Sierra Leone is a country that is considered free country with 6.1 million people living there. Sierra Leone was being slowly established as a Democratic state after a civil war took place from 1991 to 2002. Sierra Leone is now considered an electoral democracy after its November elections were generally peaceful, with police responding to a few instances of electoral misconduct. The status of Sierra Leone is Free with a freedom rating of 2.5 with1 being the best and 7 being the worst. The civil liberties score for Sierra Leone is 3 with 1 being the best 7 being the worst and a score of 2 for political rights based on the same scale. The new constitution was established in 1991, and has a section titled, The Recognition and Protection of Fundamental Human Rights and Freedoms of the Individual. In the Freedom of Speech section the constitution states, “There shall be freedom of speech, debate and proceedings in Parliament and that freedom shall not be impeached or questioned in any court or place out of Parliament” (Sierra Leone Constitution). While freedoms of speech and the press are constitutionally guaranteed, they are not always respected in practice. In recent years discussion of a freedom of information bill has been ongoing for several years, in 2009 the government figures pledged their support and in June 2010 the cabinet approved the bill. Since then the progress of the bill has halted. Sierra Leone is not completely cut off from the media. “The government made significant progress toward reforming and strengthening electoral institutions and soliciting assistance from civil society organizations in monitoring political parties, and the election was considered a milestone for the consolidation of peace in the co...
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...who their leader is and allows for action if the president is not doing the best for the people of the country. Sierra Leone has made vast improvements for its people in recent years but still has to improve certain aspects of its constitution and the way it enforces its rights in order to properly protect its people and provide the correct freedom of speech and freedom of press in today’s world.
Works Cited
"Sierra Leone." Freedom House. Freedom House, n.d. Web. 26 Feb. 2014. .
"Sierra Leone." Freedom House. Freedom House, n.d. Web. 26 Feb. 2014. .
"Sierra Leone." Freedom House. Freedom House, n.d. Web. 26 Feb. 2014. .
Freedom remains the sole basis for American society as we know it. Without freedom the great nation of America would have never been founded. To understand the true principles of freedom, one must understand the scope of the word. Philosophical freedom encompasses the ability to make choices without restraints, while political freedom is the state of being free rather than in physical confinement. Despite the importance of these ideas to our founding fathers, freedom has lost much of its importance in modern American society. The failure to stress the importance of freedom has diminished the quality of life for the entire American populous
Africa has long been a nation of conflict and strife. Certain countries such as the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) have a prolonged history of corrupt leaders, violence and lack of resources. These conflicts often can lead to spill over and create wars in their neighboring countries. When a weak state has internal conflict it often spreads to surrounding weak states as it did with many of the countries in central Africa. This type of crisis will often involve the entire world in a variety of capacities such as militaries, foreign aid and the global economy. Congo especially has proved to create problems that continue to persist in the modern world and much of that is due to leadership of Motubu Sese Seko. “The conflict [in Congo] produced tremendous carnage: as many as 3.8 million dead and many more injured or displaced. Both phrases of the war (1996-97 and 1998-2002) involved domestic militias, a massive foreign invasion, and shifting alliances – with Angola, Rwanda, Uganda and Zimbabwe playing major roles. Even though the was has officially ended, peace remains elusive”(Atzili 2007 pg 141). One player’s internal conflicts spread through an entire continent and affected the whole world and caused enormous damage. All countries need to strive to maintain strong institutions to be a good global citizen and one of the keys to this is leadership.
...e parliament to have no real majority so the prime minister or president would have to force their way to the top, often using military might to keep their power. There would then be dissension from the other groups who would be angry at the government’s use of money from the rich outside world that would donate supposedly to AIDS prevention in Africa or some other worthy cause when all they were doing was fueling the pocket book of the government. As stated earlier when people see that there is better they will try to get it. Some of these brutal takedowns are seen in Rwanda, though it counts more as genocide, and the seeming stability of places like the DRC are the antithesis of the idea, mainly held up by extreme militarism. So, the relative wealth of the world caused the many uprisings, revolutions and coups that have occurred in the last fifty years in Africa.
Archibald, Steven, and Paul Richards. “Converts to human rights? Popular debate about war and justice in rural Central Sierra Leone.” eLibrary. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 Feb. 2011.
For example, many nations in Africa have been affected by a feeling of self-determination. Many African countries have regressed since gaining independence from their owner countries because of being riddled with poverty, wars, and leaders who took advantage of their own citizens for their own personal gains. The author’s opinion on self-determination can be disagreed by many because of the countless acts of terror by extremists who will go to any length to get their own nation. In the end, self-determination can be known to create a sense of resentment between
Admittedly, in most occasions, it is beneficial to the world and the way it functions, providing it with a leader and group of people that make helpful decisions for the wellbeing of the nation. In spite of this, as can be seen in the earlier analysis, it is also an inequitable system that only helps those that are too afraid to question its sometimes corrupt policies. In fact, around the world, political corruptness is a much more common practice than what the government wants its people to realize. To be able to combat this, during history, many people have tried to stand up against these nefarious governments and, most often than not, achieved some type of change. For example, Martin Luther King Jr., who fought for the government to give African-Americans equal rights, Mahatma Ghandi who was the primordial leader in the Indian independence movement, Ernesto “Che” Guevara, who tried to topple the tyranny set by Cuban dictator, Fidel Castro, and Nelson Mandela, a South African revolutionary leader who, as a matter of fact, became the president of South Africa from 1994 to 1999. Even though all of these illustrious revolutionary figures lived in different parts of the world, they all had something in common: they all saw a major flaw in the decisions that their government was making and decided to take matters into their own hands and make a
the necessities of their regime and why their regime might be struggling in social issues.
