Passport to Democracy

Lesson 2

Principles of Democracy Open up your workbooks and fill out page

one.

Answer in your books:

What are the three core principles of

Democracy?

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What is Democracy?

A democracy is generally said to exist by three main principles:

Rule by Law - This means that judgements are made in accordance with a written law, rather than being made in a random manner. All government officials and all private citizens must follow the laws of the nation and must be treated equally under the law. The government is created by and for the people and is answerable to the people. 

Freedom of Expression - the ability to express and debate views without censorship. This includes any act of seeking, receiving and imparting information or ideas, regardless of the medium used.

Free and Fair Elections – this means that they have an electoral system where each and every citizen has the right to participate as a voter and as a candidate; the voting procedure guarantees freedom, secrecy and accurate counting of votes and the electoral organisation acts independently of other powers of the state or government.

Demos = People Kratia = rule or authority

The project Passport to Democracy has been

developed by the Victorian Electoral Commission

The VEC is an independent organisation that runs local and state elections. It is not aligned with any political party.

You will be looking at democracy, who represents you, how the issues you care about are affected by politics and what you as young people can do about these issues.

You will be choosing an issue you care about to research and develop an action plan for, then pitching it to the class.

There will be a formal class election on the best group plan.

You will have a workbook to use throughout the course – bring it to class every lesson!

You will receive a certificate at the end of the course.

The project

Activity: A weekend diary Consider how you

and your family spent time this weekend.

Jot down or draw as many things as you can think of that you did- from the moment you woke up on Sat morning until the moment you went to bed Sunday evening...

Activity: A weekend diary Now have a think –

do any of these things have anything to do with government?

Did politics affect your weekend?

How does politics affect our everyday lives?

Had breakfast

Went for a bike ride

Worked at my part time job

Hung out with friends

Our democratic representatives make decisions about:

How food is

labelled...Quality of water from the tap...

Safety standards for

electricity that charged the

alarm clock on my phone...

If it’s compulsory to wear a bike helmet...

Availability of bike

paths...

Where I can ride

in my local

area...

Minimum wage

for young

people...

How safe my workplace has to be...

How public space is used – for example whether young people

are moved on from shops or town squares...

What there

is to do for

young

people in

your area

Issues - what do I care about?

Issue: “subject for discussion or general concern”

“The central or most important topic in a discussion or debate”

What issues do you care about in this school?

In your local community?

In small groups:

Think: What needs improving in the school or your local community? What concerns you?

Pair: Discuss with your partner – you are going to help to solve an issue you are concerned about with this money...

Share: You and your partner now share your ideas with another pair. Discuss the best use of the money. Which ideas are best?

Drill it down to a key statement:

What is the issue of concern ?

How would you spend the cheque to help to address the issue in your community?