...Week 4 Public Participation in Political Process Analysis 4.1 Perspectives on Political Beliefs 1 Political scientists believe that families play an important role in the socialization process. Families pass along party identification to their children, and politically active families may do so for future generations. Consider the link between your family and your political socialization. Respond to the following: 1. Explain your level of political involvement and your party affiliation. Are you registered to vote? Are you a regular voter? Do you participate in both local and national elections? Have you ever joined a political group or participated in a political campaign? How closely do you follow current events? Do you consider yourself a member of a political party, and have you always had the same affiliation? I do not have a high level of political involvement in any party affiliation at this time. I am registered to vote and I usually vote only during presidential election cycles. I normally do not participate in local elections, however I did attempt to formulate a plan to run for mayor of an unincorporated portion of my former county until the referendum to create a new city failed to pass. I joined a Democratic group while was in college however, my involvement was very limited. I follow current events in a consistency level slightly above the average for people within my group of socialization. I’m not a member of a political part and find...
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...Trends in Political Participation in the UK Evidence derived from key indicators of political participation in the UK is broadly typical of the data obtained across all fields of our Audit in that they present a mixed picture of the health of UK democracy, with most, if not all, of the trends indentified here also being replicated in other established democracies. Election turnouts Elections are by no means the only mechanism of mass democratic participation but they are the most important form of direct political engagement for the great majority of citizens. In a democracy, elections are also the means through which popular representatives are chosen by the population as a whole. It would therefore be difficult to over-estimate the significance of electoral participation, as measured by turnout, to a democracy. Figure 1: Turnouts at UK General Elections, 1945-2010 (%) 90 85 80 75 70 65 60 55 50 45 40 84 82.5 76.7 78.8 72.7 78.7 77.1 75.8 76 72.8 72 72.7 75.3 77.7 71.5 65.1 59.1 Source: British Electoral Facts 1 61.3 UK general election turnouts typically fluctuated between 70 and 80 per cent from 1945 to 1992, peaking at 84 per cent in 1950. However, as figure 1 shows, turnouts in UK general elections fell dramatically from the late 1990s, with the lowest turnout (59 per cent) recorded in 2001. While levels of electoral participation increased in 2005 and again in 2010, the four lowest levels of...
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...Make-up Position Paper - Wk4, Ch7 - Political Participation ASSIGNMENT INTRODUCTION - SUBMIT AS MAKEUP ONLY - READ FOR AIC. Dear class, Welcome to this week's Makeup Position Paper on Public Opinion and Participation. This make-up assignment is reserved for students who have failed to submit at least one, required position paper. Students must submit two makeup position papers in order to makeup for the credit lost on one required paper. If you wish to submit this assignment, please be sure to disable the TFE and topic text links before doing so. Furthermore, be sure to submit it in the proper folder. ASSIGNMENT BACKGROUND - IMPORTANT POINTS As usual, before I direct you to the week's assignment questions, there are a few remarks I would like to make regarding important, related issues and/or background material. Please consider the comments below, which touch upon a number of topics addressed in our text and which include a number of related observations taken from my own research. Purposes of Elections Firstly, one key point to remember is that elections, originally designed in order to allow citizens to select their own leaders, are also used by governments in order to build support for their policies. This is particularly true of parliamentary governments, which generally require simple plurality votes in order to pass sweeping legislation. In parliamentary governments, political parties are represented in direct proportion to the percentage of votes that they...
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...Participation can be seen as “the inclusion of a diverse range of stakeholder contributions in an on-going community development process, from identification of problem areas, to the development, implementation and management of strategic planning” (Schafft and Greenwood, 2003, p. 19). In true democracy, there is no doubt that voices will rise against the ideas for public participation. Over the past years, certain visible feature relating to public participation and the increase and there had been a rise on the decision making process where citizens get involved. The public participation in the policy process, to truly implement the principles of democracy of the public process should aim to be rational and fair to achieve effectiveness. Public participation relieve doubt that citizen's offerings will affect the policy process. It is of the assumption that a person who will be impinged by a decision, has the right to be associated in decision making. “Wise democratic processes are those which utilize a community's or society's diversity to deepen shared understanding and produce outcomes of long-term benefit to the whole community or society. Not all public participation serves this purpose. Public participation can either enhance or degrade the collective intelligence and wisdom involved in democratic processes such as making collective decisions, solving social problems, and creating shared visions. The principles below offer some guidance for designing wise democratic...
