Pranika Arisht
“Evaluate democracy, monarchy, theocracy, anarchy, dictatorship as system of government using examples you have studied”
There are various systems of government used throughout the world: Democracy, Monarchy, Dictatorship, Theocracy and Anarchy. They all have their different ways and styles on running a group all the way to running a state or nation. All systems involve responsibility, trust, leadership qualities and some must have a lot of teamwork involved. John Kenneth Galbraith said “There are times in politics when you must be on the right side and lose,” this happens when your leader may not be right, the leader may lack certain qualities that uplift the group and that is what makes that one difference from the right party and the wrong party. This also depends on the circumstances which you are in and what sort of style of leadership and system of government the party is putting out there.
“Democracy arose from men’s thinking that if they are equal in any respect, they are equal absolutely” this quote was mentioned by Aristotle and then it all started… In 510 BC a man named Cleisthenes, who was an aristocrat in Athens invented a new type of government system called „Democracy‟. The term Democracy is originated from the Greek words ‘demos’ (people) and ‘kratos’ (rule). Democracy means a government of the people, for the people and chosen by the people. Consequently Democracy is a type of government system that is run on mainly two essential values, freedom and equality. Firstly, the citizens have freedom in such a way that no other person is harmed. Secondly, equality is where all citizens of the nation will be protected equally and will not be discriminated on the basis of, place of birth, race, religion or wealth. A Democratic government may take more time to make a decision compared to other forms of government but there is less possibility of resistance from the people because the citizens have more input in the decision. The style of leadership used in this is „Participative‟ or „Democratic‟ as these types of leaders offer guidance to citizens but also the leader participates, there are set rules and laws that all have to abide by. An outstanding example of a democratic country is New Zealand. New Zealand does not only have a democratic system but it also has constitutional monarchy, constitutional monarchy in which the power of the monarch (king or queen) is restrained by a parliament, by a law, or by a custom. The leaders (government) are wisely voted by the people of the nation, only if you are eligible to vote
Pranika Arisht and pass all the terms and conditions .Characteristics of New Zealand as a Democratic country are, the nation chooses and replaces government through free and fair elections, a range of political parties exist to reflect different views (National, Labour, Green, New Zealand First, Maori Party, Act, Mana and United Future), active participation in politics and civic life (surveys, posters, information evenings, news, email) and private organisations are free of government control for example newspapers such as „The New Zealand Herald‟ and „Howick Times‟. In today‟s date the Beehive (parliament) is where all the 120 MP‟s meet and make decisions. Jerry Mateparae was appointed Governor-general by the monarch and John Key is currently the nation‟s Prime Minister. Democracy is a system of government which is well thought out and used in many countries around the globe.
There are two types of monarchy; one of them is „Absolute Monarchy‟ that was used in Russia, Saudi Arabia, Brunei and Switzerland and „Constitutional Monarchy‟ which includes all of the Commonwealth countries. The term Monarchy is devised from Greek language and translates to, ‘Monos’ meaning one/singular and ‘archon’ meaning leader, ruler or chef. Constitutional Monarchy is when the power lies with the government not with the monarch. Under most modern constitutional monarchies there is also a Prime Minister who is the head of government and exercises effective political power. Absolute Monarchy is a form of government where the monarch has total power to rule his or her land and its citizens freely this is the „divine right‟. An Absolute Monarchy has no constitution or body of law. In this government system the monarch is usually supported by the church and the monarchs are chosen by bloodlines and descendants. The style of leadership used is termed „Autocratic‟ where the leaders make the decisions independently with little or no input from the rest of the group. An example of a country that had absolute monarchy was Russia‟s last Emperor and Empress (Czar Nicholas 11 and Czarina Alexandra). The Czar believed a lot in absolute power and had little leadership qualities. He relied on his wife and Rasputin for all his advice and was greatly influenced by Rasputin (monk). Some ways they used their ultimate power was to operate a secret police force to arrest opponents of the government, they exiled political prisoners to Siberia, the husband and wife together dismissed ministers who disagreed with them and they poisoned Rasputin, shot him and then dumped him in a river.
