Introduction
This paper discusses documented concepts and democratic principles. Besides, it provides a brief discussion on and an evaluation of democracy and governance literature materials. The paper concludes by summarizing the main points in the essay.
The Principle of Human Rights
Human rights are considered universal and inalienable, interconnected, indivisible, and symbiotic (Catrinoiu, 2011). The rights are universal because every individual is born with the same rights, irrespective of where the individual lives (Catrinoiu, 2011). Besides, everybody has equal rights irrespective of his or her gender, race, ethnicity, or cultural background (Catrinoiu, 2011). Universal human rights are viewed as incontrovertible because they cannot be taken away by any authority. They are indivisible because one of the rights cannot be enjoyed without the existence of others (Catrinoiu, 2011). All these rights are upheld by the rule of law (Catrinoiu, 2011).
Human Rights, the Declaration of Independence, and the Constitution
The Constitution of the United States legally secures fundamental human rights (Sjoberg, 2007). It is important to point out that the Federal Court has jurisdiction over universal human rights laws; this is because laws on universal human rights are constitutional components of the laws of the United States. The assemblage of the first ten amendments constitutes very importantly human rights laws in the United States.
The principle of human rights is also found in the second paragraph of the Declaration of Independence (The Charters of Freedom, n.d). The paragraph states that all men are created equal; the creator endows them with certain inalienable rights which include life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness (The Charters of Freedom, n.d). The Declaration of Independence asserts that the government is formed and charged with the responsibility of protecting these rights (Tewell, 2012).
How the Supreme Court may use the Principle of Human Rights
The Supreme Court of the United States may apply the principle of human rights while deciding the cases before it to ensure justice. Therefore, the Supreme Court, when adjudicating a current conflict, should use mechanisms that show dignity and respect to human rights. Since there are many competing rights, the court should use conflict resolution mechanisms that facilitate the maximum recognition of rights and those that help the conflicting parties to understand the scope of their rights as envisaged in the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence (Prince, 2013; Puro, 2009). In other words, the Supreme Court should ensure that its verdicts do not negate universal human rights.
The Selected Resources and Evaluations
The first category of resources includes journals on issues of democracy and governance. The academic journals include peer-reviewed periodicals in which the works of scholars and researchers are published (Pyrczak, 2012). The importance of journals is that they provide relevant information from primary studies that have already been conducted on a given subject, especially democracy and its principles (Greco, 2011). Journal materials always offer empirical information and provide a deeper understanding of the subject of democracy (Shaw, 2008). The evaluation criteria that have been used in this case are the professionalism of the resources, quality of the contents, and the dates of publication. The criteria also involved an appraisal of the author’s area of expertise on the subject of the journals (McDonough & Shaw, 2012).
The second category of resources includes expert textbooks written by professionals who have a thorough knowledge of the subject area (Subedi, 2010). Textbooks are literature materials on which professionals write their ideas and knowledge. In most cases, textbooks provide discourses on specific issues related to a particular field of expertise (Subedi, 2010). Textbooks are very important learning resources for both classes and learning at a personal level. In fact, in most cases, more textbooks than journals have been used by teachers and students as the primary learning resources (Subedi, 2010). This is especially the case where a learning process is theoretical (Subedi, 2010). In this case, the evaluation criteria that have been used include the integrity and area of specialization of the author, the date of publication, the depth and academic level of the textbooks, and the perspectives of the textbooks about the subject of democracy and governance (McDonough & Shaw, 2012).
The other learning resources that have been selected include different websites. With the advent of the internet, it has become easy to access different learning resources through the internet (Kitchenham, 2011). This is the easiest learning resource through which different materials on democracy and governance can be located (Kitchenham, 2011). The evaluation of website resources has been based on the credibility of the individuals or organizations that maintain and update the websites. Besides, they have also been evaluated about the extent to which the information they contain relates to the concepts of democracy and governance. In addition, the date of publication has also been used as one of the evaluation criteria (McDonough & Shaw, 2012).
The Quality and Credibility of Literature Materials on Democracy and Governance
There are numerous literature publications on democracy and governance whose main objective is to promote democracy and good governance. The literature materials have been authored by highly professional individuals who have studied the subject of democracy and governance for many years. This fact makes the literature materials to be of high quality. Moreover, the high-quality levels of the materials are underlined by the fact that a substantial number of them are updated. This implies that the professionals who are concerned with the issues of democracy and governance are continually coming up with new principles and ideas on democracy and governance. In this case, the literature materials are credible.
Furthermore, it is important to note that some of the literature resources constitute journals. Most of the journals are publications of both primary and secondary research studies. This means that the journals contain scientific information on the issues of democracy and governance; hence, the materials are credible. The credibility of the literature materials on democracy and governance is also ensured through referees. Refereed materials are referred to as peer-reviewed journals or publications.
Insights from the Analysis
One of the insights is that the evaluation of learning resources is very important when one is looking for information about democracy and governance. In this case, the evaluation process helps an individual in identifying the most reliable and credible literature materials. The evaluation process has revealed that some literature materials merely represent the personal opinions of authors, who may not provide any substantial empirical support or evidence to support their ideas. The second insight is that the evaluation process helps in determining the most relevant materials that can be used as sources of knowledge on specific issues, such as democracy and governance.
Conclusion
This paper has discussed the principle of human rights about how the US Supreme Court may resolve contemporary conflicts before it. Besides, the paper has also undertaken an evaluation of different materials on democracy and governance.
References
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