Name: SUFIYANU UMAR

Department: MASS COMMUNICATION

Course Code: GNS 122
Admission No: 172292005

Assignment

Discuss the Responsibilities of Government in a Democratic Society

A government is the system or group of people governing an organized

community, often a state.

Democracy is a term which is common in modern days. It can be used to refer to

governments. There are so many uprisings in cases where governments are proving
to be undemocratic. Citizens have risen against their leaders. Coup deters are
witnessed in other countries as a result of lack of democracy.

Africa and Asia are the world’s leading continents which have experienced these
uprisings. I can strongly assert that democracy is today a basic need for a country
to move forward economically, socially and politically. By way of example, we
have witnessed people fighting for their rights in many West African countries
recently. In Asia, Syria is a convincing example. Democracy, therefore, can be
defined as, “government of the people by the people and for the people. Such a
government has its citizens as magistrates” (SparkNotes1).

The responsibilities or role of government are stated below:

1. Protection and Defense

The most basic duty of a government is to protect its people. The government
protects citizens from each other by organizing police to enforce the law. It also
protects by defending the country from outside forces. For this purpose, most
 governments are in charge of creating and commanding a military that can repel
invasions or even fight for the country’s interests abroad. Even libertarian
thinkers, who believe governments should have very little power, usually
consider protection and defense to be normal government duties.
2. The Economy
A capitalist “market economy” is ideally controlled by buyers and sellers, with
the government staying out of things. However, most people today expect their
governments to take action to promote national prosperity and quality of life. At
the minimum, this might just mean refereeing the system to ensure fairness and
competition, but it can also involve protecting local businesses, creating jobs, or
other measures to actively stabilize and grow the economy. In a communist or
fully socialist system, the government is expected to take charge by planning
economic growth and running major industries itself.
3. Social Services
Governments are almost always expected to provide basic services to their
citizens, such as building roads and fighting fires, but they sometimes offer
much more. To ensure basic well-being for their citizens, many governments
provide assistance such as food, housing and medical care to those in need. This
is a basic government service in socialist or social democratic systems, but can
be controversial in more strongly capitalist countries such as the United States.

4. Role of a Government in Democracy is to Withhold the Rights Of Its

Citizens: Democracy does not allow violation of the rights of citizens. A
government, which cannot protect its citizens from violation of all kinds to their
rights, is not democratic. For instance by the start of the twentieth century, the
governing mission by the then government of the United States changed from
the protection of personal rights to the Principle of democracy (Holcombe xiv).
5. In Democracy, a Government has a role of upholds the rule of law: This
means that such a government acts within the constitution. Most state leaders
 rarely uphold the law, but they expect the commoners to do so. It is normally
unfortunate example to the citizens. Democracy demands that the state should
lead from the front. By doing this, government can authoritatively ensure every
other person is strictly adhering to the constitution. Citizens keep their
confidence to a government which leads by example, and at the same time
despises leadership which preaches water and takes wine at the same time.
6. Any government has a role to play in a democracy: such a government
ensures that it makes policies which are sensitive to the needs of the
commoners. It has the citizens in mind and always gearing its efforts to
bettering their lives (Lutz 4). The lives can be improved economically and also
socially. In a democracy, the government must empower citizens economically.
This ensures that citizens can cater for their needs. This role is inclusive of
spearheading developments projects, Improvement of the infrastructure, better
education and proper medical care.

The criteria to evaluate any government’s action can be observed from its response
to liberate the people from any calamity. In cases where people encounter hunger,
an epidemic disease or any natural calamity and the government does not come to
their rescue such a government does not act. It should be judged harshly. One of
the roles of any government is to protect its citizens from all dangers whatsoever.

Corruption is a crucial problem in most countries. For a government to be

considered as efficient, it should combat this vice as quickly as possible. In cases
where it does not nor does so selectively, then such a government can
competitively be said to be sleeping on its work. In other words, a government of
this caliber does not act.

A government can be said to act if it does respond to issues affecting its citizens as
swiftly as possible. Such a government is not only quick to respond but its
preparedness in evident. To a government of this type, a crime is a crime
regardless of the status of the personalities who engage it.

Reference

Holcombe, Randall G. From Liberty to Democracy: The Transformation of

American Government. Ann Arbor: The University of Michigan Press, 2002. Print.

Lutz, Edward A. The Role of Local Government in Philippine Democracy. Los

Baños: University of the Philippines, College of Agriculture, 1958. Print.

Rousseau J-J. The Social Contract. Web on 8th Oct 2012 from
<http://www.sparknotes.com/philosophy/socialcontract/section7.rhtml>2012