Liberal democracy

The Republican’s Ideological Shift from Liberal to Conservative Abraham Lincoln once said, “The legitimate object of government is to do for the people what needs to be done, but which they can not, by individual effort, do at all, or do so well, for themselves." 130 years later, Ronald Reagan said, “Government is not a solution to our problem, government is the problem." Both of these men were epochal leaders of their party, the GOP. But their ideas about the role of government in our lives…

that states such as Louisiana and California are immensely one-sided on the political spectrum. This is, generally, untrue. In fact, states are often, with exception, relatively balanced in political opinion. Liberal states such as California and New York always end up voting for a liberal elector, which renders all of the votes of the other party pointless. Removal of the electoral college would make people’s votes in such states that are outweighed by the other party still matter, as they…

passage titled “The Liberal Media Exposed”, the author argues that there is a strong, growing liberal bias which dominates the media. Meanwhile, The Nation columnist and independent weblogger for MSNBC.com Eric Alterman contradicts this argument in the 2003 article “What Liberal Media?”, asserting that conservatives are extremely well represented in every facet of the media. Although Alterman uses a quotation which states that “the liberal press is much larger”, he argues that the liberal media…

constitution was the reform of the House of Lords. The House of Lords Act 1999 had the House of Lords reduced by nearly a half with non-hereditary members rising from 41% to 87% (Ludlam & Smith, 2004:129). This impacted British politics in terms of democracy as this was seen as a big shift to a more representative state due to many of the hereditary members being Conservative (Ludlam & Smith 2004: 161)(Russell 2011: 16). However, it did warrant an even more asymmetric relationship between the…

she is sceptical of populism. Although highlighting many negative points of populism she suggests it reinvigorates democracy and is always inevitable. Like Canovan I am sceptical of populism, as she calls it the “shadow of democracy” but I go one further to believe populism does indeed have no place in a well-functioning democracy. Firstly, one must define a well-functioning democracy: this allows the demos to limit government power due to popular participation; the electorate giving authority…

spotlight over the infringements of individual liberty, despite being democracies. The lack of liberty in the majority of countries around the world is still a problem in spite of these countries being democratic in nature (Harper 3). The solution, therefore, is placing societal focus on the enforcement of the principles of democracy in addition to the existence of democracy itself. It is because the primary existence of democracy itself cannot solve the problem. Since it is a political…

they possess in modern liberal democracies, however, the low level of electoral participation is indicative of the fact that a countries democratic system might not be meaningfully representing the collective interests of it its citizens, which ultimately undermines the legitimacy democracy and its political institutions. Democracy, being one of the most fundamental aspects on modern day politics, dates…

functions to security, justice and public works - and be subject to a constitution, which Allowed the emergence of liberal democracy during the eighteenth century, still in force today in many nations today, especially in those of the West.…

principles of freedom and liberty in his iconic Essay ‘On Liberty’. He is particularly concerned about the limits set by democracy upon individuals ‘the only unfailing and permanent source of improvement is liberty’1, social tyranny and the so called phenomenon ‘tyranny of the majority’, which he argued that would question the definition of democracy, and especially liberal thought, ‘’Like other tyrannies, the tyranny of the majority was at first, and is still vulgarly, held in dread, chiefly…

The liberal order ruled Italian politics from 1860-1922, and centered around the long standing tradition of trasformismo, coalition forming to develop a flexible, centrist party. Unfortunately, this system had the potential for tyranny by the majority to run rampant, which allowed the rise of fascism in Italy. The liberal order existed in a parochial political culture and a church that did not support the government. It allowed for oligarchic rule in a highly centralized, corrupt state, a…