The people of Ethiopia are under the impression that if they live their lives in a lawful manner they have nothing to worry about. The constitution affords them the rights to privacy and their own thoughts. This is not the case for journalist or bloggers who have a dissident view of the regime in Ethiopia. The...
There are countries that are not as lucky as America, where people have their rights taken away from them, like in Equatorial Guinea. Equatorial Guinea has a very corrupt government. It has been said that the voting has been rigged so that the president will win the election as many times as he wants. Most of the power is in the executive branch, so the president has most of the power of the country and no one can say anything about what he wants to happen. He president will harass the opposing parties so that he will win (Williams). In the article Equatorial Guinea HRW (Human Rights Watch) says, “Corruption, poverty, and repression continue to plague Equatorial Guinea under President Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo, who has been in power since 1979”. The “...per capita gross domestic product...” for Equatorial Guinea is $30,000, but yet most of the people live in poverty. The “...Democratic Party of Equatorial Guinea (PDGE)...” rule the political system, you could say that it is a monopoly. The president of Equatorial Guinea will have a say in court cases. The court cases that are sensitive get brought to him and he gets asked what he wants to do (Equatorial...). We should care about Equatorial Guinea because arrest without reason, torture captives and give little rights to women.
In this essay, two countries, one developed and one developing, will be compared based on their economic growth and living standards, while also touching base upon the countries inflation rate, unemployment rate, and their current balance. The two countries chosen for comparison are the United Kingdom (developed) and Sierra Leone (developing). Based on previous knowledge, it is expected that the research conducted for this essay will show that the United Kingdom is further ahead in the world than Sierra Leone in respect to their economic growth and living standards as well as their current balance and unemployment rate. Before any of the above topics are discussed, it’s important to know a bit about the chosen countries background.
As noted by Jackson and Rosberg, many either expected or hoped that the newly independent countries would take steps towards democratization and liberalization (422). However, these countries mostly evolved towards an autocratic style led by rulers that were either unrestrained by the law or did not feel threatened by it. This has been the major problem that has plagued African democratization over the past few decades. The leaders of these states have a disproportionate amount of power, with little incentive to give up said power – either by delegating more power to the legislature or by giving up power voluntarily through the instituting of term limits. On top of this disproportionate power that lacks any inherent incentive to give up, the other branches of government have no power to stop the executive branch. Even if they do have the necessary constitutional power to check the executive branch, they lack the enforcement capabilities necessary to make this power useful. This creates a situation wherein the executive is able to disregard the other branches of government and do as he wishes. This environment is not conducive to the process of democratization, and thus dissatisfied peoples will naturally feel a desire to replace this system with another one that will be more beneficial. These people could be from the
According to Dahl, this criterion emphasizes that citizens must have the equal and effective opportunities to learn about politics surrounding them (1998, 38). The goal of enlightened understanding is to ensure that citizens can make the best decisions that serve their interests. Analyzing freedom of press is an effective indicator to measure enlightened understanding because media is the best medium that citizens could access to learn about what is going on in their government. Without freedom of press, freedom of expression of journalists and scholars are violated and thus, they might encounter difficulties in reporting about politics. Although India has the Right to Information Act, which assures the promotion of "transparency and accountability in the working of every public authority," it is not being enforced enough (2005, 1). According to a research, India 's press status is evaluated as "partly free" (Freedom House, 2014). Furthermore, the press status of India 's score stands at 39 out of 100, where 0 represents the freest status and 100 represents the least free status (Sinha, 2014). In the World Press Freedom Index, India was ranked as the 140th out of 180 countries in terms of freedom of media (Reporters Without Borders ,
The objective of every government is a peaceful and prosperous country. However, it is hard to find an ideal government in the present world and not a single government could fully satisfy their citizens. No matter which country people always complain about the inefficiency and ineffectiveness of the government. In some countries, the problems remain unsolved as the government cannot find a solution to stop ongoing war, crime and corruption.
The implementation of freedom of expression entails the abilities to raise the individual’s belief, ideas or opinions by all legal means, the opinions or ideas stated or presented must therefore not cause or lead to harm, hatred, violence or injustice to others (Anon., 2016). The use of and accurate information will not be restricted by censorship (Anon., 1990). The inhabitants may contest acts that violate their rights which are documented under the constitution and other laws in Mozambique.
On the eastern coast of Africa lies a land full of sunny blue skies and large plains in which zebras and elephants roam. This land is the country of Kenya. Outside of Kenya’s cities and towns lies many samples of natures beauty. Unfortunately, the people living in this land are troubled by their struggle with the government and trying to form a democracy. Matthew Carotenuto stated, “Much of the world had historically viewed Kenya as an island of peace and economic potential in a roiling sea of stateless chaos.” What he means is that people have long seen Kenya as a peaceful place that is surrounded by countries suffering from all sorts of violence and unfortunate circumstances. What many people do not know is that Kenya has a long history for political violence going way back to when the country was colonized. Understanding that Kenya’s past violence was due to their struggle for social and political authority helps us understand some of their violence issues today. According to Maina Kiai, violence broke out after Kenya’s 2007 election. Many people had thought that Kenya was a more peaceful country compared to others in Africa because they were working towards a democracy. Currently Kenya is a republic (“Kenya” The World...). Another thing Kiai mentioned is that one of Kenya’s major political problems is that Kenya's constitution gives the president full power to elect anyone he wants into a political position for any salary he chooses. Scott Baldauf and Robert Crilly also explain how Kenya is trying to become a democracy but its political system is weak and allows the president too much power, making the nation a dictatorship in disguise. This leads to many ethical issues within the governments systems. We should care about Ken...