The government is not only beneficial to the Americans in more ways than one, but also necessary. There are undertakings within the county’s setting that require the government’s oversight. The government is important as it ensures there is military control and protection of its citizens. Through the government, the country is provided with a defense system through which it can defend and or deter attacks within its boundaries. Government is important as it ensures the citizens therein are protected from other forms of worse or adverse power structures, which have the ability to form in the midst of citizens and deprive them of their foundational and fundamental rights. An effective government is swift in providing service to its citizens and is founded on democratic principles. A government chosen by the people, who works to serve the people, and is made up of individuals from the greater population, is an effective government.
There have been varied reactions towards the advocacy for equal rights for men and women. However, even though many people believe that these rights should be equal, they also assert that en should get preference when it comes to good jobs, higher education, and in some cases the simple right to work outside the home . These latter assertions are common with the culturally conservative societies and the highly religious societies of the autocratic systems in the east. Nevertheless, the economic development in the world has generated changed attitude in the society as much as modernization and industrialization have brought women into paid jobs, which has increased the activist activities crusading for gender equality.
Culture has been very repressive to women political rights as well as their living rights. For instance, in a documentary study conducted in India. It approximated that because of the increasing birth rates in the country, it would surpass Chinese population by 2030. However, in this study also found that the girl population has greatly reduced because of female feticide, which has seen many mothers abort female fetus for cultural considerations. In this country, most people believe that girls bring much expenses to the family such as increased upkeep of the family as well as dowry payments, which are approximately $1,000,a sum that the middle class families would not comfortably afford for more than two girls. This study proposed that government institutions as well as non-governmental institutions have ignored their responsibility of protecting the female feticide . Reducing the female population in the society through such feticide leads to a reduced opportunities for the female gender in political institutions. Institutions such as courts and government departments should ensure that women oppressors such as medical practitioner who practice the illegal abortion are charged and convicted of their crimes in order to reduce vulnerability of these children. Additionally, political institutions should ensure that women are given the opportunity to participate in policy formulation as well as implementation so that they take an active part in lobbying and advocating for women political representation.
There have been different controversial debates on the different political systems in the world. Most countries of the Western World believe that democracy is the best political system to ensure that national development is a priority. However, most countries of the rebellious East believe in communism, and socialism among other systems that have been witnessed in the communist China among other countries. Additionally, African countries have also taken different standpoints in their governance systems. Nevertheless, these political systems have yielded different success in different countries that have used the varied systems. In the United States and many countries of Europe as well as some African nations, democracies have spurred economic growth making these countries political and economic superpowers in their regions as well as the whole world as in the case of United States. However, in the communist China, they have greatly opposed democratic leadership and their political system has equally produced economic growth that has threatened countries such as the democratic United States and some countries in Europe. In this assignment, I will explain the political, social, and economic challenges that China, Russia, and Nigeria are currently facing that hinder democratic practice and development.
During the election of President Goodluck Jonathan in April 2011, he had enough support from the non-Muslim Nigerian south with very little of the same in the northern Muslim region. Political elections in Nigeria as well as placement of leadership positions have been associated with regionalism and religion. Leaders favor members of their religious groups and people from their regions in appointments. Consequently, resource distribution in Nigeria has favored one region and religion over the other due to the tyranny of numbers. For instance, in the non-Muslim south, Lagos alone has ten times the elementary school enrolments of the northern region, and six times as much hospital beds . Additionally, the southern Nigerian communities have sufficient agriculturally productive land while the northern region is characterized with the savanna and semi desert, which limit their agricultural potential production. This uneven distribution of resources in Nigeria posses the challenges to democratic practice since the ethnic and religious groups as well as regions feel insecure.
Different parties are established on different values. Political parties stand for a set of values and or opinions. The ideological foundation of any party is the main attraction with regards to voter attitudes. Before any voter casts a vote for a specified candidate, they have to analyze their ideological standpoint and the values they hold. The political arena is shaped up by different social issues. Political parties are presented with contentious issues within the social arena such as gay rights, abortion, public healthcare, and taxation. The manner in which political parties react to these issues determines the portion of the society they attract. The ideological foundation in any party is important with regards to policy change. Whether a political party is currently in power or not, it will employ its ideological concepts in instituting and fighting for policy change (Geer. 2003: pg 37).
During a government shutdown, a funding gap usually occurs thereby stopping the supply of government funds to several government sponsored services. This gap not only affects production, but also increases the unemployment rates since industries are force to furlough their employee without having to pay their salaries. Additionally, as earlier mentioned, when the issues are finally resolved, the government employees earlier furloughed face the uncertainty of their pay, whether they would be paid in areas for without the period that they were out of employment. In this 16-day long government shutdown, senators such as conservative Ted Cruz as well as other conservative special interest groups such as Heritage action pressured the Republican-led House of Representatives to resolve that the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, also known as the Obamacare, should be delayed or defunded (Novack, para. 5). On the other hand, the Democratic-led Senate passed many continuing resolutions supporting the funding of Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.
The government shutdown of 2013 has brought about several disadvantages to the national government as well as the citizens of the United States. National government’s departments stop functioning because of reduced or cut off government financing would eventually lead to uncertainty in the whole economic sector. Additionally, the government shutdown deprives government employees of their income, but also fails to protect them against contributions such as insurance, retirement benefit authorities, and worse still tax paid on commodities. Following Goldman Sachs’ advice on the effect of the government shutdown in three weeks on the national Gross Domestic Product, it implies that when the deadline is eventually broken, the public would still be responsible for financing the fall in the GDP as they reestablish their lives. I would propose that, whenever a stalemate looms in the House of Representatives, instead of a government shutdown, the representatives should put aside their political differences and give priority to public interest. Moreover, considering the availability of political analysts, I believe that Americans are keen to choose the best leaders they strongly believe would deliver the best of their interest, and not selfish politicians. The political systems in Russia, Nigeria and China have faced challenges of democratic practices including the ethnic and religious diversities of the population, the political histories of these nations, regionalism, economic transitions from military to free market systems, and single party systems as well as large populations and vast geographical area. Nevertheless, several economies have faced these challenges, but have changed their policies to inclusivity, thereby yielding democracy. Considering the current efforts in these countries, they will certainly achieve democratic governments and practices in the future.
References:
Novack, Janet. “Federal Government Begins First Shutdown In 17 Years.” Forbes. Web 30 September, 2013.
Geer, J. Critical Realignments and the Public Opinion Poll. Journal of Politics 1991, Vol. 2 (17): 3-18 American Journal of Political Science, Vol. 44, No.1, Jan (2000), pp. 35-50.
