How Government Forms Help to Comprehend Countries
Why should you care about government systems?
When we read the news, we learn how countries “socialize” with their friends and even enemies to maintain prominence on the world stage. Similar to how we have a checklist when meeting new people, countries have their own criteria, except on the basis of their foreign policy.There are many different types of government systems with different fundamental ideologies; however, some of the most important ones are Democracy, Communism and Socialism.
Democracy
A democracy is a type of government system which allows people to choose the leadership of their countries and rules by voting. The goal of democracy is to prevent abuses of power, government through fair presentation, and promote inclusive political government. The result is a system that requires discourse, debate, and compromise to satisfy the broadest possible number of public interests, leading to majority rule.
Advantages:
In a democracy, everyone is treated equally regardless of gender, race, or religion. It also allows multi-legal parties, which can prevent a domination of a single party without challenge. It is the best in representing the voice of the society in an interval of time. Democracies put law into place to protect the rights of citizens which everyone is treated equally
Disadvantages:
Democracies are ineffective unless voters educate themselves on governing decisions. Since the structure of a democracy is dependent on the voice of citizens, it is vital that they are informed voters in order to cast the “right” vote which ultimately determines the future of their countries. Democracy is one of the least cost-efficient government systems. For example, the cost and time to conduct an election that happenes every four years is measured in billions. Similarly, Democracies take more time to implement changes because, as mentioned above, voting requires time to review the information, and thus, slows down the process to a point where it can take several years to create significant change.
After a long period of authoritarian rule in Latin America in the 20th century, Mexico over the past two decades has been described as a “flawed democracy.” The country continues to suffer from poor governance in critical domains of public policy, high impunity and corruption rates, weak rule of law and protection of civil liberties and human rights. These have resulted in intense and socially-debilitating criminal violence, as well as ineffective and often heavy-handed state response.
Communism:
Communism is another common type of governmental system,led by a single party and often authoritarian in its rule. Inspired by German philosopher Karl Marx, communist states replace private property and a profit-based economy with public ownership and communal control of economic production. The goal of communism is to create a stateless, classless society and to end capitalism. Today, some existing communist states are China, Cuba, Laos and Vietnam. However, they are slowly evolving towards the establishment of socialism.
Advantage:
Communism has a centrally planned economy, meaning that it can quickly mobilize its resources on a large scale in comparison to democracy. It can move so effectively because communism overrides an individual's self-interest for the benefit of greater good.
Communism ensures that everyone receives an equal share in the society. Communism is designed to allow the poors to rise up and attain equal status or financial security as the middle class. It is believed that for everyone to achieve equality, wealth must be equally distributed.
Disadvantage:
The most significant disadvantage of communism is the elimination of the free market. Because the government rules the private property and the law of supply and demand, it would not immediately know the needs of the consumers, resulting in the surplus of one thing and shortage of another.
Freedom of speech is often also limited in a typical communist government. Not only is the idea of freedom of speech not compatible with the ideology of communism, but also censorship can prevent the powerful from losing its power. This explains the restriction of journalistic thoughts or even facial expressions.
Socialism:
Socialism is about public ownership of the means of productions. For example, tools and factories are used to produce goods to satisfy human needs. Similar to communism, socialism also wants to create a more equal society and reduce classes of privilege.
Advantage:
Exploitation would be less likely because everyone has a say on how resources should be managed, and every person receives and contributes based on an individual's potential.
Socialism can also reduce the state’s poverty by providing access to basic services whatever the individual’s contribution
Disadvantage:
Since socialism promotes communal being over personal interest, it may reach a point where additional effort on your part does not result in any gain for yourself. Without the motive fofor profit, workers lack the incentive to work hard and be innovative which ultimately leads to low productivity and decreases the rate of economic development.
Unlike capitalistic economies in which individuals are free to choose their own occupation, workers are assigned jobs by the planning authority in a socialistic economy. The workers cannot change their jobs without the consent of the planning authority. An example of a capitalist country is North Korea, where people are assigned jobs from the government and stick with it for the rest of their lives.
The key takeaway of the article is not only to understand the difference between the government systems, but also to learn that different nationalities have different personalities and their own unique traits due to their governing systems.