African Government Peer tutoring

a. Explain citizen participation in autocratic and democratic governments.

In a democratic government, power lies with the people because they have the power to vote. In different democratic countries, there are different positions the people can fill by voting.

An autocratic government is one in which absolute authority is in one leader.

In an autocracy, the people have few if any rights. They do not get to choose their leaders or vote on laws.

If people disagree with their leader, there is no legal action they can take.

b. Describe the two predominant forms of democratic governments: parliamentary and presidential.

If the person who has the executive power is chosen by and is a member of the legislature, then it is a parliamentary democracy. If the person who has executive power is chosen directly by the people and is separate from the legislature, then it is a presidential democracy.

c. Explain the role of citizens in choosing the leaders of South Africa (parliamentary democracy) Nigeria (presidential democracy), and Kenya (presidential democracy).

South Africa

South Africa is a parliamentary democracy. This means the people elect the legislature (Parliament of South Africa), and the legislature chooses the head of government. This head of government is called the president. South Africa is still a parliamentary democracy because its head of government is chosen by the legislative branch that the people choose.

Nigeria

Nigeria is a presidential democracy. This means that it has a head of government (president) and a legislature (National Assembly of Nigeria) that are both directly elected by the people. Nigeria guarantees freedom of speech, expression, and press, although the government has passed laws limiting press freedom and harassing journalists covering corruption in the government and military.

Kenya

Kenya is a presidential democracy. This means that it has a head of government (president) and a legislature (Parliament of Kenya) that are both directly elected by the people. Nigeria guarantees freedom of speech and press. Although there is a large independent media sector, government forces routinely harass members of the press, causing the press to not report some things the government does.