The 2016 elections, from Ateneo PoliSci Departments Carmel V. Abao: Real political discourse within political parties is important because if government is the output institution, the party is the input institution. A political party is supposed to be the source of party leaders, political platforms and accountability mechanisms. It is supposed to feed into government structures and processes. Thus, before party leaders can earn the support of the public, they must first earn the support of their party mates; before legislative proposals are debated in the halls of Congress, they must first be debated within the party; before erring and abusive politicians face the law, they must first face party discipline. But the requirement of all this is that party structures are real and party processes are democratic. The demands for free and informed choice and democratic political parties are not likely to be fulfilled by the time of the 2016 presidential elections. But these can guide us to ask the right questions about those who are offering to govern us. Moreover, we can view each election as an opportunity to breathe new life into democratic values that are too often dismissed as either as a given or an impossibility.
Posted on: Fri, 17 Oct 2014 04:59:58 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015