Some videos about democracy

On this short video you can have a quick overview about democratic political systems:

   

 This other video gives a more specific explanation of its key features:

   

 And this is a short history of democracy throughout history:

 

More about participatory democracy

Source: http://www.thepolisblog.org/2010/02/participatory-budgeting.html

Direct democracy is the real basis of democracy, the real rule of people. In participatory democracy citizens meet, discuss, value the different options and finally make decisions based on consensus. Maybe the process is longer, but it´s more satisfactory for the citizens and it contributes to the development of  citizen´s political awareness.

Source: http://home.getinvolvedwa.org/participatory_democracy.html

There have been different experiences of participatory democracy, especially in local governments. The most famous case is the one of the city of Porto Alegre in Brazil. More than 100,000 inhabitants of this city got involved in the decision making and they could decide on where the municipal budget should be invested. On the following link you can read more about Porto Alegre´s achievements:

http://www.participedia.net/wiki/Participatory_Budgeting:_Porto_Alegre

Source: http://www.torontohousing.ca/key_initiatives/community_planning

Source: http://www.progressivestates.org/node/22080

Here you can read a short history of paticipatory budgeting: 

http://www.watsonblogs.org/participatorybudgeting/historypb.html

There have been some experiences about participatory budgeting in Spain, such as in Córdoba, Seville, Barcelona, Albacete or Getafe. On this link you can find more information about this topic: 

http://www.presupuestosparticipativos.com/

And this is the link to Córdoba´s  and Seville´s town halls, where they explain how to take part in the process of decision making: 

http://planparticipativo.cordoba.es/como-participar.html

http://www.sevilla.org/presupuestosparticipativos/init.do

Challenge number 12

As we have been studying this week, some of the features of democracies are the practice of universal suffrage and a supreme law called Constitution, that includes the rights and duties of citizens and the explanation of the organization of the State and its insitutions. This week´s research will be focused on suffrage and Constitutions. 

QUESTION 1
How do we call the limited suffrage, reserved only to the people who have a specific economic status?


QUESTION 2

What was the first Spain´s Constitution to include universal male suffrage?

When was universal male suffrage definitively established in Spain?

QUESTION 3

When were women allowed to vote in Spain? Who was the deputy responsible for defending women right to vote in Spain? 

What happened during  Franco´s dictatorship with the women right to vote?

QUESTION 4

Here you have a scene of Mary Poppins, a film you may have seen many times. Watch it and answer the question below: 

What´s a suffragette?

QUESTION 5

What was the first written Constitution of the world? What type of suffrage did it include?

QUESTION 6

Amendements are corrections or changes made to the Constitution of a country. Here you have a cartoon that reflects the first 10 amendments to the Constitution of the United States of America. 

Source: http://www2.maxwell.syr.edu/plegal/tips/bor.html

What have been the most important amendments made in the Constitution of the USA related to voting? Explain them.