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...TO WHICH EXTENT DOES PARTY-LIST PROPORTIONAL REPRESENTATION PROVIDE POLITICAL PARTICIPATION OF MINORITIES IN BENIN, GUINEA-BISSAU AND NAMIBIA? Pavel Pylypcuk, Alexandra Sidorova Aalborg University 2014 Table of contents 1. Introduction 3 I. PART 5 2. Electoral system 5 2.1. Types of electoral system 6 2.2. Proportional representation 6 2.3. Party-list proportional representation 7 II. PART 8 3. Structure of case studies 8 4. Benin 9 4.1. Historical introduction and the electoral system 9 4.2. Elections to National Assembly in years 1991-2007 10 4.3. Political parties in Benin: profile, electorate and interactions 11 4.4. Conclusion 12 5. Guinea-Bissau 13 5.1. Historical introduction and the electoral system 13 5.2. Elections to National People's Assembly in years 1994-2008 14 5.3. Political parties in Guinea-Bissau: profile, electorate and interactions 15 5.4. The electoral process in Guinea-Bissau 16 5.5. Conclusion 17 6. Namibia 18 6.1. Historical introduction and the electoral system 18 6.2. Elections to National Assembly in years 1989-2009 19 6.3. Political parties in Namibia: profile, electorate and interactions 20 6.4. The electoral process in Namibia 21 6.5. Conclusion 23 7. Final conclusion 24 8. Bibliography 26 1. Introduction Electoral systems are considered as an instrument, which can relatively quickly and effectively...
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...Participation: A theoretical context Introduction Theories of community participation have received considerable academic attention particularly since the early 1990’s but have been a source of debate since at least the 1960s. This paper is intended to provide a brief overview of some of the most prominent theories which have been put forward as a means of understanding and appraising participation structures and practices. It has been prepared in order to provide a theoretical context within which the appropriateness of different approaches to community participation in rural transport in Wiltshire can be assessed. The note begins by providing a simple definition of participation. Two of the more prominent frameworks for community participation are then summarised and explored. In recognition that such frameworks represent simplifications of a far more complex reality, a number of these complexities are then explored, namely: • dimensions of power; • issues of process and capacity; and • the nature of ‘community’. The note concludes by describing an evaluation tool for community participation, which has sought to address many of these complexities. 1. A definition of participation For the purposes of this note a useful definition of public or community participation is that adopted by Stoker (1997) for ‘political participation’ (following Parry et al, 1992): members of the public ‘taking part in any of the processes of formulation, passage and implementation of public...
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...How does technology affect political participation Introduction 3 Evolution of social media since 2000 3 Use of social media during Arab Spring 4 Hong Kong Protest 5 Use of Social Media During the Quebec Student Strikes in 2012 6 Social Media in 2015 Political Campaigns & Using Technology to Increase Voter Turnout 8 Conclusion : Does social media actually affect political participation Yes or No. 11 Appendix A 12 Appendix B 13 References 14 Introduction Social media is a part of the lives of the majority of the population today. Developed countries and developing countries alike have a variety of uses and applications that aid in day-to-day activities and communications. In this paper, we focus on the use of social media and the effects it has on political participation. We will look at popular social media sites including Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube, and explore how their evolution is affecting political participation. Using the historical examples of Arab Spring, the Hong Kong protest of 2014, the Quebec student strikes of 2012, and the recent Canadian Federal Election, we will highlight the importance of social media and its uses to influence and encourage political participation during each event. Evolution of social media since 2000 The expansion of the Internet during the 21st century, as well as the development and spread of mobile phone technology, has enabled and promoted the unprecedented...
