Public Sphere

Question 1

The institutional basis
of democracy enables the media to shine their torchlight into the public
arenas that enable or disable the full enjoyment of citizenship. This
is because democratic institutions carry out specific purposes and
functions. We can list the following functions:

Answer 1

he institutional basis
of democracy enables the media to shine their torchlight into the public
arenas that enable or disable the full enjoyment of citizenship. This
is because democratic institutions carry out specific purposes and
functions. We can list the following functions:
* Setting the public agenda to address public problems: Civic,
political and governmental institutions are a principal means bJ’.
which democratic societies deal with public issues. These issues
must be identified, defined and ranked in order of importance
before they can be acted upon. This is what is meant by ·setting
the public agenda’.
* Acting on the public agenda: The setting of the public agenda is
nearly always in flux and subject to reconsideration. If a course
of action is adopted by governmental institutions to deal with a
specific issue, that course of action becomes a ‘public policy’. All
of the stages of identifying issues and opportunities, as well as
responding to them, constitute the public policy process.
* Evaluating alternative policy options: Choices made in the
process of dealing with public issues must be evaluated through
public debate, media discussion, expert opinion, and/or through
more formal mechanisms such as popular voting; or oversight bJ’.
administrative, legislative, and/or judicial institutions, as well as
by specially created commissions [CCE, 2006: 77].

Question 2

However, in democratic societies, civil society has come
to represent ‘the space of

Answer 2

However, in democratic societies, civil society has come
to represent ‘the space of organized social life that is voluntary, selfgenerated,
self-sufficient, free from state control, and regulated and
protected by a legal order or set of shared rules· [in Orozco, [Sa]: 7].
Associational life within civil society facilitates the functioning of
governmental institutions, spurs governmental action, provides checks
on the power of institutions, and occasionally impedes their functioning
[CCE, 2006: 95].

Question 3

In contemporary democracies, what we know as civil society usuall~
expresses itself through

Answer 3

In contemporary democracies, what we know as civil society usuall~
expresses itself through the so-called non-governmental organisations
[NGOs]. Therefore, for the media, monitoring the ‘pulse· of NGO activitY.
becomes a very good measure of civil society activism.

Question 4

As distinct from civil society, political society consists in both the
formal and informal structures of public political organisation and
expression. An example of this is

Answer 4

As distinct from civil society, political society consists in both the
formal and informal structures of public political organisation and
expression. An example of this is the political party, which provides
the means for the body politic to act collectively. Political parties
aggregate and represent the differences among the citizenry - this
view is based on the fact that political society, like civil society, is
pluralistic.

Question 5

The term state bureaucracy refers to

Answer 5

The term state bureaucracy refers to the bureaucratic apparatus over
which the government of the day exercises control to guarantee the
protection of citizens· basic rights and the satisfaction of their man~
demands. This bureaucracy should be capable of making a country’s
fiscal policy [e.g. government control over budget and expenditure]
so as to maintain basic services, administer justice, and guarantee
collective and personal security. A government incapable of maintaining
an efficient bureaucracy can do little to consolidate democracy [Orozco
[Sa]: 9].