Democracies, Dictatorships & Oligarchies

Democracies,Dictatorships & Oligarchies Civics Studies 11 MUNDY 2007

Dictatorships – RULE BY ONE • 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

Dictatorships – RULE BY ONE • 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

Dictatorships – RULE BY ONE • Dictators have appeared throughout history in a variety of countries across the political spectrum (left to right): Benito Mussolini Italy - Fascist Julius Caesar Rome Joseph Stalin Russia – Communist Idi Amin Uganda – Nationalist

Dictatorships – RULE BY ONE • 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

Oligarchies – RULE BY ELITE FEW • 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

Oligarchies – RULE BY ELITE FEW • 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 – RULE BY ELITE FEW • 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

Oligarchies – RULE BY ELITE FEW • 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

Democracies – RULE BY PEOPLE • “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.

Democracies – RULE BY 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

Democracies – RULE BY PEOPLE • 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

Democracies – RULE BY PEOPLE • 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”

Democracies – RULE BY PEOPLE • 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

Democracies – RULE BY PEOPLE 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

Democracies – RULE BY PEOPLE • 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, demagogues exist even today!

Democracies – RULE BY PEOPLE • 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.

Democracies – RULE BY PEOPLE • Any country using a democratic form of government can be seen as either: • FULL DEMOCRACY • PARTIAL DEMOCRACY • EMERGING DEMOCRACY

Democracies – RULE BY PEOPLE • 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

Democracies – RULE BY PEOPLE • Tony Benn video on Democracy

Democracies – RULE BY PEOPLE • 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

Democracies – RULE BY PEOPLE • 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

Democracies, Dictatorships & Oligarchies