Achieving Political Change in Australia - Literature review Example

Australia Politics Student Name Course Institution Date Question 3 Discuss two of the ways in which individuals or groups can participate in the political process. Are they effective in achieving political change? Introduction The political process is a process that entails the formulation of public policies and administering the policies through interactions between political institutions and social groups or between public opinion and political leadership. This implies that there needs to be the participation of individuals or groups in the political process. Various ways can be used by these individuals or groups in participating in the political process. One of the most traditional ways used by people in participating in the process is through voting. However, this has faced the challenge of rigged votes and lack of democracy in some areas. Other than voting, there are other ways like political lobbying and making petitions to the government. These ways make the people voice their concerns about the management of public affairs by the political set up. Through their participation, there are positive contributions that can be realized by the country. This paper shall analyse two ways by which the individuals or groups can participate in the political process. The two processes are political lobbying and petitions to the government. The benefits that such participation brings to the country shall also be analysed. The political process in which people are allowed to participate in the running of affairs is called democracy. Indirect democracy could be used to refer to the process by which people are allowed to take control of the government by the election of political officials. This can be defined in the theory of republicanism. Under this theory, Smith et al (2012) stated that the democracy is not only an institutional entity but should also be underpinned by certain values. Therefore, it is the social values encapsulated by the political institutions that define the kind of democracy experienced by the country. The participants in the process of making decisions take part in the process with the aim of working to enhance the common good or the civic good. Direct democracy forms are not known to address motivations among people in detail. Despite this, the republican theory purports that individuals participating in the decision making process should do that with a view to ensuring that the best interests of the society are achieved. With this perspective, participation is significant. More to this, there is need to lay emphasis on the principles and values that democratic citizens can bring to the decisions made by the policy makers. This means that democracy is not just a mere agglomeration of preferences by individuals but is inclined towards ensuring that people leave their personal views to a single side in engaging in the whole democratic project. This means that individuals leave their personal views and their own personal interests and pursue the interests of the society at large. Going by this understanding, there is need to recognize that in any political process, it is the society that is considered as the main institution. The process should be handled while putting the interests of the society first. For such a measure to be effectively achieved, it is necessary that the society is allowed to participate in the political process. Any group or individual that would wish to take part in the political process should be allowed to make their contribution. It is the vetting done by the society that brings out the best from the political process. Political lobbying One of the ways that can be used in participating in the political process by the public is through political lobbying. According to Zetter (2011), lobbying is the process by which individuals or groups seek to shape the agenda of the public policy so as to influence the government as well as the legislative program. It can also be considered as the process of political persuasion. From a professional point of view, lobbying is considered as an attempt to influence or to advise the government the parliament or the legislatures and administrations on matters that are within their own competence. It therefore implies that the process involves looking into what is being done in the political process and finding out what can be done in a better way. Any fault in the existing process has to be pointed out and the corrective mechanism stated so as to improve what is being done by the existing system. The aim of lobbyists is to impose sanctions the government and to persuade legislature to into voting certain bills that will reflect their interests. The group consists of intellectuals, human rights activists and retired congressmen whose agenda is to monitor and to correct the way in which some of the duties conducted by the government are done. These groups could be employed by labour unions, social welfare associations or human right groups who want to use the services of the lobbyists so as to push for their agenda in the society. By and large, they are channeled towards ensuring that the public interests are conducted in a manner that is best suited for the public. Several duties are conducted by the lobbyists and lobby groups. One of these duties is to sensitize the public on their rights. By so doing, they will garner the support of the public. This reduces the chances of violation of the rights of the public since they are informed of what their rights are. At times, lobbyists are included in special forums so as to represent the public in the on-going activities. In such meetings, they represent the views of the public and they will air the views of the public. They could also convince the legislatures to vote or to implement the plans provided they are of great significance to the public. In other cases, the lobbyists read the legislative bill and interpret it before it becomes a law. They use their understanding to find out the pros and cons of the new laws and then make this known to the public. They therefore act as the interpreters of the public on the laws. Lobbyists can also carry out press conferences that will be used in informing the public about their stand on certain matters; providing reasons for their decisions. Whenever they take a particular stand, they use such conferences in informing the public on the reason for their stand. Such a forum can be used to inform the public on the effects that the law will have on them. Through this, the public is made aware of what is happening on the political front. By using the lobbyists, the public is placed on a good run of participation in the political matters of the country. This information is not only provided in terms of the negative side of the law. It has to be presented from the two sides of the pros and cons. Through this, the public is given the opportunity to understand what is best for them. This understanding also provides the public with the opportunity to give their views on what they feel should be improved. Attempts to impact on the agenda of the public policy takes place at various stages and for various reasons. The rationale used for lobbying dictates the campaign’s timing together with the resources that shall be devoted to it. For