People in Policy:

The Connection Between Citizens and their Government

Mycah Jewell

Global Connections

Instructor: Greggory Falls

March 9th, 2020

ABSTRACT
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Democratic governing bodies around the world are vastly different in terms of

management, style, and function. While most democracies world-wide are similar on paper, each

one has unique features in that suit the needs of their people. American democracy excels in

terms of bureaucracy, and large-scale management. Colombia is a model for fast-paced

committee actions and arranging counter legislation. Germany shows how citizens can

effectively use the party system, and South Korea embodies political spirit by having one of the

highest voter turnouts in the entire world.

TABLE OF CONTENTS
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LIMITATIONS

The limitations of the case study are confined to modern functioning democracies. The

countries focused on will be the United States, Colombia, Germany, and South Korea. To make
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sure that sufficient anecdotes are drawn, these countries have been selected because of their vast

differences. America was chosen because that is the country this paper was written in, and where

more political involvement is desired. Colombia has been included because they are a South

American country that has recently reformed their government (1991). Germany is unique, due

to its past, a majority of their rules are on the government and not the people. The rights granted

to the people because of this stand out. South Korea is the poster child for citizens taking action.

INTRODUCTION

Governments around the world exist to serve their citizens. While many types of

government exist, the main form of government used in the world today is a democracy. The

word Democracy is derived from the root word demos (people) and kratos (to rule), and together
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they form “a government of the people” (Encyclopaedia Britannica). The fundamental questions

each government must answer--regardless of style--is who is being ruled and how they will be

ruled. Throughout history, the answer to these questions has changed drastically, from tight

monarchies to socialist dictatorships. However, one type of government seems to have the ability

to withstand the test of time. Democracies.

Democracies are popular and last long because they do something better than all other

types of government: they can change. Change is the very essence of every democratic

government, because they actively reflect the will of the people.

AMERICAN GOVERNMENT

Who the people are is important to note. Democracies did not work well for large groups

of people, as the United States found out at its conception. But because democracy is just a

concept of government, it can be modified. American, or Western, style Democracy is the most

common, as it mixes in bureaucracy in order to cover and serve a larger group of people. While

serving millions of people, American democracy still manages to focus on the individual.The

first western democracy is technically the Mayflower Compact of 1620, however it was a direct

democracy, where only white men participated. This did not actively represent the population.

Almost two-hundred years later the Articles of Confederation were drafted. The Articles of

Confederation were a super democracy, but was ultimately ineffective as a government because

it had no power over the people. After the failure of the Articles, the Constitution was drafted.

The Constitution was unique, as it gave the people under it power, while at the same time

limiting them. It was under the constitution that the idea of federalism was introduced

(Stormberg).
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The American system also includes federalists ideals because of the scope of the

government. Federalism is basically the spreading of government accountability on multiple

levels in order for it to run smoothly. In America, federalism is broken down from the national

level, to the state level, and finally the local level.

In America, the people are given certain freedoms under the Bill of Rights in the

Constitution. These freedoms are enumerated to ensure that the will of the people is never

silenced. The way citizens express their opinions to their government is not limited to voting.

Due to the right to free speech, Americans are allowed to gather in public places to criticize and

communicate with their government. This comes in the form of public forums, town hall

meetings, and protests.

COLOMBIA

The Republic of Colombia is a Western style democracy styled closely after America.

That being said, their people are granted similar rights. In short, the Colombian constitution is

almost identical in rights to its American counterpart. The two countries draw an even deeper

parallel with a two party system, conservatives and liberals, that have existed for almost the same

amount of time.

Referring back to the earlier statement about who the government will rule over,

Colombia’s constitution makes it very clear what a citizen is what a citizen is not. Unlike the

American system, there is little to no room for debate for what makes a citizen in Colombia, as

their constitution has very strict and laid out guidelines.

Colombia has a supreme court of the land, however, it does not deal with many

constitutional questions. While looking at the constitutions of most countries around the world,
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finding one less than two-hundred pages is a challenge. Keeping this in mind, the American

constitution is only a few, depending on what version you are looking at. The American supreme

court has prevented a need for having a thousand page document to rule the nation, and instead

use the courts and the skeletal outline provided by the Founding Fathers to make new laws.

