Politics. To me, the word "politics" represents a lot of things I do my best to avoid. As a student, I know I have experienced a lot of the good that can come from the government (such as free or subsidized education, healthcare, free speech, public transportation to name a few), but I still have trouble getting past the negative aspects. I don't like the image that goes along with how to get stuff done in that arena (ie. so much "schmoozing that you don't know who to trust) and so I've tried to stay away from it as much as possible. This decision has side effects of huge knowledge gaps and mountainous learning curve now that I realize politics are a necessary evil.
The reason I've been putting off this blog about Ukranian politics so much is that I do not understand politics or really government in general and so I feel overwhelmed whenever I try to learn about them. When I say I don't understand politics, it's not just the inner workings that I don't understand. I feel lost much of the time and only get frustrated when I ask people to explain because either they themselves do not understand clearly and simply talk in circles until they come up with an acceptable answer; or they start with the "basics" but I am still so lost that I'm ashamed to ask for further explanation.
These feelings are true for the first sentence I read the other day about Ukranian politics. It reads: "Ukraine is a parliamentary democracy with separate executive, judicial, and legislative branches." Once I began to break the words down, I began to understand:
Me first sticking point was the fourth word: parliament. I've heard the word used in many contexts through which I have gained an understanding of what parliament is involved in. However, I still didn't know exactly what parliament is, or how to understand is as an adjective in this sentence. Taking baby steps, I consulted www. dictionary.com to look it up. The definition of "parliamentary" is: of or pertaining to a parliament or any of its members. I really hate when the term is used in it's definition! How is someone who doesn't understand the word supposed to understand the definition is the word is it's definition?
Pursuing this further, I found parliament to be "legislative body," which is defined as
"a deliberative body of persons, usually elective, who are empowered to make, change, or repeal the laws of a country or state; the branch of government having the power to make laws, as distinguished from the executive and judicial branches of government."
Okay, now we're getting somewhere.
After parliamentary comes "democracy." This seems like one of those million-dollar terms that many university students have spent years of their life and forests-worth of paper trying to define. My online dictionary, however, is rather concise - democracy is:
1. government by the people (note: missing the line "for the people"); a form of government in which the supreme power is vested in the people and exercised directly by them or by their elected agents under a free electoral system.
2. a state having such a form of government: The United States and Canada are democracies.
3. a state of society characterized by formal (Note: is this a clause to justify the informal inequality of rights and privileges?) equality of rights and privileges.
4. political or social equality; democratic spirit. (well, at least we've got spirit . . .)
5. the common people of a community as distinguished from any privileged class; the common people with respect to their political power.
Some of these points are debatable, but I'll "take it (for) now".
Thank goodness I understand the words "with" and "separate."
The next words, "executive," "judicial," and "legislative," are described below:
Executive: the executive branch of a government
(Gee, thanks for that - it's clear as a bell now. Random question: How do Ukranian people view sarcasm?)
"Executive" is also: of, pertaining to, or suited for carrying out plans, duties, etc.: executive ability; pertaining to or charged with the execution of laws and policies or the administration of public affairs
Judicial: pertaining to judgment in courts of justice or to the administration of justice
Legislative: having the function of making laws: a legislative body; of or pertaining to the enactment of laws: legislative proceedings; legislative power.
Thus, I understand Ukraine to be governed by the people in the sense that decisions are made by elected individuals. This government has separate sections for carrying out duties, making just judgments, and forming and enacting laws.
These statements seem optimistic at best, considering what I have been told about the Ukranian government. Frankly, may of these conversations can be summed up by Lord Acton's phrase "Power tends to corrupt; absolute power corrupts absolutely."
Interestingly, the word of the day on www.dictionary.com when I wrote most of this blog was "demagogue," a leader who obtains power by means of impassioned appeals to the emotions and prejudices of the populace. Like politics, a demagogue could for good or for bad. I was hoping I could use this as a segway further into Ukranian politics but, according to a story I heard today, people aren't exactly "appealed to." I think "pushed around" is a more appropriate term, and I would say that the overwhelming emotion in this scenario is fear.
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