Top Primary Values and Principles Of Constitutional Democracy
JEROME MICHAEL EBRUPHIYO
Wednesday, August 25, 2021
Politics
Democracy is government of, by the people, and for the people. It is government of a community in which all citizens, rather than favored individuals or groups, have the right and opportunity to participate. The people are the ultimate source of authority. In a constitutional democracy, the authority of the majority is limited by legal and institutional means so that the rights of individuals and minorities are respected. This is the form of democracy practiced in Germany, Israel, Japan, the United States, and other countries. This post will provide the information on the top primary values and principles of constitutional democracy and also provide answers to questions like; What are the 3 principles of democracy? what are the 3 principles underlying constitutional democracy quiz let? What are the primary elements of democracy? What are the basic principles of democracy quiz let? What are the constitutional values of democracy?
- Popular Sovereignty: The people are the ultimate source of the authority of the government which derives its right to govern from their consent
- Majority Rule And Minority Rights: The fundamental rights of individuals in the minority are protected even if the majority rules
- Limited Government: The powers of government are limited by law and a written or unwritten constitution which those in power obey
- Institutional And Procedural Limitations On Powers: There are certain institutional and procedural devices which limit the powers of government namely
- Separated And Shared Powers: Powers are separated among different agencies or branches of government. Each agency or branch has primary responsibility for certain functions such as legislative, executive, and judicial functions. However, each branch also shares these functions with the other branches
- Checks And Balances: Different agencies or branches of government have adequate power to check the powers of other branches. Checks and balances may include the power of judicial review; the power of courts to declare actions of other branches of government to be contrary to the constitution and therefore null and void
- Due Process Of Law: Individual rights to life, liberty, and property are protected by the guarantee of due process of law
- Leadership Succession Through Elections: Elections insure that key positions in government will be contested at periodic intervals and that the transfer of governmental authority is accomplished in a peaceful and orderly process
- Basic Rights: Protection of certain basic or fundamental rights is the primary goal of government. These rights may be limited to life, liberty, and property, or they may be extended to include such economic and social rights as employment, health care and education. Documents such as the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, and the African Charter on Human and People's Rights enumerate and explain these rights
- Freedom Of Conscience And Expression: A constitutional democracy includes among its highest purposes the protection of freedom of conscience and freedom of expression. These freedoms have value both for the healthy functioning and preservation of constitutional democracy and for the full development of the human personality
- Privacy And Civil Society: Constitutional democracies recognize and protect the integrity of a private and social realm comprised of family, personal, religious, and other associations and activities. This space of uncoerced human association is the basis of a civil society free from unfair and unreasonable intrusions by government
- Justice: A constitutional democracy promotes;
- Distributive Justice
- Corrective Justice
- Procedural Justice
- Equality: A constitutional democracy promotes;
- Political Equality
- Equality Before The Law
- Economic Equality
- Openness: Constitutional democracies are based on a political philosophy of openness or the free marketplace of ideas, the availability of information through a free press, and free expression in all fields of human endeavor
- Unitary, Federal and Confederate systems. Unitary and federal systems are the most common ways of organizing constitutional democracies. There also are associations of states called confederations
- Unitary Systems: In a unitary system central government has full power, which it may delegate to subordinate governments
- Federal Systems: In a federal system power is shared between a central government which has full power over some matters and a set of subordinate provincial or state governments that have power over other matters
- Confederations: In a confederation, a league of independent states, which retain full sovereignty, agrees to allow a central government to perform certain functions, but the central government may not make laws applicable to individuals without the approval of the member states
- Checks And Balances: These are constitutional mechanisms by which each branch of government shares power with the other branches so that no branch can become absolute. Each branch "checks" the others, because it is balanced against another source of power
- Separation Of And Sharing Of Powers: All constitutional democracies use separation of powers as an important means of limiting the exercise of political power. This separation is typically among legislative, executive, and judicial functions. Although primary responsibility for each of these powers may be placed with one or more specific agencies or branches of government, other agencies and branches share the powers. For example, although one branch may have primary responsibility for creating laws, other branches may draft proposed laws, interpret their meaning, or manage disputes over them
- Parliamentary And Presidential Systems: Governments can be organized as parliamentary or as presidential systems. In a few countries, the two systems are combined and called a "dual executive" system
- Parliamentary systems, the chief executive, usually called the prime minister, is chosen from among the members of the legislature. While law fixes the maximum interval between elections, parliamentary governments may end sooner. If a majority of parliament votes for a motion of "no confidence" in a government, it is obliged to resign. In this case, the government is said to "fall" and new elections are held
- Presidential systems or systems of shared powers, executive power is separated from the legislative power. The chief executive or head of government is not a member of the legislature. He or she serves a term fixed by the constitution and can be removed only in extraordinary circumstances such as impeachment and trial proceedings. The president also is chief of state and represents the policy on ceremonial occasions. Although the political system of the United States and other constitutional democracies have been called presidential systems, this term does not reflect the reality of these complex systems with their dispersed and shared powers. Contemporary scholars have increasingly referred to such nations as possessing systems of SHARED POWERS, a more accurate description
- Citizenship In A Constitutional Democracy
- Knowledge And Skills
- Civic Knowledge
- History
- Geography
- Basic Political Ideas
- Political System
- Legal System
- Basic Economic Ideas
- How Nations Interact
- Sources Of Information
- Civic Skills: Competent and responsible citizenship requires not only knowledge and understanding, but the development of intellectual and participatory skills essential to civic life
- Intellectual Skills include the capacity to
- Think critically about information, arguments, and commentaries on public affairs
- Make thoughtful judgments about government and public policy
- Read, write, and speak effectively in forums appropriate to civic life and public affairs
- Participatory skills include the capacity to monitor and influence policies and decisions by clearly articulating interests and making them known to key decision and policy makers and building coalitions, negotiating, deliberating, compromising, and seeking consensus
- Traits Of Civic Character: Certain traits of public and private character help constitutional democracy to flourish. While there is no universally agreed upon list of traits of civic character essential to constitutional democracy which are; civility, individual responsibility, self-discipline, civic-mindedness, open-mindedness, compromise, toleration of diversity, patience and persistence, compassion, generosity, and loyalty.
One theory holds that democracy requires three fundamental principlesand they include;
- Upward control (sovereignty residing at the lowest levels of authority)
- Political equality, and
- Social norms by which individuals and institutions only consider acceptable acts that reflect the first two principles of upward control and political
This is to ensure that our democratic processes are effectively serving the principles of liberty, equality, and justice.
Democracy as a system of government has four key elements which are;
- A system for choosing and replacing the government through free and fair elections
- Active participation of the people, as citizens, in politics and civic life
- Protection of the human rights of all citizens, and
- A rule of law in which the laws and procedures apply equally to all citizens
- Equality of Human Rights
- Economic Freedom
- Bill of Rights
- The Rule of Law
- Control of the Abuse of Power
- Free and Fair Elections
- Multi-party Systems
- Citizen Participation
The vconstitutional values are expressed as objectives of the Constitution which are;
- sovereignty
- Socialism
- Secularism
- Democracy
- Republican character of Indian State
- Justice
- Liberty
- Equality
- Fraternity
- Human dignity and
- The unity and integrity of the Nation
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