Democracy and Citiz Citizenship
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DDEMOCRACYEMOCRACY DEMOCRACY D DEMOCRACY E M AANDND O C R A C CCITIZITIZEENSHIPNSHIP Y A AND CITIZ CCivicivic EducatiEducatioonn N D SStudenttudent CCourseourse RReadereader C I T I Z E ENSHIP N S Greer Burroughs H I Zaza Rukhadze P Marine Kvatchadze Lela Gaprindashvili Levan Izoria International Foundation for Electoral Systems ISBN 978-9941-0-4084-9 7 Niko Nikoladze Street, Tbilisi, Georgia, 0108 Tel:+995 322 999 309 9 789941 040849 DDEMOCRACYEMOCRACY AANDND CCITIZITIZEENSHIPNSHIP CCivicivic EEducatiducatioonn SStudenttudent CCourseourse RReadereader Greer Burroughs Zaza Rukhadze Marine Kvatchadze Lela Gaprindashvili Levan Izoria International Foundation for Electoral Systems 2012 This сourse reader was developed in the framework of the four-year Increased Trust in the Electoral Process (ITEP) program, implemented by the International Foundation for Electoral Systems (IFES). The reader is made possible by the support of the American people through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). The contents are the sole responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily refl ect the views of the International Foundation for Electoral Systems, USAID or the United States Government. Editor: IFES Georgia Layout and Design: Sopho Tarkashvili © 2011 International Foundation for Electoral Systems (IFES). All rights reserved. ISBN 978-9941-0-4084-9 3 CONTENT INTRODUCTION Greer Burroughs INTRODUCTION: ..............................................................................................................6 Lessons from the Past .................................................................................................7 Principles of Democracy ............................................................................................ 10 Democratic Citizenship ..............................................................................................17 Conclusion .................................................................................................................23 SECTION ONE SYSTEMS OF PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION Zaza Rukhadze CHAPTER ONE: The Individual and the Society ..................................................25 CHAPTER 1.1: The Individual and the Society ...................................................... 26 CHAPTER 1.2: The State of Nature and Natural Law ............................................31 CHAPTER 1.3: The Need for Government ............................................................32 CHAPTER 1.4: The Social Contract .......................................................................34 CHAPTER TWO: Government .............................................................................. 36 CHAPTER 2.1: What is Government? ...................................................................37 CHAPTER 2.2: What is the Purpose of Government? ............................................38 CHAPTER 2.3: The Goal and the Forms of Government ......................................39 CHAPTER 2.4: Constitutional Government: Separation of Powers ......................41 CHAPTER 2.5: Government, Citizen, and Democratic Values ...............................42 CHAPTER THREE: The Constitution .......................................................................... 45 CHAPTER 3.1: The Essence and Brief History of the Constitution ........................ 46 CHAPTER 3.2: The Features of a Constitution ......................................................47 CHAPTER 3.3: Main Principles of a Constitution ...................................................52 CHAPTER 3.4: Types of Constitutions ...................................................................53 CHAPTER 3.5: Constitutional Traditions of Georgia ..............................................55 CHAPTER 3.6: Functions of a Constitution ............................................................56 CHAPTER 3.7: The Constitution of Georgia of August 24, 1995 ...........................57 CHAPTER FOUR: Forms of Government ................................................................60 CHAPTER 4.1: State Form – Notion and Content .................................................61 CHAPTER 4.2: The Form of a Government ...........................................................61 CHAPTER 4.3: The Territorial Arrangement of a Government (Territorial Arrangement of a State) ............................................................... 68 CHAPTER 4.4: The Constitutional and Legal Status of the Unifi ed State of Georgia ..70 CHAPTER 4.5: The Categories of State Competencies ........................................ 72 CHAPTER 4.6: Sovereignty ...................................................................................73 CHAPTER 4.7: Other Forms of Commonwealth of States ..................................... 