Fast Track WASSCE Government: Elements of Government: Fast Track WASSCE General Arts, #1

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Apart from questions from my own imagination, I have used similar past WASSCE questions set by the West African Examinations Council for guidance to those candidates who would love  to know how a typical WASSCE Government question looks like.

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INTRODUCING FAST TRACK WASSCE GOVERNMENT: QUESTIONS AND ANSWER POINTS ON ELEMENTS OF GOVERNMENT

Is this book good for you? Yes, it is if you are a private or school candidate preparing toward the Government paper of the West African Examinations Council’s WASSCE.

You will find it extremely useful if even you are a Government student in any other part of the world.

It is equally good for you if you are a fan of continuing lifelong learning interested in understanding most of the political issues that affect us all every day.

What scope does the book cover? It covers all the topics in the Section A part of the West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) syllabus. It is purposely meant to guide the candidate to write a high-grade Government essay by doing three very important things in  the examination namely,

produce the relevant points only for a typical WASSCE Government essay question

be able to give the required number of points for a question

use the right approach in answering the Government essay question

The book is meant to be a handy revision manual. You will therefore see brief answer points for the solution of each question. It is recommended that the candidate develop these answer points into complete sentences and paragraphs in the examination.

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CHAPTER ONE

IMPORTANT FOUNDATION NOTES

GOVERNMENT: MEANING AND SCOPE

DEFINITIONS

Government as an institution of state:  It is the organ that is responsible for steering or running the affairs of the state

Government as a process or art of governing: It is an orderly direction or control of the affairs of the state. It is the orderly formulation of policies, their translation into action with a view to securing the common good.

Government as an academic field of study: It is a subject of study in the social sciences which deals with the affairs of a group.

MAJOR FUNCTIONS OF GOVERNMENT IN THE MODERN STATE

Maintenance of law and order through the military, police, courts etc to safeguard the general welfare of the people.

Defence of the state and its resources from external aggression through the armed forces.ie army, navy and air force.

Socio-economic development in the interest of the people e.g. provision of  basic infrastructure such as roads, schools, water, electricity, hospitals etc.

Proper coordination and delimitation of activities of all state organs and departments to avoid conflict and duplication of functions.

Establishment of international relations and promotion of international peace through the creation of embassies, high commissions and membership of international organizations (global, regional and sub regional organizations) e.g., AU, ECOWAS, NAM.

Enactment/Promulgation of laws

Formulation and implementation of policies under the various ministries, departments and agencies.

DEMOCRACY

Democracy is a kind of government in which power lies with the people and originates from them. Abraham Lincoln in his famous Gettysburg Address describes it as government of the people, by the people and for the people The essential idea of democratic government is government by the people

DIRECT AND INDIRECT (REPRESENTATIVE) DEMOCRACY

Basically, there are two forms of democracy.

Direct or classical democracy and

Indirect or representative democracy

Modern forms of democracy are essentially indirect or representative. Representative democracy involves the indirect participation of the people in the affairs of government.

Pure (direct or classical) democracy in which all qualified citizens take part directly in the process of government is rare today. It was the normal practice in a very small state like Athens (in classical Greece) over a short period of time. Due to the rather large size of the populations of modern states, it is difficult to have direct democracy.

Today, in most democratic states, the ordinary citizen comes into the picture only by voting in favour of a representative or of the broad policy framework of a political party party

Decisions on specific, concrete issues are left to the body of elected representatives – the legislature or the executive acting with the consent of the legislature.

Thus, what we have in reality today, is a government by a few, elected by the majority of the people and accountable to the people as a whole

ACCOUNTABLE GOVERNMENT

Accountability here means that the few will be held accountable by the electorate. In fact, whenever an elected government is found wanting, it can be thrown out of office at the next election and replaced by a different group of leaders.

Therefore democracy in the modern world means representative government. The democratic element consists of

i)  popular elections and

ii)  the Possibility of dismissal

A REPRESENTATIVE

Time, distance and other factors make impossible the original idea of a representative as a person elected to express or reflect the views of his constituents.

The representative is chosen, not as a mirror of electoral opinion in his constituency, but as a person of good judgment, knowledge and expertise who could be trusted to make up his or her own mind and vote intelligently on the merit of whatever issue that may crop up in parliament. In other words, the representative is not a postman of majority view from his constituency.

Edmund Burke in 1774 drew a distinction between a delegate and a representative: a delegate mirrors the views of his constituents whilst a representative is elected to judge according to his own conscience.

BELIEFS EMBODIED IN LIBERAL DEMOCRACY

Government must be based on choice and consent: it must be popular and involve the people indirectly

There should be rights and freedoms to be enjoyed

General institutional arrangements in the democratic state must include the following

i)  Popular representation

ii)  Constitutionalism

iii)  the Rule of Law

iv)  Universal Adult suffrage (one man, one vote)

v)  Franchise (the right to vote)

vi)  Equality before the law

vii)  Freedom of political association, of expression (speech), religion etc

viii)  Independent Judiciary

ix)  Separation of Powers and checks and balances

In fact, the above criteria is general and its relevance varies from state to state due to the nature and complexity of the institutions and the level of development attained by the particular state

CONDITIONS FOR DEMOCRACY

Democratic institutions must be created and participation in the political process must be popular: This provides the right medium through which the aspirations of the masses could be realized

There must be universal adult suffrage (one-man-one-vote), a representative government   and parliament. This means elections must be free and fair. For this to happen there must be

a proper up-to-date register of voters

properly demarcated constituencies

real choice between candidates and programmes or policies (as outlined in each political party’s manifesto)

frequent elections

absence of fear and intimidation

a literate and politically informed electorate.

Other democratic institutions needed are the office of an elected chief executive (President or Prime Minster) and an independent judiciary whose pre-occupation should be the protection of the fundamental rights and liberties of the people

Parliament must be representative: Parliamentarians must feel free to discuss matters of common concern and the executive must be willing to work with the decisions of the people’s representatives.

Politically educated electorate: Democracy has a better chance of success if the majority of the people can read and write and can understand the issues that affect them. There should also be constant discussion of national issues in both the electronic and print media to help in the formulation of public opinion on pressing issues

Equitable distribution of wealth: Where there are great extremes of affluence and poverty, democracy cannot thrive.

Existence of fundamental unifying forces: e.g. a common language, common nationality (history, culture etc) and a common religion. Democracy has a greater chance of success in homogenous societies devoid of sharp racial and linguistic differences.

A fair degree of political consensus: Broad agreements should exist regarding the rules by which a state is generally governed to avoid minority marginalization

An atmosphere of tolerance: This makes it possible for a wide range of opinions to be expressed on all national issues. Where people are forced to accept the views of others, one cannot reasonably speak of any democratic culture in the society.

IMPORTANCE/ADVANTAGES OF DEMOCRACY

Prevention of dictatorship

Respect for individual rights

Free and fair elections

Peaceful change of government

Smooth economic growth and development

Majority decision-making

Exchange of ideas and political education

CONSTITUTIONS

DEFINITION

A constitution is a set of rules establishing the institutions of government and laying down the procedures according to which the institutions are