Progressive Politics and the Society - Research Paper Example

Progressive Politics and the Society The concept of community can be employed for progressive political purposes Introduction The relationship between a community and the prevailing political governance can be viewed from varying perspectives. Communities are seen as collections of persons and households living together within a geographical; set up and in most cases, they share common links. They can be interpreted as groups of people living in the same environment while sharing common values though the organization is larger than a small village. Economic occupations and social culture usually holds the people of a given community together. However, a community shares some unifying values and practices. By sharing a common geographical location, the people share some common values believes, economic occupational and in some sense a common political structure. Nevertheless, not all people are subscribed to similar social cultural believes and practices (Berman, 1986, 476-485; Community Development Journal, 1997). This can better be understood by the varying socialization methods that people are subjected to. There arises difference in the social set up from the different believe of social cultural ascriptions that people of the same community are identified with. Political organization of a people describes the leadership patterns that the people adopt. This paper intends to analyze the interconnectedness of the political regimes that a country or region is affiliated to and the social setup of the member communities that live there. In the discussion, we shall ascertain that successful political regimes are always ascribed to the foundation of the communities (Sassen, 2000, 143-160; Young, 2002). A community of people dictates the political leadership that is applicable within the country. The essence of leadership emanates for the basic building block of a society and this is the community. Political identity borrows a lot from the community. This is the justification that for any progress in political perspective, within the community aspect of the nation must be incorporated. There is no strong political framework in existence that works outside the framework of a community. Political leaders are constituent subjects of a community and thus their strength would be tracked back to the social structure of the community from which they are members. It is also true that the strength of any political frameworks in the world has been established from the cohesion that the members of a community exhibit. The purpose of exploring this topic is to have a clear perspective of a community set up in the ways of organization, interactions and leadership. We also intend to learn the strengths of political systems that evolve from the community set up through which they thrive. Through this study too, we intend to add to the already existing literature in the field through which future studies will rely of for information. It is also going to the proposition that for a progressive political system, the basic building block is the community. This essay shall have an introductory part. Through the discussion, we shall focus on the opinions of various people in regard to the topic as found in literature. We shall review the already existing literature on communities, their organizations and the political structures of communities. Concluding opinion and remarks will be made. Discussion Philosophers have been seen to advance different thoughts concerning the topic of interdependence between the community and political leadership. Nevertheless, a common stand is that a community is an organization of people who are formed by the merging of deferent family units who share some common attributes of social, economic or even cultural definition. Miller junior set to analyze the philosophical works of Aristotle in his writings. He found out that among the writing, the significance of a community in the general political arena is indispensable. The family unit is composed of various parties who exhibit varying levels or kinds of relationship. According to Aristotle, a family unit is composed by the nuclear organization of the father, the mother, children and the slave. Through the interrelationship, the nuclear unit derives mutual benefit by interaction within the common ties of father as the head and the rest as the subjects. Nevertheless, Aristotleacknowledges a difference in the nature of relations between a typical family and the slave. From his reasoning, a community emanates by the convergence of manyvillages, which are formed by many family units (nd, 61-64). Aristotle reasons that the cohesion between the family units that build up the villages determines the cohesion at the community level. Moreover, he acknowledges the reasoning that the governing of the polis established the ‘political’ rule. In traditional scene, the polis formed political divide in a region. The polis as a state was organized under a political regime that served the interest of the households as well as the community at large. While this could be argued to represent the case of politics within a country or a political region, Aristotle’s work serves as a basis of understanding the importance of community organization to the overall political governance within a state or country. The reason of a polis is not merely just for a life but rather for a good life; where political governance is takes the center stage. The importance of good governance is therefore by all manners beneficial to a community. On the other hand, the successes of a political system are by much dependent on the wellbeing of the community unto which the leadership is answerable. Communities are seen in terms of their social and economic organization. Reports and studies have revealed unhealthy relations that dominate community set-ups right from the traditional regimes. Activism, by the lenses of discrimination through gender, race and cultural background has been seen to take shape in majority of modern community systems. Much of the need of the activism and advocacy is stimulated by the need to have more representative political governance in the society as the prejudice has been hindering it. Written articles have revealed that the strength or success of political systems rely much on the societal values of representativeness and equity