Government, Business and Society - Politics in Life - Assignment Example

Politics in Life Name of the Customer Course Lecturer 14th May, 2012. Question 1 We start POL1000 by trying to get a sense of what we mean by politics. What does it encompass? Here are some questions you might like to address and discuss in this forum: How has politics affected your life? What are some of the major interest groups in Australia (or in your own country) that are attempting to influence government? What interest groups are you associated with (e.g. through your job, your family needs, etc)? Politics can be said to mean the art as well as science of organizing the affairs of the government. Another commonly accepted definition of politics is a process through which collective groups of individuals make collective decisions. Politics have really affected the manner in which I view life in general. Through the constant view of politics in Australia I have learnt to appreciate the role that the politics play in the life of most citizens such as advocating for some of our right as well as improvement of services offered to the general public. Australia has a great number of interest groups who at all times act in the favor of the citizens. Most interest groups play a vital factor in political processes and they tend to affect offer financial contributions with the main intention been influencing the choices made by the government. Through the interest groups the government tends to act in favor of most of its citizens. Some of the major interest groups in Australia are clean up Australia, Australian Red Cross, the wilderness society and the Salvation Army. The interest groups that am involved in that directly relates to my family needs are state emergency response of South Australia. Question 2 Government decisions, and politics more generally, have had a huge influence on most people's lives, yet we rarely think about this. Please share your experience of how politics has shaped your life. The decisions made by the government as well as politics tend to have a huge impact of most people lives yet these two concepts are largely ignored. Politicians have really affected my way of life through their decisions. Decisions made by the government affect everything around us as citizens of the country. One of the major ways that the government decision has affected me as an individual is through the road networks. The road networks in a country play a major role in the building of the economy as well as enabling easier access to areas that citizens would like to visit. The road networks have made it easier for me to access educational facilities in the country. Another major way in which the government decisions as well as politics have affected me is through the provision of health services. Through their decision it is now easier for me to access health services and even at lower costs as compared to the private institutions. The access to health services has also been made easier due to the reliable road networks in the area. Through decision the government has really played a major role in shaping my life as a citizen of Australia. Question 3 We’re looking at the big picture stuff of politics. What do you think of the rival ideologies outlined in the textbook (liberalism, social democracy, nationalism etc)? And what about the different models of government? Is a liberal state better than a statist one? Or a social-democratic one? Where do you think Australia fits in? Have a think, too, about how the different ideologies answer the three central questions of POL1000 Political ideologies are theoretical frameworks that government systems all over the world are founded on and are used as the core principle to make government principle. A country’s political ideology largely determines how resources will be distributed among the population of that country. Political ideology is also responsible for the relative prosperity of a country’s people and economy as it sets the principle its economy will be based upon. Figure 1: Comparison Of political Ideologies In recent years shifts in political ideology has seen different ideologies borrow ideas from other ideologies. Liberalism is a political ideology adopted by most western governments including Australia. Liberalism is a political ideology that emphasizes on comprise of the rights of individuals but lower levels of state power. Liberalism recognizes the right of individuals and encourages free enterprise in economic aspects. In liberal governments political power is wielded by an executive, legislature and judicial system. The liberalism as a political ideology promotes capitalism at the expense of the welfare of citizens. Social Democracy is a political ideology that calls for a combination of capitalist and socialist ideologies in running the affairs of the state. Social democracy means that citizens have a large say in wealth distribution and the government can interfere with capitalist enterprises to protect the rights of individuals. Question 4 We discuss trade unionism and the Labor Party. Is Probert right when she argues there is a power imbalance in the workplace? Do workers benefit from joining and strengthening trade unions? Have workers benefited from having a Labor party? (Are American workers better off for not having a labour party?) Why has union coverage declined in Australia and other western countries? Has this had any implications for workers? All your thoughts, questions, reflections on the readings, etc From my own opinion Probert is right when she argue as that there is an imbalance of power in the workplace. Workers benefits a lot from joining and strengthening the trade unions. One of the major benefits is that through the trade unions the workers are ensured of employment. Also through the trade unions organization are able to increase their production deals in that the trade unions are major contributors in making production deals. The trade unions play this role by implementing new and advanced working practices which in turn increase the productivity of the organization. A large number of workers are said to benefit from having a labour party. One of the benefit that worker have achieved is through the provision of better working environment of the workers. There has been a substantial decline in union coverage both in Australia as well as in other western countries. The decline has been mainly caused by the ACTU’s initiatives. The initiatives are mostly driven form top down and dissatisfaction with the unions. The decline has a cross national implication on the workers. The decline has also a lot of financial implication to the workers as well as their retirement incomes in the future. Question 5 Community activism is an important part of modern politics. How do communities promote their interests? What did you think of the video (Community action and the environment)? Does it hold lessons for other communities? One of the issues that communities are mobilizing around today is the expansion of coal seam gas. That and proposed new coal mines are big issues around Toowoomba, where USQ is based. Students who are interested can also read and discuss some of the important social movements, such as feminism. Community activism Community can bring changes to the way the government offers services to them and also how resources are shared. By collecting themselves into a group and using their collective voice to lobby on issues touching their lives. Communities can use various strategies to attract the government attention to issues that affect them including signing and presenting petitions to government, submitting policy proposals to the government and publishing their activities to the general public. The Video community action is an enlightening piece of work on environmental issues. It urges communities to come together and protecting their environment before involving the government as partners. The Video proposes an approach to environmental management where the public recognize they can help preserve and restore the environment near them. The residents of Toowoomba in Queensland have come together to protests against coal mines in residential areas. The community shows willingness to take action to protect their environment and the people are also concerned about the safety of their families as coal continues to be mined near their homes. However, the possibility that the residents will lose out to mining companies and to the state is high as it is likely that the mining operations will continue. Question 6 We look at some of the different ways business tries to get government to respond to its wishes. How successful is business at getting its way? Where does business get its power to influence government and politics? Is business too powerful? Your thoughts on all this and more...!! Corporation use a number of ways to influence government policy to favour their business operations. Contributions to political campaigns of potential candidates for executive and parliamentary political posts are one of the methods employed by big corporation to get a favored status in government policy making. If a candidate who has had a campaign funding boost by political organization makes it to power, he/she will always protect the interests of those parties over those of other citizens. Businesses also lobby government during the design policies so the laws formed are conducive to government. Corporations gather lawmakers in conventions to lobby them to take protective positions on issues that touch on a company or group of companies’ current or future operations. Companies also use various regulatory frameworks to ensure policies that favour them are implemented. Most regulatory bodies are made up of experts who have contacts with large companies through business or are formers employees of these organizations. In some countries some self-regulatory frameworks are responsible for business regulation in certain sectors. The government sometimes has no choice but to align their policies with the wishes of big companies. Some of these corporation control huge chunks of National economies employing thousands of citizens and contribute a significant portion of government revenue. Thus, Governments have to be careful when dealing with the interests of these companies. Read More