Responsible Democracies Issues - Essay Example

? Democracies Undoubtedly, the United s of America evolved as one of the early liberal democracies in the history after Switzerland (an independent federation and not a democracy according to the modern definitions) in 1219. The civil rights and their liberties were protected and were safeguarded in the Constitution of the United States in 1788 while it was presented for the elected government. Democracy has become a complete guideline and the way of living; having its root deep down in social, economic and political equality on the American frontline. However, different inaugurals, studies, and declarations such as; The Four Freedoms which were presented by Franklin D. Roosevelt for the strengthening of democracy; the UDHR; President Obama’s Second Inaugural; etc. This paper critically analyzes these articles and declarations on the topic which are in significant relevance with each other; UDHR and Four Freedoms and Kaplan’s Article and Obama’s Second Inaugural. Moreover, it will also highlight the impacts on each other. Likewise, other responsible democracies of the world, United States also have great respect and serious interest towards democracy and human rights. These components have long been the core focus of the U.S. Foreign Policy. The increased emphasis on democracy by its leaders, government, and other concerned authorities is because of the fact that it allows them to advance their national interests on global levels. Moreover, the freedom for religion and the workers and labor rights as essential American ideologies are also well promoted through it. It is believed by the U.S. Government and people of U.S. that, democratic nations have more contribution towards global peace; it helps in diminishing aggression; allows expanding open markets, and ensures and safeguard the basic rights of Americans (Patterson). It is due to these reasons that many U.S. Presidents have addressed the topic of democracy and has shown its importance in their speeches at different occasions. Similarly, different institutions and the UN have also highlighted its significance. The UDHR in 1948 was also presented to show the vitality of the human rights. It was due to this declaration that the organized community of nations declared the human rights and the relevant essential freedoms for the first time (United Nations). However, the declaration was presented for democracies all over the world and was conceived as ‘a common standard of achievement for all people and nations’ (United Nations). It was formulated to measure and identify the level and degree of respect for an agreement with the international human rights principles. Varying from economic, social, cultural, to political rights, to which all individuals are authorized without any differentiation, the UDHR consists of 30 articles (United Nations). Declaring all humans as equal individuals since their birth (Article 1), the UDHR is a complete set of rules. The economic, cultural and social rights to humans are mentioned in Articles 22-27. All individuals are declared as equal members of the society (Article 22). The declaration’s mandate limits everyone and every state and government to provide all humans the same rights without any discrimination (Article 2). The declaration in its 4th Article also highlights the curse of slavery telling that no one should be held in slavery or servitude (United Nations). The right to justice is also declared to all individuals and that all of them can make use of the right before the law as a person everywhere. Right to privacy (Article 12) and the freedom of thought, conscience and religion is also declared to all in Article 18. Article 19 deals with the freedom of expression and speech. The declaration also deals with religion giving every human equal right for it (Article 26). The United Nation’s, UDHR worked as a chief declaration for the human rights and many democratic states including U.S. followed it with its full implementation. However, the third inauguration of Franklin D. Roosevelt (very commonly known as the ‘Four Freedom’) was also on the same subject. Also, it is of high significance, relevance and association with the UDHR (United Nations). The ‘Four Freedoms’ were also goals which were formulated by the U.S. President of that time Franklin D. Roosevelt. In 1941, he delivered an address at the third inaugural. The speech was delivered because of the collapse of democracy in a number of noble and civilized states. The fundamental aim of Roosevelt was to regenerate the soul of democracy and divert the attention of the Americans towards their fundamental rights. Roosevelt proposed four essential freedoms which the people situated anywhere in the world should enjoy. These were the freedom of speech and worship and freedom from want and fear. Just like the UDHR the ‘Four Freedoms’ also had so many in general. If we focus on the dialogue that ‘history works only one way’, then it can be noticed that the Four Freedoms laid a base for the democracies round the world, particularly U.S. The UN very efficiently tried to incorporate many of the Franklin’s proposals in its declaration (Crowley). The UN was fully aware of the four freedom resolutions and its proposed articles by Roosevelt. It is due to this reason that UN regenerated the importance of freedom resolution by declaring it as a fundamental human right. The freedom from want and freedom from fear from the Four Freedoms highlighted the importance of economic stability to all nations and freedom from artilleries and wars with neighboring nations so that peace can be maintained (Crowley). Moving forward with the history, then it was witnessed that these freedoms were again set out and were proposed by President Obama in his second inaugural in January 2013. However, the history did not show significant alliance with the freedoms and standards of democracy which were set by the leaders and the UN. It was then articles such as ‘Was Democracy Just a Moment?’ were presented by Robert D. Kaplan, in which he has shown his pessimism telling that democracies at present are in worst situations. The system of democracy may not be the system that will best serve world (Kaplan). It was because of the crucial circumstances that the 44th President of U.S highlighted the need for a sound democracy and the significance of freedom for its citizens. He emphasized as strongly as he could do on the major topics such as freedom and equality of human rights. He highlighted the vitality of open markets while he also highlighted the idea of a slave-free world. He promised his citizens ensuring them all the fundamental rights (Compton). All his points were in agreement with the UDHR and the ‘Four Freedoms’. In addition, it can be said that it was an answer to the article by Kaplan and many other people who thought that it was the end of democracy and world peace (Kaplan). Democracies all around the world works on the same mechanism and basic principles fundamentals with some minor changes designed purely for its citizens. However, it has been noticed that US history has noted some rough and tough time in this regard. The freedoms declared by the world leaders and the former Presidents of the country are not being fully implemented, and the term democracy is at stake. Thus, it can be concluded that what was presented in a compressed manner by Roosevelt was further refined and explained in the UDHR; and that the criticism done and the pessimism adopted by Kaplan in his article somehow highlighted the failure of the previous democracies and the collapse of the economies which were resulting in failure of individual rights. However, Obama’s second inaugural also presented the same points but with a promise to fulfill them. It should be noted that all these promises made by leaders and the authorities have not yet been fulfilled, and no implementation with full effect has been made so far. In this regard, it is strongly suggested that individuals should design a sound and an appropriate strategy with the consent of the authorities and demand for its implementations. If this is too many to ask than the government should be held accountable for the present miserable situation of the country and should be asked to come up with a countermeasure as all of what has been said previously went in vague; as it is better said than done. Works Cited Compton, Matt. "The Second Inauguration of Barack Obama." 21 January 2013. whitehouse.gov. 6 October 2013. Crowley, John. Four Freedoms. London: Orion, 2013. Print Kaplan, Rober D. "Was Democracy Just a Moment?" 1 December 1997. theatlantic.com. 6 October 2013. Patterson, Thomas. The American Democracy. Columbus: McGraw-Hill Education, 2012. Print United Nations. "UDHR." 1948. un.org. 6 October 2013. Read More