Role of Government

Introduction

The word government refers to a sovereign state or civil government that can be either local, national or international. The role of the government is to provide an orderly society, at the same it should provide an enforceable set of moral and ethical values that control the functioning of the society. Within the laws of the government, the cultural moral values of any given society are outlined. To achieve this, the government must have well established codes of ethics in place. The main purpose of ethics is to help in making wise or right decisions. Some of the ethically challenging issues include: abortion, divorce and promiscuity among others (Northrup, pp. 55-57).

The members of the society have a duty or are expected to conform to the societal values so as to contribute to a peaceful and orderly society. Hence, the set laws provide a standard measure for the people to use in deciding on how to act in a socially responsible manner. One is justified to disobey the law if: he or she has a strong assurance that the ethical values embedded within the law are in need of a reform, and one is ready to pay the consequences of acting illegally. In gauging whether a nation is making decisions that are socially responsible, the citizens are supposed to follow a higher standard than that specified by law, because the law defines the social norms.

Also the government ensures that all legal systems recognize, form, vary and enforce obligations. Obligations are fundamental to the social role of law and discussing them is necessary to an understanding of the law's authority and thus its nature. Not only obligations in the law exist, but there are also obligations to the law (Northrup, pp. 55-57). The principles that apply to government obligations like progressive implementation, monitoring, discrimination, minimum core content and obligations of conduct and outcome are discussed in the essay. Also, the roles of the government under social obligations, practical matters and the framework of the ethical decision making process are discussed.

Principals That Apply to Government Obligations

Progressive Implementation (non-retrogression)

According to the International law, a government is supposed to implement economic and social rights progressively. This means that the government is not supposed to accomplish all these rights immediately and at the same time. However, it must make progress in fulfilling these rights until they are absolutely guaranteed. Hence if a government takes no action to make sure economic and social rights are in place, then it has not met its responsibility. An instance where the government fails to meet its obligation, a case where children in public schools in pitiable neighborhoods are not provided with adequate education and the government does not take any step to better those schools. Another instance is when the government actually weakens protections for economic and social rights like dismantling entitlements or massively evicting people from public houses without providing corresponding or improved alternatives, this is actually a regression and a plain violation (Redford, pp. 12-19).

Minimum Core Content

There ...