Characteristics Of A Democratic Civil Society

Societies developed into states and governments. To define state its a ‘’political creation that has the recognized authority to use and maintain a monopoly on the use of force within a clearly defined jurisdiction. ’’ While a government is a political institution of the state it uses organization, bureaucracy, and formality to regulate social interactions.

Though a democratic government is great in theory, without educated and capable voters it’s potentially inefficient and incompetent. However, Athenian democracy thrives due to an informed public. Accordingly, so does the society it governs. “Our public men have, besides politics, their private affairs to attend to, and our ordinary citizens, though occupied with the pursuits of industry, are still fair judges of public matters; for, unlike any other nation, regarding him who takes no part in these duties not as unambitious but as useless, we Athenians are able to judge at all events if we cannot

Walter Parker the author of Teaching Democracy Unity and Diversity in Public Life describe in the introduction democracy in society. He states in the introduction that “there can be no democracy without its builders, caretakers, and change agents” (Parker, xvii). Suggesting, educators (not like myself), some parents, a few peers, media outlets, big corporations (Pearson), and social forces (politicians) contributes to the role democracy. These are not his exact words, but in-evidently meaning these important groups. Parker goes on to say that these select group of people do things for society that others do not have to do.

The characteristics of American Democracy are individualism, political equality, popular consent, majority rule with the preservation of minority rights, and personal liberty (South University Online, 2016).

OBJECTIVE: Students will be able to analyze a series of sources related to the causes and effects of exploration and answer questions.

According to MacIntyre (2007), the basic features of civic humanism are derived from the rise of the large-scale state and decline of the polis. This process has had immense consequences for the conceptual relation between morals and politics. The setting of the moral life is altered to become assessments of men often ruled from far off, living isolated lives in politically powerless communities. (MacIntyre, 2007. 96). It becomes imperative to encourage fellow citizens using words for them to perform actions that are

Egalitarian societies originate from resistance to injustice. As Europe entered modernity, much of Western civilization was ruled by absolute monarchies. Consequently, pivotal events like the Enlightenment founded modern democracy, epitomized by the creation of the United States. While the Declaration emphasizes natural rights and freedoms, the Constitution implements checks and balances, emphasizing balances of power and representative governments. Most importantly, the malleability of the Constitution allows for a continually evolving understandings of freedom and rights. These fundamentally interconnected concepts led Thoreau to coin 'civil disobedience' during a perceivably unjust war for western expansion. Civil disobedience positively impacts societies because it

Thomas Paine supported his premise at the beginning of the novel by setting up an imaginary situation where a small group of people were alone somewhere away from civilization. He says that "society will be their first thought" and that eventually they will begin to "relax in their duty and attachment to each other," creating the need for laws and people to enforce them. They will initially form a system of regulations, but as they increase so will public concerns and it will be too inconvenient for them all to meet up and talk through the issues. The natural solution will be to elect representatives who share the concerns of the people who elected them. In other words, the natural form of government is democracy.

Civil societies are voluntary social institutions and organizations that are separate from the government and the market where a community of citizens are able to come together and pursue their shared common interest. They are beneficial to the community as well as the broader society as civil societies ultimately promote progressive policies, nurture positive social norms that encourage stability, and advocates accountability and checks against state authority (Edwards 2010). Moreover, civil societies represent a third sphere of association where citizens are able to address the deficiencies that the state and market fail to handle and then have the opportunity to develop their own

Public opinion plays a huge role in the development of democracy. “A society is unlikely to maintain democratic institutions over the long term, unless democracy has solid support among the public” (Andersen 2012). Most research on the issue demonstrates a positive link between economic development and support for democracy(Andersen 2012). Some researchers also consider social trust (Putnam 1993) and social tolerance (Andersen and Fetner 2008) to be a major factor of support of democracy. Most Americans see unequal economy as a result of individuals work ethics and talent rather then a flaw in the economic system. However, most Americans accept inequality because they believe everyone has the same chances in life to make the best. A properly running government is supposed to make positive that all the citizen are equal. By believing in equal democratic rights Americans support everyone citizen having the same level of equality and the same equal voice in representative government. Since citizens don’t feel that they can trust the government to create and equal ground for all they are much less likely to be involve and participate in political field. Concerned citizens have the right to be worried about the health of our democracy. It seems that the government resounds more often and effectively to the more privileged group in society then to needs of the

When determining what designs and creates a democracy we look at what makes up its economy, what is the role of a citizen in that state or what defines a citizen, and how government should be acting in this democracy. This is what Lia and Hanauer did when they wrote the Gardens of Democracy, this descriptive book brings forth an idea that sees society as a garden which needs active tending and sustainability to better improve its situation. With the right gardeners and setting the garden will be able to prosper and adapt into the most suitable environment. The authors use this metaphor of a garden to describe that society needs citizens and government to tend to, that there needs to be an active role for government to provide citizens with

Society is everything that the people join together to do which is positive. Government, however, is meant only to protect us from ourselves. Government is described as a “necessary evil,” and should only be judged on how well it accomplishes that goal.

However, it is found that the groups like civic associations and nonprofit funders make most investments in promoting innovations and building civic capacity. They should be inspired to do so continuously more ambitiously and effectively but still such contributions are not enough to match with the rising cost of civic democracy. So, the government can and should rise to the occasion. More government’s involvement as civic enabler will help the country to cope with this problem.

A well established society need a sophisticated leader, but smart, civilized people are even more important. In William Golding Lord of the Flies, when those boys decide to have a chief, the little boy Roger says “Let’s have a vote.” Then, boys echo “Vote a chief.” “Yes!” “Let’s vote--” Roger can think of voting and boys agree with him, that indicates the democracy in the small society, therefore, those

An ideal society is considered to be a utopian society, defined as a society where everything is as good as it possibly can be for everyone living in that society. However this type of society has never existed before and continues to be a dream that remains locked up in our minds. Three philosophers who seem to propose an ideal just society are John Rawls, Karl Marx and Milton Friedman. I will be explaining what my vision of an ideal society is and what are the basis and fundamental principles that Rawls, Marx and Friedman use in order to obtain a just society.