Governmental Illegitimacy and Incompetency
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Governmental Illegitimacy and Incompetency
Introduction
Illegitimacy and incompetency in governments have been the foundation of many problems in most developing nations since inequalities, exploitation, exclusions and dominations significantly dominate their citizenry which can be accredited to the instability of governments due to historical colonization and manipulation by western countries, ethnic and tribal conflicts and disruptive measures imposed by World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF) (Raphael et al., 2019). This results in poor economic and social security, thereby threatening areas like the health of its people. However, most developed countries are assumed to be providing these essentials to their citizens. This write-up will explore illegitimacy and incompetency issues in liberal states like Canada in the health sector specifically since this is a reserve for developing countries where policies that create inequalities, dominance, exclusions and exploitation of citizens are not well outlined or have been ignored.
Legitimacy concept of governments
Definition of legitimacy: it is how power and coercion by governing authorities either by democracy and participation or acceptance of outcomes of the government laws and actions affects compliance to their laws that has aspects of accountability (to the governed via effective participation), efficiency (provide ends without undue waste of time or resources), fair distribution (equal distribution of advantages and costs allocated) and procedural fairness (resolving issues in a regular, predictable and open and equal access to decisions).
Accountability: Canada holds free and open elections, but few economic elites dominate it. This few control politics, the economy and the societal livelihood of its citizens. They, therefore, make policies to favour their objectives in taxation, social spending and the labour markets. This has created a situation where the government mismanages resource distribution and increases its power in the corporate sectors. Canadians support Pharmacare and Dentalcare into their system as a way of government involvement, yet it has failed to act upon these preferences.
Efficiency: many Canadians are disadvantaged when it comes to program spending by the federal government. This has been attributed to changes in the taxation of the citizens making the sick, the unemployed and the disabled suffer the most due to delays in fund disbursements. The health sector of Canadians is affected by government subsidizing of already profitable corporations and businesses and the commitment to public-private partnerships, and this has led to increased burden to the taxpayer in Canada. Government inefficiency can be identified when funding research and analysis that was being carried out by public consultants, and now it has been shifted to private consultants The government should consider efficiency in distributing resources in due time to improve social lives of its citizens rather than focusing majorly on private issues.
Procedural fairness: Mixing public and private business causes a conflict of interests, and this has been a concern of Canadian government since the elite avert tax system to maintain their wealth and the tax system has been restructured to favour the few elites at the expense of the majority. Public policy decisions should question the legitimacy of governing authorities in the Canadian government so that citizens at least enjoy economic and social security.
Distributive fairness: Poverty rate and distribution of benefits of expanding economy measures the distributive fairness. Poverty in Canada is escalating, and it can be seen through resource distribution that creates room for deprivation of social wellbeing and wealth creation by the citizens. Stagnation of incomes of Canadians over the past 20 years remains to be 60%. This indicates that many citizens cannot meet their responsibilities when their salaries are delayed.
Concepts of political competency
Definition of political competency: the social and economic needs of a population should be successfully and efficiently provided for by the government as stipulated in local and global agencies. The Canadian government has failed to uphold people’s rights, political rights and social-economic rights of its citizens and has been rebuked by the United Nations.
Indigenous rights: many communities of the poor and vulnerable in Canada lack proper housing and they are overcrowded, they lack well-structured water systems, and this poses worse health outcomes like life expectancy, suicidal rates, chronic diseases and life expectancy (Raphael et al., 2019). There is a lack of cooperation between the federal government and provincial governments, and this poses inequalities in healthcare, social services, education, among other sectors.
Employment and working conditions: Canadians are blocked from accessing required dental care and prescribed drugs due to lack of universal programmes to take care of the whole population’s health. The government has done little to balance between labour and business sector.
Food security: A third of Canadians have difficulty in obtaining adequate food since they depend on national food banks. Community Health Surveys estimated that 12% of Canadian households experience food insecurity, and it is even worse for families with children.
Housing: Access to emergency services by the homeless or the number of people sleeping outside is very high in Canada. Shelter costs, suitability and household size help the Core Housing Need (CHN) in determining houses that need repair and those with structural damage. Poor housing poses dangerous health problems to the affected families, and the United Nations has been at the forefront of encouraging the federal government to make sure housing in Canada meet international obligations.
Women’s rights: There is no established policy in Canada to curb gender inequalities. Lack of strategy or action plan by indigenous, Afro-Canadian, immigrants, disabled, older and single women makes it impossible to access employment, good shelter and healthcare services. The federal government should address this vice in both public and private sectors by passing legislation in the protection of women.
Conclusion
Government response to problematic situations in Canada and other liberal nations need to distribute resources to serve many in the economy rather than favouring the economic elites. Public policy to ensure governments are working should be put in place, and the public mobilized to ensure the policies are followed since the state is supposed to provide economic and social security through mobilization by the public.
References
Raphael, D et al. (2018). Governmental Illegitimacy and Incompetency in Canada and Other Liberal Nations: Implications For Health. International Journal Of Health Services, 2019, Vol49 (1) pg 17-36