Democracies
Civics Studies 11
MUNDY 2007
Dictatorship occurs when one person or small group holds all power in a government
Dictators decide upon their own rules for the country’s people and businesses
People are not given chance for elections to change government
Dictators do not allow criticism or dissent, frequently using country’s military and courts to control anyone who objects
“Rule of law” not followed – dictator is above law
Dictators often justify their rule by persuading people that they are doing this for the benefit of the people’s wealth, safety
Dictators have appeared throughout history in a variety of countries across the political spectrum (left to right):
Julius Caesar
Rome
Benito Mussolini
Italy - Fascist
Joseph Stalin
Russia –
Communist
Idi Amin
Uganda –
Nationalist
Dictators take power either by coup d’etat, revolution or through general support of people
Many dictators enjoy popular support initially due to poor economic or political chaos – people want tough leader to bring order to country
Termed by Greek philosopher Aristotle to mean rule of a country by a few priviledged individuals as a group
Aristotle felt that rule by a few of the best and brightest would be ideal form of government, what he called ARISTOCRACY
If a government, however, was ruled only by wealthy group, this was PLUTOCRACY
The ruling members of an oligarchy can be made up of people of similar:
◦ Race (South Africa – white rule)
◦ Wealth (Upper Canada – “Family Compact”)
◦ Family (Kazakhstan – Nazarbayev)
◦ Religion (Saudi Arabia – Wahhabism, now monarchy)
Oligarchies are very similar in their control over their country’s people:
◦ Stifling freedom of press
◦ Authoritarian control through army/police
◦ Lack of independent judiciary (courts)
◦ Banning opposition parties in elections
Purpose of oligarchies is to spread wealth and privileges amongst the rulers and those they wish to include
Example: South Africa allowed businesses, civil rights and legal benefits for white people only, barring black majority populace from these liberties
“democracy” comes from Greek word “demos” meaning ‘people’
Democracy
means people hold the power in a country; power over their legislators and their overall government.
This is typically called “
majority rule
by the majority of people.
” through elections in which the government is chosen
First instance of democracy was in Ancient
India in 11 th Century BCE, later organized as
sabha
(assembly, primarily chieftains) and
samiti
(a meeting of people in tribe), who kept control over a king by voting on matters
Second instance is in the 5 th Century BCE
Mesopotamia (now Iraq), where kings required consent from senate and “men of the town” (assembly) to go to war
Greek government was a DIRECT
DEMOCRACY
DIRECT DEMOCRACY involves all citizens in a country in its decision making (bills, laws, etc.) by having them meet and decide in person
In Greece, all adults (18 and up) who were born within the country and not slaves were expected to participate in public dialogue on issues
Greek leader Pericles, first to endorse direct democracy in
Greece:
◦ “ Our system of government does not copy the systems of our neighbors: we are a model to them, not them to us. Our constitution is called a democracy, because power rests not in the hands of the few but of the many... We differ from other states in regarding the man who keeps aloof from public life not as “private” but as useless”
In Greece, citizens met at the Pnyx, near the
Acropolis in Athens, to debate issues important to the welfare of the country
The speaker’s
Corner at Pnyx
Athens, Greece
Citizens were able to express their concerns and directly vote on laws and policies that mattered to them
One pitfall of the direct democracy process was the emergence of DEMAGOGUES
Demagogues use lies to prey on people’s fears and prejudices in order to manipulate them into voting for their policies
H.L. Mencken, political critic and humorist, wrote that demagogues, “
knows to be idiots.” will preach doctrines he knows to be untrue to men he
Yes, demagogues exist even today!
Today’s democracies are known as
REPRESENTATIVE DEMOCRACIES
Representative Democracies differ from
Direct Democracies in that they allow its citizens to vote not directly on the proposed laws and policies, but for officials who will represent them in parliaments when deciding upon new laws.
Any country using a democratic form of government can be seen as either:
FULL DEMOCRACY
PARTIAL DEMOCRACY
EMERGING DEMOCRACY
Countries with FULL DEMOCRACIES have the following characteristics:
◦ A constitution that guarantees individual rights and freedoms
◦ Majority rule
◦ Protection of minority rights
◦ Rule of law
◦ Choice of political parties
◦ Free and fair elections
◦ Independent judiciary
◦ Civilian control over armed forces
Tony Benn video on Democracy
With PARTIAL or EMERGING DEMOCRACIES, any range of elements of a FULL DEMOCRACY are weak or not present, such as:
◦ A judiciary (courts) that is influenced by a leader or the wealthy (corrupt)
◦ Only one political party allowed to campaign in elections
◦ Press and media (TV, internet news) are censored by government
EMERGING DEMOCRACIES differ from PARTIAL
DEMOCRACIES in that:
EMERGING DEMOCRACIES are attempting to reform their country’s government to incorporate more democratic elements to reach FULL DEMOCRACY
Whereas PARTIAL DEMOCRACIES have governments who wish for no changes towards FULL DEMOCRACIES
