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Example research essay topic: Separation Of Powers Equality Of Opportunity - 2,156 words

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Robert Dahl and Effective Participation According to Robert Dahl, effective participation is one of the key criteria for a democratic governing process. In the evolving contemporary democracies, participation is not limited to simple voting or even to the parties influence. Effective participation means that there are a lot of interest groups that affect the governing process, and it is especially true for the liberal democracies, which are going to be discussed within the conceptual framework of this research. We will first elaborate on the concept of liberal democracy itself, to be followed by analyses of how various influences shape the democratic processes, and what political or interest groups are the most effective in their ability to change the governing process. Liberal democracy is a particular form of democracy which is based upon a fundamental set of assumptions about the individual, the state and society. (Weizner, p. 97) What are these basic assumptions and how far does liberal democracy succeed in its main aims? Francis Fukuyama in 1989 declared The end of history claiming that with the fall of world communism and the almost universal acceptance of liberal democracy, that man had finally found the ultimate solution. (Rebick, p. 144) As time goes by this view is being increasingly questioned, but there is no doubt that liberal democracy is currently the most favored approach throughout the world to the problem of government.

But liberal democracy is a word used all too easily to present a kind of utopian vision, without always questioning its fundamental tenants, or even defining it properly. To do this we must look at the assumptions it makes, and to see if it does indeed represent the end of history as Fukuyama suggested, we must look at its aims and see if and to what extent it has achieved them. I intend to work through the basic assumptions that liberal democracy is based on, covering some of the arguments that exist about them and then to go on to show how there are as many aims in liberal democracy as there are people participating in it, but that there are some fundamental aims that must be achieved to allow this. Liberal democracy is a development of the synthesis of liberalism and republican-democracy. (Rebick, p. 173) It differs slightly from both and vastly from other forms of democracy such as Marxist democracy.

It is necessary to give a brief definition of both liberalism and democracy to show that they are not as closely related as their joint title would suggest. Liberalism is synonymous with freedom and protecting natural-law and nowadays civil-rights from infringement by the government. Democracy is defined as: government by the people; that form of government in which the sovereign power resides in a people as a whole, and is exercised either directly by them... or by officers elected by them. (Curran, p. 132) The force of liberalism within democracy is necessary to protect from and so acts as a restriction to some extent on the level of 'democratization' but it is also necessary for the basic workings of democracy to continue. Liberal democracy assumes a number of things that we can split into individual, state and society because of the overlap between all three. Liberal democracy assumes that the individual has both human rights and civil rights.

Human rights are considered above man-made law and derive from the concept of natural law, there is much dispute over what these are but they generally include equality and usually private property. Civil rights may vary from country to country but must include some basics that allow the individual and society as a whole to discuss and diffuse opinions so as to meaningfully participate in democracy. Basic rights would include freedom of speech - including printing and other forms of communication, freedom of movement and meeting. Along with this concept of rights goes the idea of a limited state, liberalism separates life into both political and personal spheres, liberal democracy assumes that the state should interfere as little as possible within the personal sphere of an individual so as to endow them with as much freedom as possible to carry on their life in the way in which they want to do it, exerting their influence in their own section of civil society free from unwanted interference by the state (but restrained enough not to interfere with the freedom of others). (Herman, p. 99) The assumption of a limited state however is not just based on liberal notions of freedom but is also necessary from a practical point of view, in that it is necessary for individuals to lead different lives with different values and opinions in order to avoid being swallowed up in an all-pervading opinion that the omnipresence of the state in the personal sphere might bring. (Herman, p. 104) Another major assumption of liberal democracy is that of popular participation, the extent to which all are or should be included in this and to how great a degree is a matter for debate, it is sufficient to say at the moment that there is an assumption of majority participation - usually all adults of sound mind and that each person has an equal say, usually one person - one vote.

Because of the huge numbers involved popular participation is normally carried out through differing forms of representation, for instance, people elect a representative to make decisions for them. The two main forms of representation are first past the post and proportional representation. (Rebick, p. 189) There is also the idea of competition. Liberal democracy invariable assumes at least two separate parties (although there are usually more, especially under proportional representation). This leads to a further assumption involving the institutions of democracy - namely the separation of powers. That is to say it is usually accepted that the legislative, the executive and the judicial powers act as checks on each other and are to some extents independent. Again there is a great deal of argument, while many theorists especially liberals call for a widening of the separation of powers; others see this as endangering democracy itself.

Alain Touraine for instance claims: It would seem to me an exaggeration to make the separation of powers an essential element of democracy... If the separation of powers were complete, democracy would disappear. (Weizner, p. 132) Certainly, besides the political parties there are a lot of direct and indirect influences on the governing process in the contemporary democratic countries. First of all, social movements of various directions are starting to gain momentum and thus affect the political process. While a relatively small group of people has no way of influencing the governmental machine, a large social movement with some particular goals and objective has a lot of means in its disposal of how to influence the government at large as well as most of the processes within that very government. The direct way a social movement can affect governmental processes is by pushing its representatives into the upper branch of the political hierarchy. The indirect way is showing to the political leaders that there is that large group of people that wants certain things done and is willing and able to support those politicians who will help to promote its cause.

