POLITICS

Politics is the sharing of power and set of activities undertaken by a government, its legislating

bodies or its people to influence the working of a political government that is described in the

context of its three main political perspectives in the contemporary world i.e., liberalism,

conservatism and socialism. Acquiring general political knowledge is central to the citizens to

transform their political opinions into effective political action. Therefore, they must be well

aware of the world they live in. Politics can be further understood by two main perspectives

broad and narrow perspective. The broad perspective of politics asserts that for establishing

justice in society, there is a need to not only produce justice in the state, government, or

organization but throughout the whole social and political order. This perspective advocates for

the maintenance of transformation of every order of the society to establish equality and equity

for every person. It calls for popular sovereignty e.g., the constituent sovereignty of human

beings residing within a territory intended for their well-being in every segment of the social and

cultural paradigms (cf. The Point of Christology: 95, 160). The Fair-Trade movement is a

political response to the injustices and inequities of the global coffee industry. On the other hand,

a narrow perspective of politics argues that politics is the intentional act of an individual or group

to achieve certain objectives and that it is not necessary to link every process or activity to the

concept of politics. It does not instigate a campaign to establish justice and equality in every

realm of public affairs.

After defining the narrow and broad perspectives of politics, it is imperative to discuss the

important political ideologies to understand politics. These are liberalism, conservatism, and

socialism. These ideologies can be drawn on a political spectrum in the way that conservatism

and socialism are wide opposite to each other while liberalism lies in between these two. Firstly,
liberalism tends to establish and protect the liberties of individuals in the name of equality of

rights. This liberty is further divided into two kinds, one being the negative liberty that calls for

removal of all external constraints to provide an individual with the opportunities to flourish

while positive liberty asks for wielding the capacity in an individual to reap the benefits of

liberty. It may be called an affirmative action that is executed to provide the marginalized

segment of the society with the threshold needed to enjoy the merits of liberty. The current world

order is working on this liberal democratic order.

Conservatism is the political ideology that argues for the private ownership of the resources by

an individual and a capitalist free market. When drawn on the economic liberty scale, the

conservatives are the far-right group that opposes any constraints in the free market. This type of

ideology prefers the values of order and security over individual liberties and legal equality. For

example, racial profiling at airports and borders is an act of violation of equal human rights in the

view of liberals but for conservatives, it is a mandatory activity for the preservation of peace and

security in a country. Socialism is another important ideology that argues for the elimination of

socioeconomic inequality rooted in almost every modern society. As opposed to conservatism, it

is against the inequality generated due to the unfettered market liberty and freeness. Rather, it

asks for providing every individual with what is needed to live a life. In terms of ownership of

resources and profits, the socialist perspective argues for collective ownership of the resources

by the community as a whole and profit to be divided equally between the masses. Democracy

and capitalism fail each other because they are opposite to each other in ideology. Capitalism

advocates for a free market and profiteering while democracy calls for equal share for the masses

irrespective of their status.

When the question of whether citizens need to be aware of the politics in the world they live in is

taken into account, the studies and contemporary issues show that it is equally important for

citizens to be aware of the politics as it is important for current and potential politicians. There

are some solid reasons behind these findings. Firstly, politics and government impact nearly

every aspect of people' lives. Ranging from the taxes paid by the people to the things to tend to

buy, everything is motivated by politics. So, in this case, having an understanding of the current

political status and forecasting the change in this political structure in the future can help one

cope with the emerging challenges and navigating the complex system of the world without

much difficulty. Whether we are aware of politics or not, we are being affected by it. Therefore,

it is wise to have profound knowledge about it so that we can perform better in the different

aspects of life. Taking the case of gender equality in various parts of the world. A vigilant civil

society can make the government promote women's rights through activism and campaigns. This

has become even more effective in the contemporary world due to the increasing power of social

media (Htun and Weldon, 2010, pp. 207-216).

Secondly, the political awareness of the masses is decisive in making certain people climb to the

throne. In this case, for example, 42% of the eligible voters in the United States do not vote. It

can be understood how much this affects the country's future and the people living in that

country. Political parties have come to play a critical role in establishing and practicing

democracy. To establish a stable and effective competition between various political parties, the

voters of the country should actively participate in the democratic process. Therefore, it is

important to know the importance of voting for a people. If they get this realization, they can

better participate in the political process and help in pulling the right people to the government.

A democracy requires knowledgeable citizens to avoid becoming a tyrannical or authoritarian

form of government. It has been observed that in weak democracies, people lack even the most

basic political information. The election of Donald Trump as the president of the United States

caused massive damage to the liberal and democratic values of the American political system.

The institutional conservatism and hijacking of the political process by the elite has caused decay

to the American political system (Fukuyama, 2014).

Thirdly, having political awareness makes the rulers accountable to the people through

questioning their performance and choosing the better alternatives in elections. The popular

sovereignty has now gained more importance due to the active role of social and other electronic

media. For this reason, the monist view of sovereignty has been given up by most of the world

and now, the pluralistic view of sovereignty has prevailed over the world in which the

sovereignty lies in the people of those countries. This has helped the current liberal democratic

order to sustain the challenges it has faced through the course of time. For example, the United

States president would have done more damage to US democracy if there was no system of

checks and balances. This is in line with the political theory produced by Francis Fukuyama.

Summing the discussion up, it is evident that politics plays a key role in every aspect of people's

lives. Therefore, they should be well aware of the phenomenon to establish better political

decision-making. A country needs to know how its citizens interact with its government. While

the argument about the participation of people in political procedure and create a conducive

culture, it does not necessitate people to read every newspaper article about an issue or watch

every television interview with a candidate, but doing some independents research can be of

great benefit for them and the country. So, if a vigilant civil society is does not exist and people

are not interested in the political affairs of their concern, Canada’s democracy may also fall into

a crisis just like the United States’ democracy in the recent months.
Bibliography:

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http://www.jstor.org/stable/25698527

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