Nordic Countries Built on a Culture of Equality and Trustworthiness

The political parties today have undisputed role in the democratic process. Gaining importance throughout the 20th century, they proved to be an instrumental mobilizing device, aiming to involve the majority of the population in the political process for the first time in history. Moisei Ostrogorski was a pioneer in the field with his works comparing the political parties in the US and Britain. In his works he argued that parties are becoming inseparable part of the democratic process within the state “whenever this life of parties is developed, it focuses the political feelings and the active will of its citizens” (Ostrogorski in Hauge and Harrop:2010). Ostrogorski`s stance on the increasing importance of parties in a democratic state politics proved to be justified – in the countries of Western Europe, where the democratic tradition is strong, mass political parties competed for the votes of ever-increasing electorate. Parties proved to be important even in non-democratic societies – in fascist and socialist states single parties dominated the state, even in certain cases coalesced with it. The 20th century proved to be very important in the party development process. They discarded the image of engagement mainly in capturing the leavers of power and even ruling against the public will and interest. Since then parties have been accepted as a necessary instrument that shapes the collective interest, whose role is explicitly noted in the state constitutions. The topic of

When it comes to intervention in private affairs, policy analysts should use great caution and stay away from it. Most single decision encourages such social values as productivity and freedom. In any case, some individual decision can be distinguished as market failures and can diminish social values in unsurprising ways. As a result, aggregate decision practiced through government structures offers, at any rate, the possibility of correcting the apparent insufficiencies of individual choice. Be that as it may, similarly as individual decision now and then neglects to advance

Comparative politics is the empirical comparative study of political systems. It involves the classification and comparison of institutions - ‘a rule that has been institutionalised’ (Lane and Ersson, 1999: 23) - in order to determine the nature of political regimes. The study of comparative politics has come to be guided by three major research schools: rational choice theory, culturalist analysis and structuralist approaches; each of which spearhead a distinctive notion over what about institutions affects the nature of the political process. Rationalists are methodological individualists who assert that

This second part of the essay it will explain what is meant by the term mutual constitution of personal lives and social policy. Mutual constitution is a term used to describe the reciprocal way in which a person’s personal life influences and affects social policy consequently influencing and affecting a person’s personal life. So varied and complex is this process that it is sometimes almost impossible to distinguish who is ultimately influencing who. However, the way in which one influences the other can be related to the time and place, individual and collective biographies, class and age just to name a few (Fink and Lewis et al, 2009 pg30). For example when a particular policy is implemented the individuals that are affected by that policy are not simply passive subjects. Their personal experiences and knowledge will provide “the framework through which they will give meaning to and negotiate the relation.” (Fink and Lewis et al , 2009 pg 40) This could mean the rejection of policies that do not fit with the subject position of such individuals. Thus, the way such

When identifying the presence of a democratic deficit in the European Union, it is important to consider a range of factors, including international treaties and the effect they had on its structured governmental framework. One of the first official agreements established by the European Union (formerly

The language of the article is politically based, and there are vocabulary words that are not common knowledge. The article is broken down by headings, which makes the document easily navigated. The graphics within the article give the readers a visual break, but they also show the text in picture form, which is sometimes easier to understand. The graphs that the author uses are prevalent in the field of political science, however they are not always helpful to non-intellectuals’ because they are data driven. A benefit of this article is that it is relatively concise and does not have many unnecessary phrases. A downside of this article is that it is formatted with text in columns, which decreases comprehensiveness and

Since the 20th century, Sweden has evolved into the 6th highest ranking parliament, when it comes to women; although, Australia’s parliament is ranked as 50th regarding gender equality, the country was one of the first nations to acknowledge women’s suffrage (Inter-Parliamentary Union 2017). Sweden’s government is a monarchy comprised of a multiparty system parliament (Riksdag). Representatives are elected and nominated by the people to take part in the Swedish parliament, titled Riksdag. Likewise, Australia’s parliament comprises of a Constitutional Monarchy that is governed by a governor-general as well as the two Houses (Senate and House of Representatives). In Sweden’s lower house and single house 152 of the 349 seats are held by

Canada is a diverse country with people from different cultures living harmoniously together. Unlike nations such as America where people consider themselves as Americans first, almost a third of Canadians identify with another culture or ethnic group, in addition to being Canadian. Internationally, Canada is praised for its progressive, antiracist laws that support multiculturalism. While multiculturalism is something that is gaining currency in most countries around the world as a strategy for including the minorities, Canada was the first country to develop comprehensive multiculturalism policies. Canada also supports international efforts to protect human rights. Despite the international credentials of Canada as a bastion of freedom and equality, there are problems regarding the historical treatment of first nations. Even now, the standard of livings for members of first nations is significantly lower than that of the average for Canada. Aboriginal life expectancy is lower and, has fewer high school graduates, and other quality of life outcomes are poor compared to the rest of the population. What is apparent is race determines success, with euro, Canadian outperforming the rest. Inequity in socio-economic conditions between Aboriginals and non-Aboriginals is the result of a history of colonialism and institutional racism (Bryant, 2015, January 22).

