Social Democracy Essay

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SOCIAL DEMOCRACY

Social democracy is defined as a political system that promotes social justice and

equality within a market economy framework. In this form of democracy, it promotes

the idea that the government of a country should provide its citizens with security and

equality while ensuring that the country has a conducive environment for economic

development. In order to facilitate this, the government should be committed towards

representative democracy, provide adequate measures to facilitate income

redistribution and regulate the economy in such a way that its greatest interest is the

society, and not corporations(Gershon 1). The promotion of social justice within a

capitalist framework ensures that the whole society benefits and not just the rich

people. It also provides a variety of benefits to the society such as free healthcare,

education, and financial services such as welfare and pensions. In addition to that, it

promotes and defends the workers’ rights- they are provided with a fair compensation,

and also work in appropriate conditions.

In socialism, it dictates that the means of production are either governed by the

public through the federal and state government, or by the employees. In this set-up it

allows the state to be able to provide a variety of basic services such as healthcare,

education, child care, housing and even energy to all, or at least a majority of the

citizens in a country at a significant discount. Social democracy allows for the

redistribution of the country’s income and wealth through the power of the state

ensuring that it is not largely controlled by 1% of the national population. It reduces

the income inequality disparity and economic challenges of a country. Why is this

important?

The debate on economic inequality has been at the center of the country’s debate

since the Great Depression and was reiterated after the financial crisis of 2009. It

highlighted the susceptibility of a majority of Americans to any financial crisis that

may take place in the country. This is an indicator of the huge flaw of the country’s

economic system whereby according to the analysis conducted by the Economic

Policy Institute it showed that the wealthiest 1 percent of Americans control 35.6

percent of the country’s total wealth. In addition to that, the richest ten percent in

America control 75 percent of the country’s wealth, and this leaves only 25 percent to

be controlled by the remaining 90 percent of the American citizens. In addition to that,

it is the source of a majority of the country’s societal problems, slow economic

growth, increased influence of the country’s politics by the wealthy people and

increased debt percentage of middle-class people.

The solution of the problems that have been identified is to either expand or

create social programs that will mitigate the effects that a majority of the Americans

have felt over the previous years. These programs will include a more effective

healthcare insurance program than Obamacare, universal education as is being

witnessed in Scandinavian countries ( free primary and secondary education, and

reduced cost of tertiary education), and the eased eligibility for unemployment

insurance, increase of minimum wages. It will also be important to ensure that the

employees are given a more participatory role in the decision-making of the

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Name Professor Name Course Date SOCIAL DEMOCRACY Social democracy is defined as a political system that promotes social justice and equality within a market economy framework. In this form of democracy, it promotes the idea that the government of a country should provide its citizens with security and equality while ensuring that the country has a conducive environment for economic development. In order to facilitate this, the government should be committed towards representative democracy, provide adequate measures to facilitate income redistribution and regulate the economy in such a way that its greatest interest is the society, and not corporations(Gershon 1). The promotion of social justice within a capitalist framework ensures that the whole society benefits and not just the rich people. It also provides a variety of benefits to the society such as free healthcare, education, and financial services such as welfare and pensions. In addition to that, it promotes and defends the workers’ rights- they are provided with a fair compensation, and also work in appropriate conditions. In socialism, it dictates that the means of production are either governed by the public through the federal and state government, or by the employees. In this set-up it allows the state to be able to provide a variety of basic services such as healthcare, education, child care, housing and even energy to all, or at least a majority of the citizens in a country at a significant discount. Socia ...
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Tags: social democracy form of democracy issue of economic inequality social democracy framework government types