as regards to race, gender, and or even disabilities. An annual meeting supplement for the American Sociological Association 2009 outlined major discussion areas and plenary sessions giving priorityto the social injustices that have over time rocked the U.S political landscape. However, of a great importance was the analysis of the milestone that America realized in the campaign against racial discrimination against communities when President Obama was elected. The campaigns revealed that political success wholesomely depended more on the cohesion ad unity within the state arising from representativeness of the people living there. Among other topics of discussion were ‘youth and power as well as the Obama phenomenon (Collins, 2009, 3-12; Harris, 2001). Moreover, the American dream through the Obama family took center stage. The meeting analysis was solely pegged on the modern concept of a community to refer not necessarily to a people living within a geographical divide but rather to even state affiliation of people. Through the meeting, the fundamental rights that accords human beings dignity, regardless of their social status, race, language as well as the economic background were acknowledged. The Obama took a keen interest after the majority of the U.s inhabitants let down the prejudice on race and cultural background and elected him the president despite his African American culture. Community development and strength to a large extent borrow from the community identity. Studies focused on minority communities within the larger context reveals that communities are defined by their regional as well as their political organization. In a study conducted to evaluate the position of the American Latinos, it was found that their representativeness in political governance was much dependent on the member identification as well as the member strength to negotiate political parity. The survey found out historical records of un-representativeness of the communities in power and decision making agencies within the state owing from the small size and social construction of the group. Nevertheless, recent evaluation revealed rising population of the Latinos and increased activism by the members. Projections are positive on the future trends in representation of the group within political spheres as well as other decision making institutions as the group is projected to have surpassed the over a third population level by 2100 . This research therefore ascertained both growing political and population community of the Latinos (Garcia et al, 2009, 8-10). Larger communities command higher political influence in a state or within a region. The study therefore pointed to a change in political background with the Latinos in the event that they grew in numbers. From the previous study, the America Latinos were unequally represented within the political spheres thus the need for a change. From the projection, the population of Latinos would be better placed to command a political front with a huge support. An American politics research that focused among other things the essence of knowledge and education on the on politics and communities revealed a relationship between knowledge and power within and among communities. Studiesreveal thateducation and knowledge is a critical aspect of the political socialization of a community or a society. It was however seen from the study to be a basic prerequisite to the overallpoliticaldemocratization of a people. Through the study, it was found that communities with less understanding and knowledge suffered bad political governance (Lay, 2005, 332-3334). Political participation and governance is directly related to the levels of literacy within a community. The study concluded that with the higher rates of literacy levels that American communities and growing urban cities, the future political performance of the communities seems brighter. It therefore equally ascertains the proposition that the politicalprosperity of the people of the U.S is and will always depend on the capacity of the communities to participate activelywithin the political field. It is however most dependent on the literacy levels of the people. This study revealed the general scenario of both the urban and rural set ups within the American social context. The level of literacy plays a major role in helping the people make informed decisions as they choose their leaders and much more in making personal choices. When a community is literate, the political structures are equally well endowed to device and implement proper policies for the governance of the people. Wilson and Bloomfield studied the art of making a good society by progressive politics. They wrote that the basis of a good social life is the existence of rightful citizens. They acknowledged that a society is made of individual citizens who are linked by shared values, systems of economic perspectives as well as shared norms and beliefs. The inspiration to individuals to fulfill their desires is led by the philosophy of liberty, solidarity as well as the equality. This is the philosophy that ascertains successful political governance as the only way through which the security and freedom of every person within a community is guaranteed. Their study alluded to the strength and performance of the political system to emanate from the citizenship as a way of sustained engagement in the course of good governance throughout as against the procedural voting after every stipulated time frame. The paper therefore found that encouraging civil society participation in generalaffairs of the society go hand in hand with the formation of a strong state. Through this paper, Wilson and Bloomfield paint a hope of future change in political progress within the communities though with a basic change of community terrain (2011, 6).the organization of activist groups and much more the advocacy groups are so much relevant to framing right leadership structures of a community. The public participation of the general public within leadership in political scene ascertains the proper governance through structures that are designed for evaluation and control. As recent research study by the GTI (great transition initiative) sought to understand the prevailing political crises that America is facing. They found that currently, the United States is currently facing economic, social and political