Underpinning all of the preceding assumptions is the inevitable presence of capitalism. Economic freedom is a necessity for democracy. This assumption is justified by David Bentham who puts forward several arguments, the first is that a state that controls the means of production can deny resources and even livelihood to its opponents, the second is socialism's tendency toward single party rule. (Herman, p. 117) However, in terms of effective participation and affecting the governmental processes, capitalism implies that there would be groups of people, the wealthy elite, who would want certain legislations passed and certain laws initiated in order to make their ventures more profitable. What happens as a result of capitalism is that those who have enough funds to spend are actually able to influence the governmental processes indirectly, and lobbying done by various huge corporations shows that the influence we are discussing here is by no means insignificant. It is a fact that some of the most important laws concerning economic activity in any country are mostly pushed through the governmental systems by those wealthy people who would benefit directly if those particular laws are passed. Despite all the democratic notions that exist in our society today, money will always be able to influence any process at issue, and especially the political processes. (Weizner, p. 150) Another is the fact that the resulting bureaucracy from the necessary administrative planning would become out of control and stifle initiative.

The marketplace is far more democratic as it allows maximum choice and power to the consumer and collective choices necessarily disregard minority preferences. Capitalism guarantees the separation of power between the economic and political spheres. (Herman, p. 151) What then are the main aims of liberal democracy? As stated earlier it must include the individual ambitions and interests of all who live under it, but to do this it must, as far as I can see, pursue one main aim - the preservation of negative freedom and the active pursuit of increased positive freedom. This comes down fundamentally as a battle between liberty and equality. Negative freedom is that of the liberal school of thought, it is the demand for political liberty, the limitation of state power and, therefore, respect for the specific criteria that organize and evaluate every domain of social life from the economy to religion, the family, art, and so on. This factor of liberal democracy cannot be underestimated in terms of both political and emotional importance as the lessons of the twentieth century have taught us.

Positive freedoms on the other hand, consist partly of the more republican point of view that consider that government has a role to play in the increase of freedom by helping those that cannot properly benefit from the advantages, and is not just concerned with individual self-advancement. The fundamental challenge of human life is not to lose oneself in Lockean pursuit of life, liberty and property but to join with fellow citizens in the ongoing project of political self-government. (Weizner, p. 153) Positive freedom also advances the idea of increased democratization as a solution to the problems enforced through the necessity of representative forms government. This takes a vast number of forms and brings forth a plethora of differing opinions as democratization often carries with it the risk of undermining democracy. Democratization is primarily concerned with the pursuit of political equality through many different approaches, usually through the extension of political involvement beyond voting and the negation of the political inequalities that come about through the economic inequalities endemic in a capitalist setting. One radical approach is that of socialism, working on the theory that economic equality will lead to political equality, the obvious problem however is the massive curtailment of liberty, that in the climate of today and ranged against the self-interested backers of capitalism is unlikely to develop beyond theory. Advocates of democratization also take up the argument for increased equality of opportunity as well as economic equality; these take the form of less radical but equally vociferous arguments for increased participation and the doing away with of political elitism, possibly through the use of new technology to form a type of democracy that does not require direct representation.

This equality of opportunity has racial and gender connotations, in the USA for example they have gone as far as affirmative action policies which are clearly unfair on the face of it, to try to redress balances. (Duncan, p. 72) Feminism is another forum for the advocation of an increase in equality of opportunity. Some political observers argue that for feminists, democracy has never existed; women never have been and still are not admitted as full and equal members and citizens in any country known as a democracy. (Duncan, p. 88) Political participation is certainly one of the ways to make democracy more efficient, however the logical question arises when we analyze those who are able to participate both directly and indirectly as well as influence governmental processes what happens to those who do not belong to social movements or wealthy elite? Are they limited to mere voting? Definitely, democracy requires participation beyond voting, but under current political and economic condition, it does not imply equal opportunities for everyone in terms of this very participation.

Words Count: 2, 076. Bibliography: 1. Curran, J. Bending Reality: The State of the Media.

London: Pluto Press, 1986. 2. Duncan, K. Liberating Alternatives: The Founding Convention of the Cultural Environment Movement. New York: Harper Collins, 1999. 3. Herman, E. Manufacturing Consent: The Political Economy.

New York: Pantheon Books, 1988. 4. Rebick, J. Imagine Democracy. Toronto: Stoddart, 2000. 5. Weizner, A.

Interest Groups and Contemporary Democracies. New York: Random House, 2001.


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Research essay sample on Separation Of Powers Equality Of Opportunity

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