Post on 13-Jan-2016
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Civics Studies 11MUNDY 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 CaesarRome
Benito MussoliniItaly - Fascist
Idi AminUganda – Nationalist
Joseph StalinRussia – Communist
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” through elections in which the government is chosen by the majority of people.
First instance of democracy was in Ancient India in 11th 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 5th 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 PnyxAthens, 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, “will preach doctrines he knows to be untrue to men he knows to be idiots.”
Yes, demagoguesexist 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