Pranika Arisht The term Dictatorship has a Greek origin to it that translates to, ‘Tyrant’ meaning autocrat or dictator. Dictatorship is an individual leader or ruling group that has absolute power or total control this is an „Autocratic‟ style of leadership. This type of leadership is also a Totalitarian Regime as everyone has to obey one leader or ruling group. A dictator is usually approved by a small section of the population, the leader appointed is almost never hereditary and in the end when a dictator dies or is replaced the group goes through a power struggle. The power with the leader is usually achieved by force or with political tricks and then the power is kept by armed forces and police. There is always little or no freedom of speech and press furthermore elections were banned. Adolf Hitler started a party called „The Nazis,‟ and they killed millions of people (mostly Jews) under the command of Adolf Hitler. Some of the laws the group followed were work for all, food for all, no borders, one army, one European nation and one monetary system for Europe. The group Karl Marx came up with an idea of „Communism,‟ he felt that most people worked very hard for little reward in order to make a few wealthy people even wealthier. Then Karl Marx thought everyone could work but the wealth and profits could be shared equally amongst all workers. Karl then believed and spoke, “There will be justice and equality for all”.
Theocracy is a type of government in which a religious leader has supreme power or authority. „Theo-kratia,‟ means „The rule of the Gods.‟ This is where a particular divine documentation or piece of writing that belongs with each culture and is followed as a guide, an example of this is how the Muslims use the „Quran‟ also the Buddhist‟s follow a few books and one of them is called, „The Four Nobel Truths.‟ This is an „Autocratic‟ and „Participative,‟ style of leadership signifying they have one individual leader or a ruling group that makes decisions independently with a little or no input from the group. The leader has ultimate authority to control religious matters as well as outside difficulties. From the perspective of the theocratic government, “God himself is recognised as the head of the state”. In a society so devoted to religion a theocracy could flourish. In a theocracy system taking the example of Tibetan there was a State Oracle appointed to interpret events, prophesy the future and give guidance in all decision making. They believed that the highest court was the religious court, the Tibetan laws often had a religious basis for instance, fishing was prohibited and the use of wheels was forbidden for daily use as they were thought that it releases evil spirits
Pranika Arisht from under the earth. They also assumed that astrology was the biggest part when they were making decisions, events would be timed to coincide with the positions of stars and planets. When the State Oracle was nominated it was believed that his answers came directly from God and then answers were written down by a secretary.
Anarchy is when a group of citizens want no government control or laws placed over them and have the power to do anything. The style of Leadership used in this system is called „Free Reign,‟ where the group has no government and is given freedom to abide by their own law or moral code. Another word for Free Reign is „Laissez-faire,‟ meaning liberation and freedom but the humans are mostly classified as good. The term ‘Anakhia,’ is translates to ‘An’ (no) and ‘arkhia’ (ruler or leader). An example of an anarchist group is called “The People‟s Will,” created by Sophia Perovskaya in Russia but their attempt to remove Czarist from Russia failed, instead Alexander III placed a rule on all liberal views with police and pogroms. Anarchy is now rarely used around the world.
There are many different system of government in the world and countries are diverse to each other having different point of views, but the main goal is that a good leader and teamwork is present for a successful, safe and prosperous nation. Monarchy, Dictatorship, Theocracy and Anarchy are still there but is less commonly used compared to Democracy. This elucidates the systems of government used around earth and shows examples of them portraying what each system is about and how it is run.
Pranika Arisht
Bibliography: Websites: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6.
http://quotationsbook.com/quote/15648/ http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20080228073731AApDYZ3 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constitutional_monarchy http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicholas_II_of_Russia http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/communism http://www.allgreatquotes.com/political_quotes.shtml
Books: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5.
CBSE, a complete book of Social Science , written by K.S.Randhawa CBSE, textbook of Social Science, written by R.S.Randhawa The Trail, History and Civics, For ICSE, written y Jayanti Sengupta The Trail, Civics, Revised Edition, written y Jayanti Senguta Getting it Together, Exploring organisations and Processes, written by Gordon Campbell
Interviews: 1. SandeepSingh (Dad) – Interview sheet attached.
