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Essay on Political Systems
| Date: |
02-26-04 4:39pm |
| Subject: |
Politics |
| Word Count: |
1473 |
| Page Count: |
5.89 |
Political Systems
Since the creation of mankind the world has been continually changing. With each
day, man develops, countries grow and political systems change. A political
system is an important set of social institutions. Political systems have many
functions. Political systems create resources for education, health, welfare,
industry and foreign policy. Political systems have changed drastically over
centuries and are still changing everyday. To understand why and how political
systems change, there are many factors. Some major factors are evolution,
revolution and economy. A major factor and influence on why a political systems
change is due to the countries social economy. The approach in which a country
deals with certain political processes are affected by internal divisions of
income, wealth and occupation, also by economic dependence or poverty. There is
always a positive association between economic development and equality or
income. The Linearity theory states that economic development leads to
urbanization which leads to communication which leads to high levels of
education and in turn leads to Democracy. This theory does an excellent job in
showing how economics lead to a change in political systems. Wealthier nations
such as the United States, Japan and other European countries often have more
equitable income distributions than poorer countries. According to Robert J.
Mundt, a political researcher, "in advanced industrial nations the wealthiest
ten percent of households receive about one quarter of the national income,
while poorest receive forty percent and about twenty percent get only fifteen
percent of the national income; in middle income countries like Brazil, the
wealthiest ten percent gets forty-six percent of national income and the poorest
forth percent get only eight percent." An example of a country that social
economy influenced the change in their political system would be the Russian
Federation. The social economy lead to the fall of Communism. The Russian
federation was a communist country believing in state owned and centrally
planned government. Years ago the communists were able to keep up with the other
big money powers of the world. But as time went on and they tried to catch up,
their economy was too hard to control. Their products were poor quality and
their quantity was created on a need basis. There was no efficiency. The people
of Russia would have to wait years for cars, apartments and waited hours in
lines for simple things like food and other basic necessities. The soviets began
to argue with the government. In 1991, Russia had gone through the worst of
it’s inflation and industrial problems. Eventually Russia became the Russian
Federation and there was an end to Communism. Urbanization is another reason
that political systems change and develop. People run out of recourses on their
rural lands and are forced to flee to the bigger cities. People go to the bigger
cities hoping to find a better life for their families and themselves. As more
people go these cities, it creates more jobs. Industry grows and the social
economy also grows. Political systems begin to create governments that work on
foreign policy and trade which creates more money. Eventually the political
systems shape their governments to look like those of the other bigger wealthier
countries in the world. Another factor that changed many countries political
systems is that of a revolutionary change. Two countries that were strongly
influenced by the revolutionary change were Russian and Germany. After World War
I, Russians believed the revolution lead to the collapse or imperialism and
capitalism. Russia was doing well before the war. Industry was still grown and
the people seemed to be happy. That did not last long though, the war changed
everything. When the Russian military went to war against Germany, the tsarist
government fell. As the tsarist government fell apart so did the Russian
economy. The government found themselves stuck in a situation that they did not
know what to do. In 1917 democratic moderates over the power of the tsar. This
group hoped to make the country more modern and democratic. But in a strange
turn of events, the leader of the moderate democratics, betrayed his western
allies and made a peace agreement with Germany. Eventually a Russian revolution
created a party with the help of Germany lead to the fall of imperialism and
capitalism. Soon after Russia became a communist country. Revolutionary change
is apparent when looking at China’s development as a government. China and
Russia’s political change are similar in many ways. One of the biggest
revolutionary movements in China was Maoism. Maoism was created by a person
named Mao Zedong. Mao believed in strengthening and rebuilding China and by
doing so, he and his followers believed in guerrilla warfare and in turn created
a so-called revolution. Maoism believed that it was important to listen to the
peasants and tried to propaganda to join his army. He believed heavily in
guerrilla warfare to take over the government. Mao’s acts were unsuccessful
and in 1949 Communism became China’s government. Great Britain is a country
was evolutionary change and development not only influenced it’s own
development, but also many other countries in the world. Great Britain
government is considered the mother government. It is the oldest government in
existence. Their evolution as a government was watched and studied by many
countries. Many parts of democratic governments such as the legislative and
executive branch can be seen as early as 1066 for Great Britain. Great Britain
legislative branch was called the Great Council and the executive branch was
called the king council. The Parliament was created early in their government
and is very similar to many countries man governmental body. Great Britain
created in 1689 Bill of Rights which gave people their individual rights and
liberties, such as freedom of speech. Within the last few years, Great Britain
has seen some decline because if the Grand Old Party. There has been no major
change in years in their government and some researchers believe it is effected
their economy and other problems the country is having. The legislative branch
was called the Great Council and the executive branch was called the Kings
Council. The Parliament was created which is Great Britain’s main government
body. The Parliament can be compared to other main bodies such as the House of
Representatives in the United States or the Majilis on Iran. In 1689, Great
Britain created the Bill of Rights. The Bill of Rights created human rights for
everyone. Many countries around the world have tried to create similar rights
for their people. Although Great Britain economy has a slight decline within the
last few years, it has proven to be one of the most stable governments in the
world. The political attitudes vary from country to country as well as they
always change. As countries evolve, the attitude of the people change according
to what is happening. In countries that are in a strong economic standing, the
peoples’ attitudes probably will lead more toward a nationalist feeling. For
example, the people of Germany are upset because ever since that wall separating
East and West Germany had to come down, there has been lower unemployment and
fewer jobs. At first everyone was so happy to see the wall come down and now
some wish that it never had. It is proven that the more happy the people are
with their government, the more they will participate. When more people get
involved, this leads to political change. Sometimes a countries political system
changes when the people are not happy with the government. People get outraged
with corruption, unemployment, welfare, education, and human rights. When the
people are outraged, they have been known to revolt against the government. Also
the people support a leader that will change the system from the way that it is
being ran. An example is in Mexico decades ago. A leader stepped up that said he
would represent the workers and the farmers. The people immediatly fought to get
this man in power, and he eventually he was elected in to power and created the
PRI, which is a political party that remained in power for decades. When looking
at the evolution of countries and the change in their political system, it seems
as if many countries have changed their form of government to a democratic
government. Many countries have adapted to the Western Countries’ forms of
government. Within the past couple of decades, more and more countries are
slowly moving into a democratic form of government. Democracy has not fully
proven to be the answer to all country problems but has been a step closer to
helping some situations. There are many theories that try prove the democratic
countries are less likely to have a war and more likely to be similar and in the
long run better the world economy. China is the longest standing communist
country and has no desire to try to reform to democracy. Political scientist do
not believe that this is a good decision for China. In China,the people have no
rights, and most of the country is poor. Also you are only allowed to practice
the religion the government tells you can. Right now in China thousands of
people are thrown in jail and killed for trying believe in the religion of their
choice. Many researchers agree that democracy is one of the most influential
forms of government. As time change, so will the countries of the world. It is
very hard for comparative scientist to make exact predictions on what will be
the future for political systems. Looking back on history we can expect many,
many more changes.
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