instance, if the campaign involves dictating pure policy, then it means that the process shall be initiated at the very early stage of the process. It also means that the lobbying process shall be done by academicians and think-tanks. If the process is about changing the bill, then there is a high chance that the process of lobbying shall be done by lobbying consultants. For a lobbying process to be considered as good lobbying, it is said to be the one that starts at the earliest stage of discovery of the formulation of the policy. This implies that the individuals or groups could take consultants or think tanks to be the ones championing their ideas. It could also imply feeding into reviewing of the policies that all political parties handle between the elections. Another dimension to this could mean use of the media in altering the perception of the public towards the issue; the result of which is an indirect influence on the party officials who would wish to be elected or to stay elected. Lobbying by journalists refers to activities of consultancies involved in multi-client lobbying. When lobbying is done by journalists, they do it using negative comments that are directed towards the managers of political processes. The reason for the great desire shown by the media to participate lobbying is because feel they should influence the agenda of the public policy directly. According to Hula (1999), lobbyists act as representatives of the public in pushing for the implementation of the public agenda. Therefore, they should keep tabs on the regulations and the legislation that is related to the public agenda. Additionally, they should also convey the needs, interests and desires of the public to the government and to the public. This does not imply that lobbying is an easy to do task since it has its many challenges. One of the biggest challenge that they face is the high rate at which the political environment changes. In addition, they face the challenge of overcoming the barriers that the government or the political players put so as to protect themselves from such scrutiny. This act therefore requires that the lobbyist groups work to ensure that despite the barriers they face, they still go ahead with their agenda of ensuring that the public agenda is implemented. Petitions to the government Voss (2002) stated that petitions refer to demands for a favor or demands made so as to redress an injustice. This demand is directed to some authority that is established. In the case of the political process, the established authority would be the government. In most genuinely democratic societies, individuals are given the right to question the way in which the government runs its affairs. This includes the right to raise their grievances, to question the running of certain matters and to seek the government’s assistance in certain issues. This is referred to as petitioning the government. By taking part in questioning the way the government runs its affairs, the public gets involved in the political process. Henschen et al (2011) stated that the right to petition the government is given to the public so that they can redress their grievances. This right is fundamental to the democracy of a country. It gives permission to the citizens so that they can lobby congress members together with other officials of the government and allows them to submit any petitions they have against the government and to sue their government in case need arises. The petition may be an individual or a group of people. When people petition the government, they challenge the government on matters that they feel are not being run as they wish should be run (Parliament of Australia, 2013). They question the way in which certain matters are run and through the right accrued to them by their constitution, they can go and challenge the government on these matters. In societies where petitions are an accepted tradition, they developed into institutions that would be used to represent the wishes of the people. In addition, they could be used in elicitation of the general legislation. In such societies, the right to petition was used as the beginning of other rights. Having obtained the right, individuals would get the confidence to assemble and discuss matters of concern to them and to sign the petition before pursuing it. Therefore, this would be a way of participating in the political process. Effectiveness of the two methods Participation of the public in political processes is effective in the advantages that the ways used have. For instance, lobbying plays an important role in enhancing the society’s governance. When the lobbyists groups push for establishment of certain legislatures, the society gets good policies that can be used in developing the nation. Lobbyists have also pushed for establishment of laws that protect certain rights of people including pushing for the existence of certain species and certain forms of equality. This enhances the existence in the country because the people live peacefully. Additionally, petitioning the government also provides room for the government to run its affairs in a manner that puts the citizens’ interests first. The government has no room for mismanagement of the people’s affairs. More to that, petitioning provides the opportunity to express their digressions at what they feel has not been done in the right way by the government. It is therefore an effective way of representing the people’s ideas and making them participate indirectly in the political process. While these methods of participation have their advantages, they are also ineffective in some sense. For instance, lobbyists could be compromised by a small minority of groups that want to push their own agenda and not necessarily the agenda of the public. Such moves enhance corruption in the country. Sometimes, lobbyists use the forum for discussion with the government to push for their own agenda; worse still, they could distort the real information that should be conveyed to the government since they act as intermediary groups. For the case of petitions, they have been considered as traditional ways of addressing issues and should not be used. Conclusion While the two methods have their own disadvantages, they still are appropriate ways by which the public views can be represented and they make the government to work towards the benefits of the society. The government cannot relax and work on its own way since there are bodies that monitor its operations. It also means that the government has to consult the public through such groups so as to get the needs of the public. Bibliography Henschen et al, 2011, Government 2011, California Edition + Bind-in Printed Access Card, USA, Suzzane Jeans. Hula, K. 1999, Lobbying Together: Interest Group Coalitions in Legislative Politics, USA, Georgetown University Press. Parliament of Australia, 2013, Petitions, Accessed on May 5, 2013 from: http://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Petitions. Smith et al, 2012, Contemporary Politics in Australia: Theories, Practices and Issues, Australia, Cambridge University Press. Voss, L. 2002, Petitions in Social History, USA, Press Syndicate of the University of Cambridge. Zetter, L. 2011, Lobbying: The Art of Political Persuasion, 2nd Edition, Great Britain, Hariman House. Read More