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...of a right to personal privacy. Their laws were based on a literal reading of the Old Testament and were extremely harsh. For example, in Connecticut, blasphemy, witchcraft, adultery and rape are punished with death. It is a capital crime for a son to say anything disrespectful of his parents. Tocqueville wants us to focus not on these laws, which he calls "bizarre and tyrannical" (Tocqueville, 27). Instead, he points out that these tyrannical laws were passed with the "free, active participation of all the interested parties themselves, and that the morals were even more austere and puritan than the laws" (Tocqueville 27). It is the fact that these communities were self-governing and independent, with relatively high levels of popular participation in the making of laws, which Tocqueville finds interesting. Even more importantly, Tocqueville points out that it is the strict morals of the people in New England that made these high levels of political participation possible in the first place....
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...citizen | 35-40 points The letter contains all of the required elements: * why civic and political participation is important? * how the person influenced change? * what issues or events motivated the person to action? * why the person deserves a national holiday? * how society is different because of the person’s work? * how you and others living today benefit from their efforts? * sources of information in MLA format | 29-34 points The letter contains most of the required elements: * why civic and political participation is important? * how the person influenced change? * what issues or events motivated the person to action? * why the person deserves a national holiday? * how society is different because of the person’s work? * how you and others living today benefit from their efforts? * sources of information in MLA format | 20-28 points The letter contains some of the required elements: * why civic and political participation is important? * how the person influenced change? * what issues or events motivated the person to action? * why the person deserves a national holiday? * how society is different because of the person’s work? * how you and others living today benefit from their efforts? * sources of information in MLA format | 0-19 points The letter contains few of the required elements: * why civic and political participation is important? * how the person influenced change? * what issues or events motivated the...
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...An in-class activity I would have my students participate in would a warm-up activity for the beginning of the class period. Some of the reasons that I would have my students do a warm-up activity are that it helps get the students to start thinking about the subject and begin to focus on it. This will help the students make their transition mentally from their last class to my class. I would also use the warm-up as a way to set the tone for the upcoming lesson, like a building block to get their thought process going in the right direction for the day. Most importantly, I would use the warm-up to allow myself to assess the student’s attitude and ability for the day to help me determine the best way for to form groups for other activities for the day. A behavioral expectation that I would have for my students for the warm-up activity is that they would have their materials (ex. Pencil and paper) out on their desk ready to begin the warm-up after the bell rings. Another behavioral expectation I would have of my students for the warm-up activity that before they begin the activity, they take time to reflect on the prompts I gave them for the assignment and begin to work quietly and individually. An evaluation method I would use to ensure that my students have an understanding of my behavioral expectations is to have a poster up on my wall that is a reminder of the classroom expectations and pointed out to the students who are not working on the warm-up. The classroom expectations...
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...of the work place and noise is taken into the checklist of problems that is observed. Each factor is observed and the risk is graded in three levels. No problem: conditions are acceptable and there is no need for preventative actions. Slight problem: cold related problems are found that impairs the conditions at the workplace. Effects however are judged as slight to moderate and corrective actions and not immediately required. The research was carried out in a large and modern freeze dry coffee factory in Colombia, located at an elevation of 1360m and with an average temperature of 26®c. The descriptive study was based on all twenty four (24) workers performing tasks inside three cold stores. All the workers were male and the participation research was voluntary. The informed consent to participate in the study. The participants completed a standardized questionnaire on paid work time. One of the researchers explained the questionnaire individually to each worker. The response required anonomosity and no company officer was present in the dissemination and completion of the questionnaire. The specific symptoms inquired in the questionnaire were about pain, ache or discomfort in specified body parts during the preceding year and during the seven (7) days thereafter. The questionnaire also inquired whether the symptoms suffered prevented the individual from doing his normal routine of work. This included demographic items such as age and gender, ethnicity as well as questions...