Unlike in America, citizens register to vote in municipalities (not on a federal or state

level), and the election is a popular vote (U.S. Library of Congress). Whoever wins the election

is a direct reflection of the will of the people. In the mid 1900s, Colombia was plagued by the

drug epidemic. Since 1906, and estimated 370,000 Colombians have died from civil

insurgencies, this is a lot for a country of 50 million (US Library of Congress). Like many

nations, the old way to bring about change in Colombia was to revolt. However, in recent years,

the people of the nation have turned to peaceful protesting and large voter turn out

(ElectionGuide.com).

Keeping with the theme of democracy, the citizen’s right to change their government is

baked into the Constitución Política de Colombia (Colombian Constitution). Clearly stated in

chapter III, article 112:

“The parties and political movements with legal personalities that declare themselves to be in

opposition to the government may freely formulate their critical stance towards the

[government] and plan and develop alternative policies.”

-Constitución Política de Colombia

In order to make official changes, the people that wish to see the change must join or

organize an official party, and then present their case to their peers. An alternative piece of

legislation will be proposed, and a vote will be put forward. This is effective because the country

is not very large, and communication is easy. An example of such a group is the Centro
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Democrático, who focus mainly on Colombian solidarity and security (currently the largest party

in Colombia). The current president, Ivan Duque, is a member of this party (C. Allen).

GERMANY

Germany is always an interesting country to study in terms of government. Before the

1860s, Germany was a fragmented nation with multiple kingdoms and several languages. Then

they all came together under a Kaiser and a parliament. This is one of the biggest political feats

in history, as all of the kingdoms gave up some sovereignty to partake in the new German

government. This lasted for a brief honeymoon until Hitler came along, and with his Nazi party

dismantled the broken democracy the nation enjoyed. After the second World War, Germany

found itself torn in two, one side experiencing a brand new democracy (provided by the western

nations) and the other enjoying the starvation of communism under soviet rule.

After reunification in the 1980s, Germany returned to a democracy. Kind of. Unlike

Colombia and America, Germany’s democracy employs something known as pluralism.

Pluralism is where instead of two major parties, there are hundreds of parties and no one of them

has a majority. This is because of how Hitler took over the German parliament, by gaining

majority slowly. There are laws in place that bar any party from owning an unproportional

amount of seats in the German senate.

The German constitution is referred to as German Basic Law. German basic law, much

like the Constitution of Colombia, is extensive and very specific. Also like the latin american

government, how citizens participate is also laid out.

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German citizens enjoy many freedoms characteristic of western democracies, such as

freedom of press and petition. In Germany, one of the biggest weapons the people have is not

their vote, but the media and their time.

Back in the 1980s, tremendous power had to be given to the German chancellor in order

to ensure that the country would come back together peacefully, and over time the power of the

chancellor has grown, making the current chancellor of Germany the most powerful politician in

the world.

In order to bring about change, Germans organize committees and parties to represent

their interests in parliament (Basic Law, Article IVa). The pluralist system allows for parties to

rise and fall out of power in accordance to the people. When a party no longer serves a purpose,

its support dwindles until it is needed again or has a platform change to make it more relevant.

They key to change in German politics is longevity. A good party understands that they will not

constantly be needed forever, and will become relevant again once the people call upon them.

SOUTH KOREA

For this paper, South Korea will be referred to as just “Korea”. In the context of

democracies, it goes without saying that North Korea will not be discussed. South Korean

democracy is very blatantly, American. As it should be, considering that the South Korean

government was built by the United States.

The brief recap of how democracy found its way to the Korean peninsula begins in the

1920s with the Japanese occupation. The Japanese took their culture and identity and in its place
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left psudo-japanese replacements. This made the Koreans angry, and then subsequently revolt.