The United States and Sweden have similarities and difference between their government and political systems causing most individuals to be impacted differently. Both governments include a

Politics will try and dominate some places where there is a vast majority of supporters both to the government and to the opposition. Spade has highlighted the need to avoid these resistances that is likely to create hatred among different communities thereby resulting into exploitations of different communities. It is, therefore, important to analyze the norms so as to help eliminate the resist against some individual who may be proposing or opposing the developments. The book has generated individualistic rights that can be achieved as a result of the norms. “dispersion of power among people will help realize the generation of a mutual relationship between different people from different communities.” Spade has used the description given by Mitchell Dean to show different kinds of analysis that are experienced through the use of bureaucracy. The identification of different regimes within the government set up will, therefore, create a platform for generating multiplicity through heterogeneous and unlimited

With all of its distinction and eminence, the Communist Manifesto serves a great deal of relevance to today’s societies and governments. The political pamphlet served as a basis for socialism for the next one hundred years after it was published. Many countries experienced with its ideologies and fundamentals, but the majority did not remain permanent. With the changes and experiences of those countries it was clear that socialism was not a successful method of economic and social stability. As for the countries that did remain socialist, their governments have reinforced and supplemented

In the period following the Second World War, the welfare state within capitalist democracies had the apparent capacity to reconcile the opposing priorities of a range of social and economic interests (Jamrozik 2005:305). However, at the close of the 20th and opening of the 21st centuries, a shift

Tsebelis (1995) offered veto player framework to understand why public policy changes in particular political system. This framework offers more detail explanation on the public policy changes than other institutional theory, because veto player framework focuses on the actor instead of the institutions. This paper reviews three articles on welfare state’s policy change. Using the veto player framework, the three articles give the similar conclusion that in order to change the public policy, we should understand the number and position of veto points (Immergut, 1990) whether it is on the executive, legislative or electoral, so we can construct the best strategies to propose the change, the institutional design (Immergut, 1990; Huber, Rubin and Stephen, 1993) and the common belief system among the players (Kremer, 2006).

Here in the United States, disputes about the axiological restructuring of American social policy and social change are at the forefront of our policymaking, and one can assume it will remain so for the anticipated future. The belief that change is necessary is evident to all Americans, but which path to take is immensely different. Abramovitz states that, "Ideology is more that abstract ideas. It has raised hopes, inspired fear, and drawn blood for millions of human beings” (2008). Americans stand to make their ideologies on platforms when they elect politicians who share in their beliefs, ideologies, and cultural norms into positions of power. When this occurs, Americans look to their politicians to adhere to their beliefs and take the path to change they see fit. Throughout history, there is a persistent power struggle between American political parties, primarily Republican and Democrat, and the ideologies they harbor. When one party has a more dominant omnipresence, the overall ideology of the country tends to shift. In 2007, Karger & Stoesz state that, “Ideological trends influence social welfare when adherents of one orientation hold sway in decision- making capacities” (p.5). According to Gil, “Choices in social welfare policy are heavily influenced by the dominant beliefs, values, ideologies, customs, and traditions of the cultural and political elites recruited mainly from among the more powerful and privileged strata” (1981, p.32). During this current election

These documents, at the same time, take back the sociopolitical thought that had been developped in a long tradition, and whose most striking stages are: the supreme value of reason as basis for any sociopolitical relation such as we discover at the Greek Polis and such as it is presented by the great thinkers Plato and Aristotle; the intrinsic value of human person, son of the same Christian God, and capable, because of his freedom, either of salvation or of condemnation, as it was understood by the main thinkers in the Middle Ages; the human Individual, considered as a juridical subject, capable of making contracts and assuming rights and duties and, therefore, as the last foundation of any sociopolitical organization, as he was thought by the liberal tradition embodied by Hobbes, Locke and the Encyclopedists. The concrete praxis of these theoretical principles in democratic societies and nations where the Individuals are the cause and the end of this sociopolitical order such as we find in Great Britain, Switzerland, Holland, USA, France, Sweeden, Norwegen, Canada and many other nations throughout the five continents.