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...Outline and evaluate one or more explanations of why people obey. One of the main reasons that people obey is the feeling of relinquishing personal responsibility. During the course of Milgram’s experiment, many participants enquired about responsibility; who would be to blame if any harm came to the learner? In many cases, informing the participant that the experimenter was completely responsible was reassurance enough to encourage the participants to continue with the deadly electric shocks. In many cases, where harm has come to someone as a result of obedience, the perpetrators have justified their actions by the lack of responsibility. The participants most likely to obey are those who feel they have relinquished personal responsibility to an authoritative figure, and obedience levels are often diminished when the rate of personal responsibility has increased. It has also been suggested that obedience levels drop radically when participants are informed that they must accept full responsibility for their actions. One way that we can prove that this is the case, is by looking at variations of Milgram’s experiment. In the initial experiment, the ‘teacher’ could not see the pain that they were supposedly inflicting on the ‘learner,’ only hear them. They felt responsible when they heard the cries of anguish, but as the experimenter had accepted responsibility, many people continued administering the shocks. However, in a similar experiment where the ‘learner’ was in the room...
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...David M. Williams, Shira Dunsiger, Joseph T. Ciccolo, Beth A. Lewis, Anna E. Albrecht, and Bess H. Marcus Psychol Sport Exerc. 2008 May ; 9(3): 231–245. doi:10.1016/j.psychsport.2007.04.002. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2390920/pdf/nihms42341.pdf The purpose of the study was to see if there is a connection between a person’s emotional response to moderate physical exertion and their likelihood of that person continuing to be an active person later. The study was conducted using mostly white female participants who were considered to be sedentary. They were given a grading scale by which to quantitatively express their personal sensation as well as their level of perceived exertion. The participants were placed on a treadmill and worked until their heart rate was 65% of the target rate for each participant according to age. They were then surveyed 6 and 12 months later. The study found that participant who had a positive response to the original bout of physical activity were more likely to be physically active 6 and 12 months later. The authors acknowledged many limitations of this study such as small sample size and the use of age predicted heart rate expectations. The use of a survey may lead to sketchy results also. The results and the discussion were consistent due to the fact that the authors made no wide spread claims resulting from the data acquired during this study. This study implies to me that if physical activity was more fun and less suffering...
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...LEARNING TEAM CHARTER – TEAM “C” |Course Title |Critical Thinking | | | | | | | | | | | Team Members/Contact Information |Name | |Phone | |Time zone and | |Email | | | | | |Availability During the Week | | | |Sonia Thompson | |434-917-3212 | |Eastern time zone/mon and wed anytime/other days before | |sgrimmt@yahoo.com | | | | | |3pm and after 10 pm | | | |Jenny R. Jackson | |770-254-1703 | |Pacific Time Zone/ Monday thru Friday 4 P.M. to 10:00 P.M.| |jrj3615@yahoo.com | |James Patton | |412-609-3980 | |Eastern always available | |Jpatton.412@gmail.com | | | | | | ...
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...representative shall be in language understandable to the subject or the representative. No informed consent, whether oral or written, may include any exculpatory language through which the subject or the representative is made to waive or appear to waive any of the subject's legal rights, or releases or appears to release the investigator, the sponsor, the institution or its agents from liability for negligence. (a) Basic elements of informed consent. Except as provided in paragraph (c) or (d) of this section, in seeking informed consent the following information shall be provided to each subject: (1) A statement that the study involves research, an explanation of the purposes of the research and the expected duration of the subject's participation, a description of the procedures to be followed, and identification of any procedures which are experimental; (2) A description of any reasonably foreseeable risks or discomforts to the subject; (3) A description of any benefits to the subject or to others which may reasonably be expected from the research; (4) A disclosure of appropriate alternative procedures or courses of treatment, if any, that might be advantageous to the subject; (5) A statement describing the extent, if any, to which confidentiality of records identifying the subject...
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