instabilities. They found that much of the crises arose from the global economic crises that faced the world in 2008. The economic effects were adversely felt in all perspective of the society; the economic, political as well as within the social context. The study revealed that the political scene of America has failed in many spheres of life. Many nationals have failed to secure jobs and their security compromised as a result of the financial crisis that challenged the entire globe. They found that much of the political failure can be attributed to a large extent to the failure of the governance system to appreciate the interdependence of the social economic forces that are at play within a society. The paper found out that political systems progress when they take note of the critical roles that the interplay with other dimensions of a society brings on board. The basis of a political strength was seen to lie at the reforms of the entire economy through the revitalization of the economic performance of the. New politics were bound to be relevant to the revolution of the entire economy by taking into perspective the need for a system transformation from the common community systemic problems. A paradigm shift from the system of political separation would be critical in order to realize progress in political governance, which in broad terms relies more on community perspective (Great Transition initiative, 2011, 3-4). There is therefore a point of interrelation between the success of a political system as well as the stability of a community. Political decisions are made from the perspective of the prevailing social economic performance of the communities living in a state. This thus supports the argument that the need for a progressive successful political system, stability within the community must first be maintained. Research has continuously revealed the interplay of different organs within a community and the success in policy design and implementation. Systems and capacity changes that are realizable in the critical interplay of various agency interventions are proper policies as well as interventions, cultural renewal, interventions that are sustainable and the changes in power relations. Structural dynamics couple by individual dynamics by the members of the community enhances the realization of these outcomes. It is also worth noting that the interplay of the agents is only realized within a cohesive and active community. The purpose if a political leadership is for the mobilization of individual members of a society towards the realization of the vision and goals. On the other hand, the realization of these goals and visions by a political system explain good governance. This in part explains progressive political system where the system continuously realizesthe purposed roles. On the otherhand, political success is sometimes seen as the direct consequence of ignorance of the subjects within a community or social set up who fall victim of false promises by political class. Intrigues through which people ascend to power differ from a region to another and the purposes equally change. In the modern world, many societies uphold and practice democratic practices of governance.The political class gets a platform to lure the electorate through promising and selling their ideologies in a fair and free scene. However, the truth of the promises only lies with the politicians and through this many communities have fallen prey to the selfish political desire of these people. Some politicians spell out improper appeals to the electorate to appeal to their weakness (Green, 1996, 162-163). Through this, they are successful to climb up the ladder of politics though at the expense of the good leadership that the electorate desired. It however, it still follows the logical reasoning of successful politics. The continuity of these political intrigues to continuously fraud the subjects would be interpreted to result from unfavorable cultures that has been progressed over time. This paper ascertains the need for respect to the community for the purpose of progressive politics within a society. The extent of responsibility properly represents progressive political field, both from the electorate as well as to the political class. Bad policies and frameworks dictate the regimes of oppression, patriarchy and violence. The success of any political power regimes is best interpreted from the extinction of these vises of bad leadership. From a report that focused on oppression, gender violence and abuse, we find that the success of pa political regime will emanate from the collaborative efforts of members of the community to understand the resultant impacts of unequal power distribution and the advocacy of the collective responsibility and actions to outdo the vices. Progressive politics thus entails the observance of the proper principles of community mobilization for the advocacy of their rights and to counter the oppressive policies. Whenever, violence, abuse, discrimination and patriarchy thrives within a social set up, the community drags behind in social economic progress and political governance (Anon, 2005, 13-15). It is therefore the responsibility of the political leadership to provide sound leadership that will propel the realization of the communities’ objectives. On the other hand, a sound political system would not thrive where there is no sound community set up. This equally ascertains the interconnectedness between the political success as well as progress with the soundness of the community within which it thrives. A reform movement erupted in the U.s in the 19th century whose main objective was to address the socialpolitical, economicand cultural concerns that shaped the United States. The problems in context were a result of the industrial revolution and thus the revolutionists sought to restore sanity in the systems. True progressive governance was the tool that the activists argued to be best suited to address the crises. Civilization was seen as an indispensable attribute that any sound systems of leadership must possess and portray. The group advocated that the laws and rules that govern a state should be designed and made by people who are elected and given the authority by the communities, they represent (West and Schambra, 2007, 11). Discernment and pursuing power should characterize the attributes of the leaders and as