THE ETHICS OF DEMOCRATIC

RESPONSIBILITY
 DEMOCRATIC ETHICS
 Democratic Ethics
Political ethics (also known as political
morality or public ethics) is the practice of
making moral judgements about political
action and political agents. It covers two
areas. The first is the ethics of process (or
the ethics of office), which deals with public
officials and the methods they use.
 DEMOCRACY
 A democracy means rule by the people. The name is used for
different forms of government, where the people can take part in
the decisions that affect the way their community is run. ... The
people elect their leaders. These leaders take this decision about
laws. This is commonly called representative democracy.


In the dictionary definition, democracy "is government by the

people in which the supreme power is vested in the people and
exercised directly by them or by their elected agents under a free
electoral system." In the phrase of Abraham Lincoln, democracy is
a government "of the people, by the people, and for the people. ...
DEMOCRATIC RESPONSIBILITIES

 Participate in the democratic process. Respect

and obey federal, state, and local laws.
Respect the rights, beliefs, and opinions of
others. Participate in your local community.
Pay income and other taxes honestly, and on
time, to federal, state, and local authorities.
 CITIZENS RESPONSIBILITIES

 Unlike a dictatorship, a democratic

government exists to serve the people, but
citizens in democracies must also agree to
abide by the rules and obligations by which
they are governed. Democracies grant many
freedoms to their citizens including the
freedom to dissent and criticize the
government.
 EXAMPLES OF DEMOCRACY 

 Examples of Democracy - There are

representative democracies (the U.S, Canada,
etc.) - where there are direct elections of
individuals - and there are
Parliamentary democracies - where you vote
for a party, only, and the party picks the
leaders.
 DEMOCRATIC VALUES
 Democratic Values — Liberty, Equality,
Justice. Liberty and equality. These words
represent basic values of democratic political
systems, including that of the United States.
Rule by absolute monarchs and emperors has
often brought peace and order, but at the
cost of personal freedoms.
 MAIN CHARACTERISTICS OF
DEMOCRACY

 According to American political scientist Larry

Diamond, democracy consists of four key
elements: a political system for choosing and
replacing the government through free and
fair elections; the active participation of the
people, as citizens, in politics and civic life;
protection of the human rights of all
citizens; ...
 MEDIAS’S RESPONSIBILITY IN
DEMOCRACY

 The democracy of the public sphere is in the

participation of citizens who provide
information to the media and share it to
society. Media democracy advocates that
corporate ownership and commercial
pressures influence media content, sharply
limiting the range of news, opinions, and
entertainment citizens receive.
RESPONSIBILITY OF THE PRESS

 The Responsibility of the Press. The backbone

of any democracy is an independent,
professional and responsible media. Their
role is to inform, criticise and stimulate
debate. ... For the media to be credible it has
to take responsibility for getting its facts
right.
 VOTING IS IMPORTANT
RESPONSIBILITY

 Another responsibility of citizens is voting.

The law does not require citizens to vote,
but voting is a very important part of any
democracy. By voting, citizens are
participating in the democratic process.
Citizens vote for leaders to represent them
and their ideas, and the leaders support the
citizens' interests.
ACCOUNTABILITY IN DEMOCRACY
 Political accountability is when a politician
makes choices on behalf of the people and
the people have the ability to reward or
sanction the politician. In
representative democracies citizens delegate
power to elected officials through periodic
elections in order to represent or act in their
interest.
THE ETHICS OF DEMOCRATIC
RESPONSIBILITY
KEY VALUES