. Així, cap home és diferent dels seus compatriotes, i ningú pot empunyar un poder tirànic; els homes seran del tot lliures perquè són plenament iguals, i seran plenament iguals perquè són del tot lliures". Per tant, igualtat i llibertat no són inherentment contradictoris, sinó que són complementaris. Així però, la igualtat que Tocqueville no tracta que tothom sigui igual, sinó
"There is no place in the Contemporary Middle Eastfor Western style democracy".
"There is no place in the Contemporary Middle East for Western style democracy" Discuss. The region known as the Middle East features heavily in our UK media. It is rare for a day to go by without mention of the Israeli- Palestinian conflict, or the activities of extreme Islamic fundamentalist groups. However the Middle East is much more than a hotbed of religious fundamentalism and violence. It incorporates some of the richest countries in the world and was, for hundreds of years, the cultural centrepiece of civilisation. The region known as the Middle East is not a definite one. Other terms used include The gulf, The Orient and the 'Arab World'. The gulf does not account for the northern African countries which are culturally Middle Eastern. The orient is an outdated term, nowadays more likely to conjure images of China or Japan. Whilst the 'Arab world' is indeed centered on the Middle East, there are millions of Arabs worldwide outside the geographical and cultural Middle East. For the purpose of this essay I will use the term Middle East to cover Algeria, Bahrain, Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Mauritania, Morocco, Oman, Qatar and Saudi Arabia. Some discussion may also include Turkey, which is often viewed as a European country. Turkey's role as the base of the Ottoman Empire means it is highly relevant to the contemporary Middle East,
Democracy - a form of government in which the people have the right to control their own government
In general terms, a democracy is a form of government in which the people have the right to control their own government. In a democracy the people have the final authority, they have the right to make or at least influence decisions that affect their everyday lives. The term itself comes from the Greek words demos, meaning "people," and kratos, meaning "authority." It can be argued that Democracy is essential for the fulfilment of individual as well as collective aspirations, and vital for the progression of society and as such is functional for each and every society. The first glimpses that the world had of democracy came as a result of the ancient Greek civilisation. Ancient Greek civilisation rose to wealth and power as a series of city states each ruled by a monarch or political figures who seized power by force, known as tyrants. Notions of democracy began to emerge as the disatisfication with the stagnant situation that the 'thetes' (working class people) were living in grew. However, many attempts at democracy were made, with radical reforms but democracy as we know it did not materialise; the Utopia that many people imagined had not come pricipaly due to the fact that their democracy was flawed. Chiefly because of a fatal ambiguity: to its opponents democracy was no more, and no better, than mob-rule, since for them it meant the political power of the masses
Canadian Health Care System
The Canadian Health Care System: An Assessment of the System & the Creation of the Health Council of Canada April 6th, 2010 The Canadian health care system has been a work in progress since its inception. Reforms have been made over the past four decades and will continue in response to changes within medicine and throughout society. However, the basic principles remain the same - universal coverage for medically necessary health care services to be provided on the basis of need, rather than the ability to pay. Canada's publicly funded health care system can be best described as an interlocking set of ten provincial and three territorial health insurance plans. Known to Canadians as "Medicare", the system provides access to universal, comprehensive coverage for medically necessary hospital and physician services. Despite the slow improvement that has occurred, it has become clear that since the implementation of the Canada Health Act in 1984, Canada’s health care system has been in decline and has fallen significantly behind nations like the U.K., Sweden and Finland[1]. The degradation of the Canadian healthcare system has been a gradual process, which has had many negative consequences. Despite negative indications, policy trend in Canada saw a decrease in transfer payments as a percentage of GDP from the Federal to Provincial governments as well as the vertical
Fiscalizacin y gobernabilidad
Universidad de Costa Rica Facultad de Ciencias Económicas Escuela de Administración Pública Curso de Administración Pública y Gobernabilidad Profesora: Carmen Coto Tema: Gobernabilidad y Fiscalización Externa Integrantes: Geraldin Castaing...........................................A41225 Susana Goñi.........................................................A22193 Sindy López.........................................................A43033 Juan Esteban Varela......................................A55876 7 junio 2008 INDICE Indice 2 Introducción 3 Reseña Histórica del Control en Costa Rica 5 Los comienzos de la Contraloría General de la República 6 Contralores y Subcontralores Generales 7 La Contraloría de hoy 9 Marco Legal 13 Ámbito de competencia 14 Funciones 14 Procedimientos establecidos para el control 19 División de Fiscalización Operativa y Evaluativa 24 Comparación teórico - práctico 27 Logros de la Contraloría en materia de fiscalización 32 La Contraloría en su labor asistente de la Asamblea Legislativa 32 Fiscalización posterior 34 Relación de la fiscalización externa y la gobernabilidad en Costa Rica 41 Conclusiones 43 INTRODUCCIÓN La fiscalización o función fiscalizadora se refiere al sometimiento de la actividad económico-financiera del sector público a los principios de legalidad, eficiencia y
Examine some of the main differences, in theory and practice between direct and representative democracy.
