Unit 1 - Political Inquiry and Governance in Canada Flashcards
What is civic engagement?
Civic engagement is being a good participant, and an active, engaged citizen “civics is the study of the rights and duties of citizenship”
What is civics?
The study of the rights and duties of citizenship
Civics involves the study of government, and democratic decision making
What is democracy?
A form of government in which power is held by the people, usually through elected representatives
Example: USA, Canada
Direct = everyone votes on everything
People power, democracy means that the power of the people
What are the pros about democracy?
-Everyones voices can be heard
-It’s good for majority of the population (lots of people will agree on the topic)
What are the cons about democracy?
-Statistic wise, it may not be the best since the largest group gets an advantage
-Riot may start
-Decision fatigue
What is positive about a representative?
-Find someone who you can connect with
-Faster (sometimes)
-Whoever you vote you can get results from what you voted them for
What is negative about having a representative?
-Can’t make promises on what you wanted, gives up some of your sat
-Do we really know them?
Why democracy?
-Throughout history, humans all over the world have been subject to kings, emperors.
-Modern tries to avoid this situation by putting power in the hands of the people, and making sure no single person has too much power
What do democracy encourage in the common good and social responsibility
-We must consider the common good in organizing our society, politically and economically
-We must respect the rights of others, as we would want them to respect ours
-We have a social responsibility to participate in the system in order to keep it strong for future generations
How is democracy important for equality and equity?
(equity is fairness/justice)
Employment Equity Act
-Women
People with disabilities
Indigenous Peoples
Visible minorities
How do we enforce Democracy? The Rule of Law
We enforce democracy and the rule of law by ensuring that all citizens have a voice in governance and that laws are applied fairly and consistently.
Democracy is…
Freedom of Expression
-you have the right - and duty - to speak truth of power (reasonable limits include: hate speech, obscenity, defamation)
Freedom of Religion
-you have the right to believe what you choose, and cannot be discriminated against based on those beliefs
What are the responsibilities of a Canadian Citizen?
-Obeying the law
-Taking responsibility for oneself and one’s family
-Serving on a jury
-Voting in election
-Helping others in the community
-Protecting and enjoying our heritage and environment
What is a Dictatorship?
A form of government in which a single person holds complete power and authority over the state and its citizens
Example: North Korea being under the rule of Kim Jong-Un
What is Oligarchy?
A form of government in which power is held by a small group of individuals, usually the wealthy (these people are not ruling because of their blood line)
Example: Venezuela under the rule of the United Socialists Party
What is Parliamentary democracy
A type of democracy in which the government is elected through a parliamentary system and the Prime Minister is the head of the government. An example of this is the United Kingdom
What is Political Party?
A group of individuals who come together to contest elections and hold power in the government.
Example: Democratic Party of Republican Party in the United States
Constitutional Monarchy
(Monarch: A person who reigns over a kingdom or empire)
A form of government in which a monarch is the head of state and the powers of the monarch are limited by a written constitution.
Example: Japan
In Canada, King Charles III is the king of Canada (our head of state)
What form of government is Canada?
Canada is a parliamentary democracy and a constitutional monarchy.
-In this system, the crown is the head of state, represented in Canada by the Governor General, while the Prime Minister is the head of government and leads the elected parliamentary government.
-The powers of the monarch are limited by a written constitution, the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms and the Constitution Act of 1867.
What is Governance?
Governance is how people choose to collectively organize themselves to…
-Manage their own affairs
-Share power and responsibilities
-Decide for themselves what kind of society they want for their future and implement those decisions
How do people implement decisions of what kind of society they want for their future?
They need to have processes:
-Structures
-Traditions
-Rules
So that they can:
-Determine who is a member of a group
-Decide who has power, and what ensures that power to be exercised properly
-Make and enforce their decisions and hold their decision-makers accountable
-Negotiate with others regarding their rights and interests, establish the most effective and legitimate arrangements for getting those things done
What does Governance give?
Governance gives a nation, group, community, or organization the ways and means to achieve the things that matter to them.
What is a Wampum Belt?
Belts made of wampum were used to mark agreements between peoples.
What are Empires?
A Supranational Political System that is a political unit made up of several territories and peoples or peoples under a single sovereign authority
(Sovereign: a supreme ruler, especially a monarch)
Examples: British, Roman, and Ottoman
What are Leagues?
A Supranational Political System that are an association of nations or other political entities for a common purpose
Examples: Baltic, Arab; also League of Nations
What are Confederations?
A Supranational Political System that is a large state composed of many self-governing regions.
Confederations have a very weak central government with little influence over the actions or. policies of the member regions
Example: European Union
What are Supranational Political Systems?
Supranational political systems are like “big governments” that go beyond individual countries, where multiple countries come together to make collective decisions on shared issues, often giving up some of their sovereignty for common rules and goals. An example is the European Union (EU).
What are Federations?
A Supranational Political System that is formed by a compact between political units that surrender their individual sovereignty to a central authority but retain limited residuary powers of government
Example: Union of Soviet Socialist Republics
What is the United Nations?
A Supranational Political System that is a voluntary association of 193 countries in the world (all except Vatican City, Palestine, Western Sahara, and Taiwain)
This is NOT a world government, they do not make laws, and they do not have their own police force or military
What is the Unitary Nation-States
A National Political System that is basically a single tier of government with varying degrees of decentralization - some are decentralized so much as the resemble federal states, some allow limited regional rule, others have only token decentralization