75 CHAPTER 4.8: Political Regime ............................................................................80 4 SECTION TWO HUMAN RIGHTS Marine Kvatchadze CHAPTER ONE: The Essence and Nature of Human Rights ............................... 87 CHAPTER 1.1: What are Human Rights? ..............................................................88 CHAPTER 1.2: What are State Obligations? .........................................................91 CHAPTER 1.3: Human Rights Characteristics .......................................................92 CHAPTER TWO: Development of the Concept of Human Rights ........................99 CHAPTER 2.1: The Development of the Concept of Human Rights – Antique Era ..101 CHAPTER 2.2: The Development of the Concept of Human Rights – Medieval Period ...............................................102 CHAPTER 2.3: The Role of Bourgeois Revolutions in the Development of the Concept of Human Rights ...........................................................104 CHAPTER 2.4: Development of Human Rights in Georgia ..................................105 CHAPTER 2.5: Earliest Treaties in the Field of Human Rights ............................107 CHAPTER 2.6: The Way to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights ............. 111 CHAPTER 2.7: International Covenants on Human Rights ................................. 114 CHAPTER 2.8: Human Rights Classifi cations ..................................................... 115 CHAPTER 2.9: “First Generation” Human Rights – Civil and Political Rights ...... 119 CHAPTER 2.10: Political Rights .............................................................................135 CHAPTER 2.11: Social, Economic, and Cultural Rights ........................................139 CHAPTER THREE: Human Rights Protection Mechanisms ...................................144 CHAPTER 3.1: Which Mechanisms Protect Human Rights on a National Level? ....145 CHAPTER 3.2: How are Human Rights Protected at the international Level? ....150 CHAPTER 3.3: Universal System of Human Rights and United Nations System of Human Rights ............................................................152 CHAPTER 3.4: How are Human Rights Protected on a Regional Level? ............155 CHAPTER 3.5: Georgia and the Council of Europe .............................................156 CHAPTER FOUR: Protection of Rights of Particular Groups ............................... 162 CHAPTER 4.1: Rights of Persons with Disabilities ..............................................163 CHAPTER 4.2: Rights of National and Ethnic Minorities .....................................166 CHAPTER 4.3: Rights of Internally Displaced Persons .......................................170 CHAPTER 4.4: Children’s Rights .........................................................................172 CHAPTER 4.5: Gender Equality .......................................................................... 182 SECTION THREE CIVIL SOCIETY Lela Gaprindashvili CHAPTER ONE: The History of Civil Society; its Development and Essence ... 187 CHAPTER TWO: Civil Society and Democracy ...................................................199 CHAPTER THREE: Civil Society and Elections .......................................................205 CHAPTER 3.1: A Competitive Environment and Pluralism ..................................206 CHAPTER 3.2: The Functioning of Electoral Systems and Election-Monitoring Processes .................................................... 209 5 CHAPTER FOUR: Civil Society in Georgia: Past Experience and Future Challenges ..................................220 CHAPTER 4.1: The Issue of Women’s Education and Civil Movement ..............225 CHAPTER 4.2: The Case of the Soviet Union .................................................... 229 CHAPTER 4.3: Post-Soviet Period and Civil Society ..........................................230 CHAPTER 4.4: The Issues of Fair Elections and Civil Protest ............................235 SECTION FOUR DEMOCRACY AND CITIZEN PARTICIPATION Levan Izoria CHAPTER ONE: Citizen Participation in Solving Community Problems ........239 CHAPTER 1.1: Social Responsibility of the Citizen ............................................240 CHAPTER 1.2: Civic Activity in Georgia ..............................................................240 CHAPTER 1.3: The Younger Generation and Civic Activity ................................241 CHAPTER TWO: Modern Democracy Development Trends .............................. 243 CHAPTER 2.1: Representative Democracy ........................................................ 244 CHAPTER 2.2: Challenges of a Representative Democracy .............................. 244 CHAPTER 2.3: Creation of the Principle of “Good Governance” and its Meaning ..246 CHAPTER 2.4: Basic Elements of Good Governance