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Summary of Chapters 8 and 9
Summary of Chapters 8 and 9
CAPABILITY
chapters
STUDENT:
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Free and Fair Elections are the Foundation of Every Healthy Democracy. Elections are the central
institution of democratic representative governments. Because, in a democracy, the authority of the
government derives solely from the consent of the governed. The principal mechanism for
translating that consent into governmental authority is the holding of free and fair elections.
All modern democracies hold elections, but not all elections are democratic. Right-wing dictatorships,
Marxist regimes, and single-party governments also stage elections to give their rule the aura of
legitimacy. In such elections, there may be only one candidate or a list of candidates, with no
alternative choices. Such elections may offer several candidates for each office, but ensure through
intimidation or rigging that only the government-approved candidate is chosen. Other elections may
offer genuine choices--but only within the incumbent party. These are not democratic elections.
There is more to democracy than free and fair elections, but there can be no democracy without
them. Constant vigilance is required to protect this foundational component of political freedom
from the threats arrayed against it, which range from old-fashioned fraud on election day to media
manipulation and regulatory obstacles during the campaign period. Freedom House works with local
groups to promote voter participation, particularly by youth, and to monitor elections.
At the global level, where the rules of political engagement are not set, each sector of society that
has a stake in the outcomes has tried to gain representation. The nation-state has the most authority
in the global political arena as most institutions have been created by and for nation-states. However,
the private sector is often at the table, either by invitation of nation-states or through the power of its
considerable financial resources. Political parties, on the other hand, are almost completely absent
from the global political arena. reasons why civil society has to be engaged in global governance:
Increasing the pool of policy ideas ,Supporting less powerful governments, Countering a lack of
political will..etc
service provider (for example, running primary schools and providing basic community health
care services)
advocate/campaigner (for example, lobbying governments or business on issues including
indigenous rights or the environment)
watchdog (for example, monitoring government compliance with human rights treaties)
building active citizenship (for example, motivating civic engagement at the local level and
engagement with local, regional and national governance)
Chapter 9 : Education
Education is an engine of growth and key to development in every society, based on its quality and
quantity. In order to make a significant contribution to economic growth and development, high
quality education is required. The twenty-first century paradigm is shifting towards the enhancement
of knowledge as a priority. This has likely been a product of the resonation of states connecting their
higher educational systems much more closely to their various economic development strategies.
Education is an economic good because it is not easily obtainable and thus needs to be apportioned.
Economists regard education as both a consumer and capital good, because it offers utility
(satisfaction) to a consumer and also serves as an input to develop the human resources necessary
for economic and social transformation. The focus on education as a capital good related to the
concept of human capital, which emphasizes that the development of skills is an important factor in
production activities. It is widely accepted that education creates improved citizens and helps to
upgrade the general standard of living in a society. The increased faith in education as an agent of
change in many developing countries, has led to heavy investments in it. The pressure for higher
education in many developing countries has undoubtedly been helped by public perception of
financial reward from pursuing such education. There is belief that expanding educational
opportunities and access promotes economic growth.
the human development and capability approach rests on the assumption that formal education is
highly is highly instrumental and necessary to improve the productive capacity of a population. In
short, human capital theorists argue that an educated population is a productive population. Human
capital theory emphasizes how education increases the productivity and efficiency of workers by
increasing the level of cognitive stock of economically productive human capability, which is a
product of innate abilities and investment in human beings. The provision of formal education is seen
as an investment in human capital, which proponents of the theory have considered as equally or
even more worthwhile than that of physical capital .
Human Capital Theory (HCT) concludes that investment in human capital will lead to greater
economic outputs however the validity of the theory is sometimes hard to prove and contradictory.
In the past, economic strength was largely dependent on tangible physical assets such as land,
factories and equipment. Labor was a necessary component, but increases in the value of the
business came from investment in capital equipment. Modern economists seem to concur that