democracy worldwide

Internet - Democracy problem?

2007-07-20T07:57:00.000-07:00

It has been speculated a lot lately wether the internet itself is a democracy problem or if it is the foundation of real democracy.

Many claim that since information is so much mobile on the net this is a good soil for for the seeds of freedom of speech that you can find in the world. China for instance is growing in numbers of internetuser, even though they have the great fire wall.

On the other hand it is also a forum for anti-democratic movements and organizations to spread their word.

Todays link: Election

Electoral Assistance

2007-06-04T11:42:00.000-07:00

Just added a useful link on the topic Electoral Assistance from ACE Electoral Knowledge Network. Take a look, you might learn something.

Democracy Now!

2007-05-27T12:00:00.000-07:00

Just wanted to tell about a site I found: Democracy Now!

Site with Democracy news and a lot of interesting material on the right to free electcitons. Take a look, it might change your life.

election news

2007-05-27T11:46:00.000-07:00

A new blogg supporting the democracy initiative! Election news. it is always nice to notice how the democracy initiative is spreading across the world; right to free elections for everybody.

WeAreYourFriends - election

Loyalty

2007-05-18T02:39:00.001-07:00

In a democracy the government exists to take care of the people of the nation. The government protects the rights of the people. The members of the government are elected by the people to their work. On the other hand the people have to be loyal to the state. The people have to follow the rules and the laws set up by the government. And most important of all: the people have to participate in the elections to be able to vote for their candidate. This is a constitutional right and if people do not vote it is not possible to maintain a democracy.

Freedom of religion

2007-05-18T02:38:00.002-07:00

Freedom of religion means that in a democracy you are free to join any religious group you desire. In a democracy this is really a personal matter. The government can not state that the people in a nation should belong to some particular church or tell the people what they should believe in. The government can not force the children to go to specific religious schools and the people in the country can not be forced to participate in specific religious activities if they do not want to.

Freedom to speak

2007-05-18T02:38:00.001-07:00

In a democracy everyone has the freedom to speak. The people have the freedom to demonstrate and stand up for what they believe. For example In the Speakers Corner in London you have the possibility to say whatever is on your mind. The newspapers have the freedom to write what they want to write about without having to be afraid of being censored. Of course with this freedom comes the matter of being responsible for what you say or write.

Right to vote

2007-05-18T02:35:00.000-07:00

However, though most countries in the world today have democracy, there has been a discussion in the past about who has the right to vote. Females have been discriminated and Finland was the first country among the Nordic countries to allow females to vote. This happened 100 years ago. In the year 1907 ten percent of the ones elected for the government in Finland were females.

The women in Sweden that worked for their right to vote had to fight hard. Some people meant that women and politics did not belong together. Some said that the women were not mature enough to take part in and decide in political matters. Others meant that politic work was not the proper thing for women to take part in.

Sweden was the last country among the Nordic countries to allow their women to vote. This happened in the year 1919. The Swedish women had fought for many years for their right to vote. One important way to achieve this was to educate themselves. In order to become legal citizens and have the right to vote it was very important to get a proper education.

The Swedish women organized themselves in a movement in order to achieve the right to vote. They were very successful in organizing this movement and therefore they were able to put a lot of effort in the education of the members. This educational work was very important because the rules and the procedures were very complicated when you were about to vote in Sweden in the beginning of the 20th century.

Unfortunately there are countries even today that do not allow their women to vote.

Democracy

2007-05-18T02:32:00.000-07:00

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. That to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.

These are the memorable words by Thomas Jefferson in the American Declaration of Independence. This is very fundamental.

The words freedom and democracy are often used as if they mean the same, but the words are really not synonyms. However to achieve freedom the democracy often is a necessity.

The word Democracy comes from the words “Demos” and “Kratein”. These are greek words that means people and government. This means that the the meaning of the word democracy is that the people rule. In order to make this happen it is necessary for the people to have elections. If the people are allowed to vote and choose representatives that can speak for them in the government, we have democracy.

In the ancient Greece the free men, but not the women or slaves, got together in big meetings in Athens to discuss big matters such as war, peace or taxes. This was perhaps the beginning of the democracy where the people rules. This was called direct democracy. But it lasted until the 17th or 18th century until the democracy process started in Europe.

Today, the most common way to democracy, whether for a community of 2 000 or a nation with millions of inhabitants, is representative democracy, in which citizens elect people to the government to make political decisions, formulate laws, and administer programs for the public good. It is not possible to administrate direct democracy in a very large country with many inhabitants.

Sometimes, though, in some specific matter the government can let every man and woman in a country vote for yes or no regarding an issue. For example in Sweden the government let the people vote and decide whether the cars should go on the right or the left side of the roads.

East Timor court action

2007-03-22T00:33:00.000-07:00

The presidential election in East Timor is in trouble. More then half of the candidates has announced they will not recognise the outcome due to irregularities.

Read more: The Australian