Mind Map Assignment

Running head: COMMUNITY AND CITIZENSHIP 1
COMMUNITY AND CITIZENSHIP 5
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Roles of a Community in Promoting Citizenship
Name
Institution Affiliation
The Role of the Community in Promoting Citizenship
There are some ways in which individuals in various communities can demonstrate their citizenship. The general activities which are conducted to meet local goals should to some extent meet state goals which later portray citizenship. A community being a group of people from different backgrounds and personalities, may as well involve people who show different levels of citizenship or none at all. For instance, some active citizens demonstrate love for their states by all means through their day to day actions. Similarly, some bad citizens will, by all means, take part in dragging the state behind. They engage in immorality, wickedness, selfishness, and are frequently found in law-breaking practices. Similarly, there are the passive citizens. Within this particular group, which carries a good population of the community, there are the joy riders or spectators who tend to lack information about their communities especially the current affairs.
The topic is of important consideration and has been compelled by some forces. To begin with, there is need to identify the various roles that a community should engage in to enhance citizenship. Equally, it is necessary to recognize people according to their levels of citizenship like the bad citizens and the active citizens for punishment and reward purposes respectively. Being a good citizen myself, this topic is of personal interest because it targets individuals with similar intentions as mine in demonstrating love and pride for their states. However, as much as citizens are subjected to various roles and responsibilities in their communities to show citizenship, there are also many rights and privileges which they are guaranteed. Such rights include right of expression, right of movement, right to participate in the country’s leadership, right to choose their leader of interest, among others.
Some of the roles and responsibilities which a good citizen should take part in include abiding by the law, participating in elections, respecting the institutions and ideals as well as the national anthem, national flag, legitimate authorities and the national pledge. Furthermore, citizens should establish a good reputation for their communities, fight against mismanagement of power by leaders and squandering of public funds (Lucey, 2017). The citizens also ought to guard against destruction, the resources of their communities which may consist of infrastructure and social amenities like schools and hospitals. Particularly, another role in which the residents of a community should widely take part is preaching peaceful living and respect for fellow citizens. They should learn and understand others’ cultures, origins, religion, among others. For example, the African-American citizens stand a great chance to enjoy the privileges of citizenship just like any other resident.
Citizenship can fully be demonstrated by participating in the formation of a state government. By turning out in large numbers during the election of leaders and casting votes, this role is fully accomplished. Voting is the only way in which citizens of a given community exercise both their democratic right and role as citizens. Patriotism should be embraced as this portrays good citizenship. It can be achieved through taking part in various interstate activities like world Cup sports. The full determination should be driven at making the country a champion. Through proper involvement in these activities, the citizen will have met his/her obligation to enhancing good citizenship in the community.
However, bad citizens or rather passive citizens may show such traits due to certain reasons. The government may have neglected a particular region hence leading to loss of hope in one’s country by such citizens. For instance, there may be an imbalance of resources such as infrastructure, water supply, electricity, and social amenities which include schools and hospitals. The isolated section of the community is likely to consist of individuals who resist the country’s government and by all means try to show this through failing to abide by the law, ignoring activities like voting or any other state affairs which are displayed to citizens. The citizens may not contribute in choosing leaders who will bring change to their various communities or fight against stealing of their public funds. As a result greedy and misappropriate leaders continue to dominate in such areas. Consequences of such actions by citizens involve underdevelopment, high levels of illiteracy, and poor health among them.
Appropriate solutions should be evaluated and put into consideration to curb any factors that may promote lagging behind of certain communities leading to bad citizenship. Particularly, the government should scan all sections of the community for any complaints and deal with them immediately (Mitchell & Soria, 2017). Through this, awareness can be established in the regions with limited resources and which are not being attended to as required.
The main purpose of addressing the roles of the community in promoting citizenship is to create awareness on what is expected from a good citizen and the consequences of bad citizenship. The topic targets residents of various communities especially the youth, who in one way or another would want to demonstrate love for their states. It is therefore important to note the importance of taking part the community affairs as this not only benefits the community but the individual as well. The result is a productive community, which is worth living for all the residents.
References
Lucey, P. A. (2017). Leadership Style and Organizational Citizenship Behavior in Community-Based Mental Health Facilities (Doctoral dissertation, Walden University).
Mitchell, T. D., & Soria, K. M. (Eds.). (2017). Educating for Citizenship and Social Justice: Practices for Community Engagement at Research Universities. Springer.