This means that individuals leave their personal views and their own personal interests and pursue the interests of the society at large. Going by this understanding, there is need to recognize that in any political process, it is the society that is considered as the main institution. The process should be handled while putting the interests of the society first. For such a measure to be effectively achieved, it is necessary that the society is allowed to participate in the political process.

Any group or individual that would wish to take part in the political process should be allowed to make their contribution. It is the vetting done by the society that brings out the best from the political process. Political lobbying One of the ways that can be used in participating in the political process by the public is through political lobbying. According to Zetter (2011), lobbying is the process by which individuals or groups seek to shape the agenda of the public policy so as to influence the government as well as the legislative program.

It can also be considered as the process of political persuasion. From a professional point of view, lobbying is considered as an attempt to influence or to advise the government the parliament or the legislatures and administrations on matters that are within their own competence. It therefore implies that the process involves looking into what is being done in the political process and finding out what can be done in a better way. Any fault in the existing process has to be pointed out and the corrective mechanism stated so as to improve what is being done by the existing system.

The aim of lobbyists is to impose sanctions the government and to persuade legislature to into voting certain bills that will reflect their interests. The group consists of intellectuals, human rights activists and retired congressmen whose agenda is to monitor and to correct the way in which some of the duties conducted by the government are done. These groups could be employed by labour unions, social welfare associations or human right groups who want to use the services of the lobbyists so as to push for their agenda in the society.

By and large, they are channeled towards ensuring that the public interests are conducted in a manner that is best suited for the public. Several duties are conducted by the lobbyists and lobby groups. One of these duties is to sensitize the public on their rights. By so doing, they will garner the support of the public. This reduces the chances of violation of the rights of the public since they are informed of what their rights are. At times, lobbyists are included in special forums so as to represent the public in the on-going activities.

In such meetings, they represent the views of the public and they will air the views of the public. They could also convince the legislatures to vote or to implement the plans provided they are of great significance to the public. In other cases, the lobbyists read the legislative bill and interpret it before it becomes a law. They use their understanding to find out the pros and cons of the new laws and then make this known to the public. They therefore act as the interpreters of the public on the laws.

Lobbyists can also carry out press conferences that will be used in informing the public about their stand on certain matters; providing reasons for their decisions. Whenever they take a particular stand, they use such conferences in informing the public on the reason for their stand. Such a forum can be used to inform the public on the effects that the law will have on them. Through this, the public is made aware of what is happening on the political front. By using the lobbyists, the public is placed on a good run of participation in the political matters of the country.

This information is not only provided in terms of the negative side of the law. It has to be presented from the two sides of the pros and cons.

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