Role of Media and Public Goods in Civic Engagement

This paper provides a comprehensive overview of key concepts related to US government, civics, and civic engagement. It begins by outlining the three branches of the US federal government – executive, legislative, and judicial – explaining their individual functions and how they interact collectively in the process of creating and enacting laws. The paper then differentiates between direct (pure) democracy and representative democracy, providing examples of each and discussing their relative strengths and weaknesses. The role and characteristics of the President of the United States are examined, including their responsibilities, powers, and historical contributions. The paper moves on to define "civics" and "civic responsibility," providing examples and discussing their importance. An analysis of a specific organization (the United Nations) is included, exploring its culture, values, mission, and the issues it addresses. The significance of civic engagement is highlighted, along with the setting of personal goals for civic responsibility. The role of media in facilitating civic engagement is also discussed. Finally, the paper defines "public good," "public goods," and "republic," providing references and examples for each. The paper demonstrates a thorough understanding of the fundamental principles of US government, the importance of civic participation, and the role of citizens in a democratic society. The inclusion of specific examples and references enhances the clarity and credibility of the analysis. The discussion of the United Nations provides a relevant case study illustrating the practical application of civic engagement on a global scale. The self-reflection on personal goals for civic responsibility demonstrates a commitment to active participation in the community. Overall, the paper effectively integrates theoretical concepts with practical applications, providing a well-rounded and insightful exploration of the subject matter.

Name:
Student Number:
Word count:
Tutor name:
“DIVERSITY CIVICS/SERVICE”
Under
IGED-280-08 DIVERSITY
CIVICS/SERVICE/TEAMWORK
1 | P a g e

TABLE OF CONTENTS
Part I Government......................................................................................................................3
Part II Civics..............................................................................................................................6
Define.........................................................................................................................................8
Bibliography.............................................................................................................................10
2 | P a g e

PART I GOVERNMENT
1. What are the 3 branches of government? How does each branch function separately?
How does each branch function collectively; provide 3 examples? (10 points)
The Federal government of US has three branches, such as,
A) Executive, B) Judicial and C) Legislative
Function of Executive: The President is the head of this branch. He generally approves the
Laws passed by the Legislative Branch and also Congress. He is also the head of state and
employed as the commander in chief of US armed forces. This branch also includes the Vice
President along with other officials.
Function of Judicial: It has the charge to take care of the court system. Supreme Court is the
head of this branch and explains the Constitution and other laws which were passed by
Congress.
Function of Legislative: Legislative branch consists of two Branches: The Senate and other is
the House of Representative. To make laws and regulation is the main duty of this branch.
Any Laws which are written are also discussed and passed in vote by Congress.
Collectively, these three branches are working to pass a bill and confirm it as a law.
At the first step, any issue or problem in society comes to Supreme Court for its judgement in
true sense. If that issue is within the constitution, the judgement will be placed according to
the constitution. If not, a new law has been created and passed it to the legislative branch for
amendment. The bill is passed by Congress after further sanction by the legislative
department. That final text if passed is forwarded to the President. There are ten days of time
excluding Sunday to the President to take any decision upon it. After the bill come to him, the
President has following options to do:
 Signature: If he signs, immediately the bill becomes the law.
 Veto: He can repass the bill again to the house with some objection. If the bill is again
passed with two-third majority, it will come to the President again and further he will
sign it.
 No Action- The President may not take any action for any further process within the
ten days tenure.
3 | P a g e

 Pocket Veto: It is the absolute veto. If the situation come at the end of Congressional
session and the bill is in no action state within President but not crossing the ten days
tenure, in that scenario President may pocket veto the bill.
2. Define “pure/direct” democracy and “representative” democracy and provide an
example of each. Also state which is best and why? (5 points)
Direct Democracy is renamed of pure democracy, where the citizen can propose laws as well
as can change the constitutional laws. The citizens are also responsible for initiate the
referendums, they can choose and remove the public officials accordingly. Like the
democracy of Switzerland.
In case of Representative Democracy, citizens elect and choose the government officers or
the president for representing the Senate, for the purpose of making laws. Like, Democracy
of United State.
In between two democracy system, they are best in their applicability. Most of the features of
representative democracy are from direct democracy which can only be applied within small
community or country. While In case large country likes US, the representative democracy is
only the option.
3. a) What is the name of President of the United States official office? What are the
responsibilities of the office? What are the primary powers of the office? (5 points)
Mr. Mike Pence, who is also the Vice-President of the Senate, is the President of the United
States official office.
The main responsibility of this office is to determine the foreign policy.
The primary Powers are: 1) he has to cast the vote within a given deadlock in senate and 2)
he should preside over and also certify the vote count.
3. b) What are some characteristics of the President of the U.S.? What is the image of
the President of the United States? What are some stereotypes about a President of the
U.S.? (5 points)
Presidential Character of US:
4 | P a g e