such, expertise should not be a virtue. Though the progressives’ ideologies seemed to advocate for abolishment of democracy, it instead advocated for proper representation of the peoples’ in governance policies. The reformists therefore upheld the need for a community to be ruled by a person with their own roots, a person who understood then not only superficially but rather to in depth details and a person who would not be an imposer of political power but rather be a person who has managerial responsibility over the people. They therefore also acknowledged the need for political power that progressed from the empowerment of the community from which the hailed. The paper stipulated that any progressive leadership had her basis on the subjects from whomthey come from and thus, there could be no disparity between political progress and the community representation. Watters studied politics and communities of communities and took a case study of the New Hampshire. By the analysis of the written work of literature in the topic, he found a written work of Belknap that among other findings had found the importance of a community to have social facilities, merchants, farms and clergy man but have none of a nuisance politician (1999, 3 of 3). From the findings, the inhabitants of the New Hampshire republic had their own standards of evaluating their leaders, and judged their politics as well as politicians on the value of their communities. The associated the success of their systems to successful leadership. Progressive leadership to them was one and the same with the communities’ welfare. Through this analysis, the people of New Hampshire chose and were led by people who had the community interest at hand and not self-interests. Cummings studied the economic development of a community as a definition and illustration of progressive politics in a country. In his studies, he concentrated in understanding the critical role played by the subjects of a political system at the grass roots. The ignition of economic power by a community was prerequisite of the individual commitments of the people at the grass root level through whom mobilization and organization of political governance takes place. In an approach that is unlike the market-based approach, the motivation and activism involvesboth the private sector and the public sector through which the right leadership for a c community is harnessed and exercised (Cummings, 2012, 492; Alleyne, 2002). Through the efforts of the players at the grassroots levels within the community, progressive political regime is born. It is thus clear that the need for political system that is progressive is not with exclusion of active participation of the individual members of the community. The paper found the relevance of interactionsbetween the public and the private through the activism for or against the policies that are developed to govern the people. Successful and progressive systems of political incorporate the active participation of all stakeholders in a society. From the stand of religion as evaluated by the Catholic Church, human beings are divine beings who thrive well in order and harmony. The need for leadership is not only humanly but it is also supernatural. The church bases the position of leadership from Jesus Christ, which came as a leader,yet he acknowledged the power of political leadership. There was the need to understand that his leadership was not in political dimension. However, he positively recognizedthe supremacy of the political system as human survival necessitated. According to the article, a human being poses the ability to form organizations of communities and establish their leadership. Moreover, the Church ascribes to the belief that human beings are able to form political power, which is ideally to serve for the common good of mankind. Civilization of social life together with the political power complements each other. On this regard, there exists no order without the co-existence of the two. The Catholic Church therefore supports the proposition that any progressive political system is an outcome of community efforts and commitments. The sole purpose of a political system anywhere is to direct the efforts of the subjects within a community towards a common good (Fahed, 2009, 106-107). The religion as a basis on which human beings are co-joined does not by any way contradict the role played by the political leadership. There exist defined lines of distinction between the role of political leadership as well as the spiritual leadership. Nevertheless, from the study, the efforts of the two lines of leadership are meant to check on the wellbeing of the people they serve. It also worth noting, that a coherent community within the frameworks of religion and political governance is more stable in economic and social terms. This study thus establishes the importance of unification of the different aspects of a community in order to realize successful political environment for progressive politics. Conclusion The concept of community can therefore be employed for progressive politics. A community comprising diverse cultures, as is the common scene in today’s setups requires proper care while organizing it in all aspects. Analysis from many studies reveals the interconnectedness of the two; the community as well as the politics. People are social being that coexists byupholding some social structure. The reviewed studies drive the common perceptional politics as an integral part of human existence. It is ascertained b religion and the respect of the two defines the success of a people. Other studies also reveal the need of upholding leadership etiquette in order to deliver as promised. However, leadership and power has also been used over time to be the way of affluence and amassing personal wealth. From this, people have lost confidence and the respect for the political career. This study however affirms the position that every successful political regime thrives well at the cooperation of the political class and the community. Studies also revealed that societies require Better Corporation and possibly the election of a person from the roots within the community so as to deliver as opposed to election of a politician from other communities. Political success also depends on the nature of the political leaders appointed. 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