The Japanese came back a second time with a different approach: make it a good day to be

Korean. Instead of suppressing Korean culture, the Japanese openly encouraged it. While this

seemed like a good strategy, it caused the Koreans to revolt again. However, the Japanese stayed

out because they had just been atomically bombed by the Americans. The Soviet Union saw this

as an opportunity to spread communism, as it seemed to work well in Asia. The US, also saw

this as an opportunity to spread their form of government. Thus began the Korean war. The

lasting consequences of the war are embodied by the DMZ, a permanent reminder of the struggle

on the peninsula.

The South remains democratic to this day. While recently there has been unrest in the

Korean government, it has been a perfect opportunity to see how the citizens can influence their

law-making body. Park Geun-Hye was expelled from the Korean parliament after being

convicted of improper use of government funds (Britannica). The Korean process for

impeachment is very similar to the American process. Banking solely on the Korean people’s

right to free speech and free press, the process begins with a whistle blower. An investigation

commences, followed by trials and finally conviction. To show their support, the Korean public

held massive protests, disrupting daily activities. Newsweek claims there were “hundreds of

thousands of protestors”.

Citizens in the Republic of Korea enjoy similar freedoms to those in the aforementioned

nations, such as the right to free speech, press, assembly, ect. While the rights granted to the

people seem like nothing out of the ordinary, the way the people act under them is what makes

them special. As their older generations have seen the very real threats of a rampant government

that actively ignores its people, a certain stigma surrounds politics. Korea is ranked third in the
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world for voter turn out, holding at 77% of the registered population voting (Sawe). This is

vastly different from US voter turnout, where only 56% percent showed up in the 2016

presidential election (DeSilver). The difference between the two nations is that the 77% refers to

all elections in Korea, meaning the average included all levels of government. The 56% in

America was only for the major presidential election, where the other levels of government have

much lower turnout rates.

The people of the Republic of South Korea are among the most politically active

in the world. While public displays of acceptance and disapproval are common in the nation, the

Korean people use voting as their main avenue for change in their government.

INVOLVEMENT IN AMERICA

American politics are nothing incredibly unique in the modern world. However, there is a

lot to be said over the importance of the lesser governmental bodies in the nation. The separate

governments of each state share dominion over the people that live within the borders with the

federal level. While the national level of government is the supreme law of the land, the state and

local legislatures are also capable of passing and enforcing laws.

Localities enjoy similar power, but it is shared with the State and National governments.

County or City governments are the strong arm of the two larger governmental bodies. While the

local and state governments do most of the heavy lifting for the national level, they are the two

levels of government where citizens can easily become involved. Voting is how an american

citizen can involve themselves in the national level, their proximity to the local level allows for

higher levels of engagement. One could easily go down and voice their opinion at a town hall

meeting, but the letters they send to their congressmen and congresswoman sit in piles under a
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desk. The legislation on the state and local levels can have a greater impact on the daily lives of

the constituents than the national level.

If this involvement on the local level is the easiest and most impactful way for people to

be involved in government, why are more people not involved? It is a very simple answer: most

people do not care. As shameful as it seems, most Americans have no idea about the ongoings of

their local governments. Unfortunately, the mistrust of the government on the national level has

trickled down to the local level. This is unwarranted. Local governments are among the most

accountable, according to Municipal World.

Ways the american people can become more involved in their government include (but

are not limited to) the following: face-to-face consultation by physically connecting with their

citizens, crowdsourcing ideas for new legislation, adequate social media coverage, and citizen

panels. When people partake in lawmaking, it makes them feel relevant. This will encourage

further engagement in politics, which will snowball into making the community an active and

competent.
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BIBLIOGRAPHY

Dahl, R. A. (2020, February 19). Democracy. Retrieved from

https://www.britannica.com/topic/democracy

Stromberg, J. (2011, September 20). The Real Birth of American Democracy. Retrieved from

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smithsonian-institution/the-real-birth-of-american-democracy-

83232825/

Government and Politics. (n.d.). Retrieved March 3, 2020, from

http://countrystudies.us/colombia/78.htm
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Electoral System. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://countrystudies.us/colombia/85.htm

German Basic Law. (n.d.). Retrieved March 9, 2020, from https://www.gesetze-im-

internet.de/englisch_gg/