 Strong vision for the nation’s future.
 Should have courage for making unpopular decisions
 Should have risk management skills
 Novel character and integrity
 Wise towards his appoint ants
 Ability in working with Congress.
Mr. Donald Trump
Stereotypes:
1. Impolite: Nature of Donald Trump is polite.
2. Anti-intellectual: Sometimes, Trump uses to disregard the expert and finders, and
makes him as the top class loud-mouthed American bloviates.
3. Bland: he is unpoetic and lives a bland life.
3. c) State 4 Presidents of the U.S. and their most noted contribution during their
presidency (1 in the 1700s; 1 in the 1800s; 1 in the 1900s; and 1 in the 2000s) 5 points.
President of 1700s: Thomas Jefferson (1801-1809).
Contributions:
 wrote “The Declaration of Independence”
 Advocated for free public education
 Wrote The Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom
 Made the Louisiana Purchase
President of 1800s: Abraham Lincoln (1861-1865).
5 | P a g e

Contributions:
 Worked against slavery
 An influencer in true sense.
 His work in the modern understanding of a nation’s founder.
President of 1900s: George H. W. Bush (1989-1993)
Contributions:
 Cold war had ended after 40 years
 Breaking up of Communist Empire and falling of Berlin Wall.
President of 2000s: Barack Obama (2009-2017)
Contribution:
 Rescue the nation from the Great Recession by cutting the unemployment rate from
10 % to 4.7% within 6 years
 Signed the Affordable Care Act
 End of Iraq war
PART II CIVICS
4. Define “civics” in your own words; include at least 3 references of the definition.
Provide 1 example. Define “civic responsibility” in your own words; include at least 3
references of the definition. Provide 1 example. (5 points)
“Civics”:
It can be defined as the study of citizenship dealt with their rights and duties in the political,
theoretical and practical life of aspect.
The study, related to political science, deals with the civic affairs as well as the rights and
duties of citizens is called “civics” ( American Heritage, 2011)
The study helps to know about the rights along with the responsibilities of citizenship is
called “civics” (Collins English Dictionary, 2014) .
It is the study which is based on the political rights as well as the responsibilities of the
citizens along with the operation of government. (Diagram Group, 2008)
6 | P a g e

Example: Study of Canadian government.
“Civic responsibility”:
It can be defined as the social force which binds one with its courses of action that demand
with a force (WordNet 3.0, 2008).
It comprises of social actions with perfect attitudes in democratic governance for social
participation (Center for Civic Education., 2017)
It can also be defined as the state or the quality which is being responsible to do something
for which one must be responsible like, obligation, duty or burden (Harry & Kari, 1999).
Example: Duty of own children
5. State an agency, community, or organization of which you are a member. What is the
culture of the identified agency, community, or organization (for example what are the
values of the agency, community, or organization; and/or what are the core
characteristics of membership; and/or what is the agency, community, or organization’s
mission statement). What issues does the agency, community, or organization primarily
address? (5 points)
The United nation can be taken as the agency, community or organization. It is the
community organization which performs a series of work at community level and it has the
purpose to bring about the expected improvement in case of social wellbeing with respect to
the groups, neighborhoods and individuals.
As per the culture of United nation refers to its arts, morals, knowledge, customs, and beliefs.
The value of united nation is the utmost professionalism, respect to the diversity, and the
ultimate integrity.
The Core Characteristics of united nation are the vision, building the trust with the
competencies, better judgement and decision making criteria, a good leadership.
Mission Statement: To protect the mankind for all the people, to help in empowering for
realization of their rights, to assist the responsibility like, to ensure the rights which they are
implemented.
Issues of United nation: 1) an alarming racism, 2) threshold of Violence etc.
7 | P a g e

