Democracy at work... and in Yr 12 English.
In my class we looked at the topic:
To what extent does Twelve Angry Men show democracy at work?
and many students responded with panic and avoidance before wondering what democracy meant. It is always better to face your fears (and ensure you have a dictionary) but I hope that this will help (even if the Civics and Citizenship unit you did in Yr8 didn’t).
The word “democracy” means rule by the people (government of the people, by the people, for the people). Originally, this meant that everyone should vote on everything that came up in the running of a country. Effectively this doesn’t work; you’d spend your whole life voting. What Australia and many other countries with what we would consider “good” governments have is a representational democracy
: in regular fixed term elections, the population votes for a group or party of politicians (or an independent individual) to represent them and their best interests.
: the most popular group has a majority in the parliament and becomes the government, the other groups are opposition parties.
: in parliament the government introduces a new law (bill) and then they and the opposition parties debate it back and forth with everyone getting their fair say until they vote and reach a majority decision.
The legal system follows a democratic process in its juries. Instead of voting for representatives, this time they expect that a random selection of citizens will offer enough variation to be “typical” of the society as a whole. The jury uses the same parliamentary process where everyone speaks his own mind, the group discusses it, and then they vote (usually they reach consensus, where everyone agrees, sometimes they seek a strong majority). The word “parliament” is to do with debate and discussion, and it is fundamental to the democratic process.
There are other aspects to “democracy”. It means that the people, not just the politicians are important, and that they are important as individuals. That is why people in democracies expect a hearing (where people hear their side of the story) and a trial (where the evidence is discussed). You can even make an appeal against a decision. There are responsibilities too: members of a democracy should know enough about the politicians who represent them to make sensible choices in voting, and they should undertake jury duty seriously too.
The governing body cannot just keep their jobs and change laws to keep themselves in control. Most democratic countries have a way of “firing” or at least drastically changing a “bad” or “non-representative” government. Similarly a jury that cannot reach a decision (like a hung jury) can be replaced and the trial run again. There are checks and balances in the system.
You can see how Twelve Angry Men shows these rights and responsibilities, and the way the jury discusses each aspect of the case, usually from the perspective or experience of a particular juror (individuals, and society as a whole). It also shows the flaws in the system, when not all the jurors are “good men and true”.
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My class then asked some questions like the following about other forms of government and I tried to give a simple answer:
What is a monarchy? Monarchies have a king/queen/empress at the top (e.g. Japan, Norway, Holland). In most modern countries (constitutional monarchies) the monarch is not part of the government, they do charity work and keep traditions. There are some countries, like Saudi Arabia, where the princes of the Saudi family actually run the countries.
What is a republic? ... a country which has a president as the head of a democratic government (e.g. France, U.S.A., India, Brazil). But... a country called The Democratic Republic of... is usually the opposite of what it claims to be.
What is aristocracy? ... rule by a group of families who inherit their power, usually with a monarch at the very top.
What is communism? Ideally it should be a democracy where everyone has a say and contributes what they can in return for what they need (everyone is equal). In fact it usually has one small group of people who keep control among themselves permanently (an oligarchy) and who use the population as a sort of work force. They usually do not allow trade unions and control the media.
What is a dictatorship? A country whose leader is unelected, usually taking power by force, and has unlimited power. The power to govern without the consent of those being governed. Not restricted by laws, constitutions or opposition.
What is fascism? Ideally it should be where the country is ruled by a worthy elite (they know what is best for the country so they don’t need any opposition parties). In fact it is usually a small group of powerful wealthy people and the army in charge of everyone else, they keep control themselves and use the population as a sort of workforce. They usually do not allow trade unions and control the media.
What is Sharia Law? It is a type of religious fascism where the group of people in control believe that the modern world is all going wrong and that the best thing for everyone is to follow a very strict and limited set of laws derived from an interpretation of the Qu’ran, and used in parts of the Middle East 1000 years ago. The Taliban used this system of government.
What is a tyrant? Tyranny is where you get one person who takes complete control of a country and runs it for their own personal benefit. They often start off as a very popular charismatic leader, and then become corrupted by power, go insane and become a megalomaniacal despot.
What is a coup? The opposition party (usually with the help of an army), or a senior general and the army, suddenly take over parliament and get rid of the government (without any elections or democratic decisions involved). There are occasionally “bloodless coups” where one group takes over from another by sneaky political methods.
You can see that several of the above terms can apply to any one government in a particular country.