Examine some of the main differences, in theory and practice between direct and representative
Prime Minister versus President
Tim Hammersmith 1/17/08 POLS 171 Jesse Week 9 Siaroff, Ch. 6 (pg. 141-171) Question: What works better, a President or a Prime Minister? A nation's type of government refers to how that state's executive, legislative, and judicial organs are organized. All nations need some sort of government to avoid anarchy. Democratic governments are those that permit the nation's citizens to manage their government either directly or through elected representatives. This is opposed to authoritarian governments that limit or prohibit the direct participation of its citizens. Two of the most popular types of democratic governments are the presidential and parliamentary systems. According to Alan Siaroff, in a presidential system, "the position of head of government (the one who runs the country) and head of state (the symbolic national head) are fused in the single office of the president" (Siaroff, 2005). Within a presedential system, "the president is chosen seperately from the legislature (even if on the same day), making the president independent from the legislature in terms of political survival (and vice-versa)" (Siaroff, 2005). What makes a presidential system unique is the president is elected for a fixed term of a specified number of years, and is elected directly by voters or by an electoral college. MSN Encarta defines the electoral college as "the institution through
Manifest Destiny spread across the land with a divine mission to extend the United States' power to the Pacific Ocean.
Manifest Destiny spread across the land with a divine mission to extend the United States' power to the Pacific Ocean. It was a force that united an immense quantity of Americans toward expansion and it was a force that put the same Americans into a war. "Was "Manifest Destiny," as exemplified by the War with Mexico, a justifiable and necessary policy for the development of the United States? Manifest Destiny was unquestionably a needless and groundless policy for the United States to acquire. American expansion was driven by many factors, one of them being the intent to spread democracy. Democracy depicts a republic in which all people are given equal treatment of the law by the government that they themselves create. Expansion during the era of Manifest destiny was not for democratic ideas, but for improved commerce and overall wealth to the nation, as stated in Document D. A nationalistic attitude was adapted by Americans. With this came the idea of superiority over the Mexican race. Document E expresses the view that Americans had entirely no legitimate reason to take away the independence of a civilization, simply because they thought that they were subordinate to them. Racism played a part in the growth of the United States. In Document I, Irwin Unger writes that as American victory increased, so did the urgency for more and more land. They also saw the Mexicans as
To what extent is liberalism compatible with democracy
To what extent is liberalism compatible with democracy? Liberalism is associated with the modern development of democracy and democratic institutions it has not had a very strong relationship with democracy. Democracy is the means by which people could be liberated and free to express their self-interested individualism, excessive amounts of this could lead to the oppression of individuals and minorities. But the liberal belief is mainly related to self-government which is not what democracy is as everyone is coming together. As well as that there is no major sense of equality in democracy. Classical liberals worried about tyranny of the majority which would result in individual liberty and minority rights being crushed in the name of the people. A way in which this problem could be solved is to retain the property qualification for voting so that the irresponsible majority would be denied political rights. Overall classical liberals saw democracy as becoming a threat to individual liberty. But some argued that majority would create a network of checks and balances that would make government responsive to competing minorities. By the 20th Century most liberals had come to see democracy as a virtue even though it was based on several doctrines and arguments. The earliest justified form was the idea that citizens must have ways in which they could protect themselves from
Defining Liberalism and Democracy.
Defining Liberalism and Democracy The word liberal did not come into use until early in the nineteenth century and it was not until around 1839 that the Whig Party in Great Britain came to be referred to as "the Liberal Party." Although giving liberalism a definitive meaningis not easy , it can be said that liberalism is a system of belief, derived from personal political idealism, in which there are certain unbreakable freedoms or values which identify its essence: ) A belief in the absolute value of human personality and the spiritual equality of all individuals. 2) A belief in the autonomy of individual will. 3) A belief in the essential rationality and goodness of man. 4) A belief in the existence of certain inalienable rights peculiar to individuals by virtue of their humanity. They are commonly spoken of as the natural rights to "life, liberty, and property." 5) A belief that the state comes into existence by mutual consent for the sole purpose of preserving and protecting these rights. 6) A belief that the relationship between the state and individuals is a contractual one and that when the terms of the contract are violated individuals have not only the right but the responsibility to revolt and establish a new government. 7) A belief that social control is best secured by law rather than command. The law is conceived as being at once the product of