6. Why is civic engagement important? (2.5 points) State 2 civically responsible goals for
yourself in the next 3 years; describe them, what do they entail. (5 points)
The importance of Civic engagement: It covers the wide range of activities where the citizens
will participate the formal and the informal processes which will be addressed the community
that has to improve the quality of life including individual or groups and also for the whole
communities.
Civically responsible goals:
1) Community development: All the corporates are found that they are concerned with civic
or social responsibilities. For us also, a corporation may be set up in near future and the moto
of which can be to assist and enhance the education more for the public.
2) Hazard elimination: That business can be an institute where the hazard control programs
are included for protecting the public mainly against violence or any social disruptions.
7. What role do media play in “civic engagement”? (2.5 points)
The social media has an important role in civic engagement. The users of newspaper or news
sites are greatly involved to know the update from political, sports and of other civic society.
DEFINE
8) “Public good” in your own words; include 3 references and provide an example. (3
points)
“Public good” is the product or services that we all are used without any charge (Francis,
2017)
As per the economists, “Public good” is the product or service which has no need to include
the taxes (Khanacademy, 2017).
“Public good” is defined as the product or services which has nonexchudability or
nonrivalrous consumption (Cowen, 2017).
Example: Radio services.
9) “Public goods” in your own words; include 3 references and provide an example. (3
points)
8 | P a g e

The public goods are those which have non rejectable characteristics while they are used or
not used (Tutor2u, 2017)
It is also defined as the goods which are provided for personal motives for better achievement
of good job (Cowen, 2017).
Public goods can also be the services that the government or market can handle in better way
(Cowen, 2017).
Example: national defense.
10) “Republic” in your own words; include 3 references and provide an example. (3
points)
Republic can be defined as the government which has a chief of state, but who is not the
monarch, but the president elected publicly (Merriam-Webster, 2017).
Republic is also defined as the country where the power is in the hand of common people or
in the representatives whom they have elected (Collins, 2017).
Republic is defined as the state which has supreme power and that held by people who are
responsible for the election of a representatives or the president (Oxford University Press,
2017).
Example: Republic of Korea, Republic of United States etc.
9 | P a g e

BIBLIOGRAPHY
American Heritage. (2011). Civic education. (n.d.). New York: Dictionary of the English
Language, .
Center for Civic Education. (2017). Center for Civic Education. Retrieved from
http://www.cpn.org.: http://www.cpn.org.
Collins. (2017). Definition of 'republic'. Retrieved from https://www.collinsdictionary.com:
https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/republic
Collins English Dictionary. (2014). Complete and Unabridged. London: HarperCollins
Publishers.
Cowen, P. (2017). Public Goods. Retrieved from http://www.econlib.org:
http://www.econlib.org/library/Enc/PublicGoods.html
Diagram Group. (2008). Dictionary of Unfamiliar Words. Oxford: Diagram Visual
Information Limited.
Francis, J. (2017). What Are Public Goods? Retrieved from http://study.com/:
http://study.com/academy/lesson/public-good-in-economics-definition-theory-
examples.html
Harry, B., & Kari, N. (1999). Renewing the Democratic Spirit in American Colleges and
Universities: Higher Education as Public Work . London: In Higher Education and
Civic Responsibility. .
Khanacademy. (2017). What are public goods? Retrieved from
https://www.khanacademy.org/: https://www.khanacademy.org/economics-finance-
domain/microeconomics/consumer-producer-surplus/externalities-topic/a/public-
goods-cnx
Merriam-Webster. (2017). republic. Retrieved from https://www.merriam-webster.com:
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/republic
Oxford University Press. (2017). Definition of republic in English:. Retrieved from
https://en.oxforddictionaries.com:
https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/republic
10 | P a g e

Tutor2u. (2017). Public Goods and Market Failure. Retrieved from https://www.tutor2u.net/:
https://www.tutor2u.net/economics/reference/public-goods
WordNet 3.0. (2008). civic responsibility. (n.d.) . London: Farlex clipart collection.
11 | P a g e