Blog Discussion Group Three
Blog post due at 11:55pm on Feb. 6 and comment due at 11:55pm on Feb. 9.
Nondemocratic Rule
1. What are some of the essential differences between democracies and authoritarian regimes?
2. What are authoritarian leaders mainly concerned in their political rule?
Political Culture
3. Do you agree with Huntington that today’s world is increasingly characterized by a “clash of civilizations”?
4. How does political culture differ from political ideology?
Nondemocratic Rule
1. What are some of the essential differences between democracies and authoritarian regimes?
2. What are authoritarian leaders mainly concerned in their political rule?
Political Culture
3. Do you agree with Huntington that today’s world is increasingly characterized by a “clash of civilizations”?
4. How does political culture differ from political ideology?
Authoritarian rule is explained as "the rulers seek to maintain their control by limiting mass participation" (Hague and Harop 59). In other words, the ruler or rulers are more concerned about their power than the concern for or by their people. To maintain this control, leaders use three key things: military, patronage, and the media. This control is opposite to that of democratic rule. Some of the essential differences between democracies and authoritarian regimes are: power of government, civil liberties and rights, elections, rule of law, and maintaining order. These things are all important aspects of government and the way they are carried out determines what kind of government a country is under.
ReplyDeletePower of government in a democracy is limited by the constitution and power is exercised by elected officials. Authoritarian power of government is focused on total concentration of power by ruling individuals. In a democracy, civil liberties and civil rights are guaranteed by a constitution and individualism/social contract theory ensure individual rights. Whereas in an authoritarian regime, rights are not guaranteed, and collective interests take precedence over individual rights. When it comes to elections, democracies offer a choice of candidates with differing ideas and it calls for free elections. In authoritarian rule, elections do not differ by choice and there is a single party system. As for the rule of law, in a democracy, the government and people are under the law and it is based on formal constitutions. In authoritarian rule, the government relies on ideology, religion, or personal charisma as a source of moral authority. Also, the ruling parties are the final political, legal, and moral authority. Lastly, democracies allow orderly demonstrations and protests. Force is only used to restrain the disorderly. Authoritarianism uses force or threat frequently to keep peace.
In Authoritarian Regimes the Government seeks total control of political power. this power is held by an individual or small group of (Junta group of generals). There are also no expectations liberties or rights. Authoritarian regimes do not offer choice in elections and there is usually a single party system within them. if there is an election it would be more symbolic for those in power.
ReplyDeleteIn a Democratic regime the government is limited by a constitution. within these systems power is used by elected officials. Elections in a Democratic country offer a choice of canidate that have different ideals and come from different political parties with in a Democratic country citizens have a social contract for ensuring individual rights. Both the Government and people are under a rule of law and abide by a constitution that protects ones rights.
In an authoritarian regime the Government relies on Ideology, religion or personal carisma and their word is final in terms of political, legal and moral authority and protesting is not allowed.
however in a democratic country overly demonstration and protests are legal and protected by law and force is only used to maintain order.
Some essential differences between democracy and authoritarian regimes are that when dealing with democracy the people get a say in who has power and who doesn't and as for authoritarian it is a dictatorship. There are three forms of democracy which are direct, indirect and liberal. When dealing with direct "The citizens themselves debate and reach decisions on matters of common interest"(Hague & Harrop 43) . When dealing with indirect the citizens elect a chief executive and they are held at the next election. Lastly Liberal democracy is a form of indirect democracy but is limited by the constitution of the individual rights. As for authoritarian the person who is in power wants to stay in power so they rule it under a dictatorship, where the ruler isn't concerned about what say their people have.
ReplyDeleteI agree with all your point and think that you have illistrated the differences very well. the only thing that I would add is that in a democracy one can protest and in authoritarian regimes one is not allowed to protest and violence is used.
DeleteThere are many differences between a democracy and an authoritarian regime. The key difference between the two is that in a democracy the people have the power and right to select their leader. Authoritarian governments do not operate like this, a leader takes the power or a symbolic election is held where the leader is already predetermined. In a democracy an elected official is chosen by the people to represent their interests. An authoritarian government represents their own interests and very rarely does anything to help the citizens, opting instead to further their own agenda. Democracies allow the people the right to question the government through protests and rallies, but an authoritarian does not stand for this. They crush any sign of resistance to government policy. The view of the leaders are forced upon the people and they do not have the right to question it. Democracies allow for freedom of speech and press, the media is allowed to print whatever they wish. In an authoritarian government these rights do not exist. The media is monitored by the government and prints whatever they wish. The key to all of this is that the citizens have power and freedom in a democracy, but the opposite is true of an authoritarian regime.
ReplyDeleteI like your comparison of the two types of government. It's clear and informative. I mostly like your last point of how democracy grants the people the power and freedom and authoritarian regimes are the opposite. This almost creates a black and white mentality between the two types of government which makes the comparison of the two more distinct and sharp.
DeletePolitical Ideology is a certain set of ethic beliefs, ideas, principals that explains how society should work and offer a political and cultural blueprint of how society should work. Political culture is political ideology put to work, or in other words it is a set of attitudes, beliefs and sentiment which give order and meaning to a political process, providing the rules the government and political system should run under.
ReplyDeleteCulture is the way to live, or to run a country. Every place have their own culture, how they react to certain things and how the treat specific issues. Ideology is the thoughts and ideas that lead to the culture, ideology is what a perfect situation would be, what we want to see done.
Although they work side by side i feel the easiest way to explain ideology and culture is ideology is what we want to see done, culture is what is done. The promises versus the actions.
Political ideology is more people's views on how they think the government should work, human nature, and the role of people. Political culture is their attitudes, beliefs, etc about the existing system. Yes, the two do overlap a bit when people's attitudes and beliefs persuade the way they view how government should work. Like you said, political ideology is what we want to see done; but, culture is not always what is done, it is more of people's attitudes and perceptions about what is actually being done. In other words, I may dislike that the government taxes me 15% of my paycheck. Although it is being done, my attitude about it is that I dislike it. So, political ideology is more about what I want to happen in government and political culture is my attitude/perception about what is actually happening in government.
DeletePolitical ideology we originally defined as a belief system or set of ideas which typically express views on human nature, the role of governmnet, and the role of people within society/state/goverment (Hague and Harrop 17). Whereas political culture on the other hand can be understood as people's collective attitudes, emotions, feelings towards an existing political system (Hague and Harrop 93). The two certainly overlap but are distinct in that ideology describes a set of ideas people subscribe themselves to. Culture is far more loose and less constricting. It captures people's perceptions and attitudes which manifest (as other forms of culture manifest) through art, literature, tv shows, movies, clothes, monuments etc. Within a single country many political cultures can exist just as big countries hold several ethnicities, religions, and other major identities. I was struck by the distinctions and types of political cultures. For example, I never considered civic culture to be characterized by a sizeable minority NOT participating in public/political life. But that was definitely an interesting analysis Almond and Verba provided (Hague and Harrop95).
ReplyDeleteAs to Samuel Huntington's article "Clash of Civilizations", I remember when I first read that I actually agreed with a good chunk of what he had to say. But our textbook does a thorough job of refuting his piece. The alternative studies that emerged in response and sort of against Huntington's piece offer more insightful subtle differences between countries dominated by Western values versus countries dominated by Islamic (cultural) values (Hague and Harrop 105). As inter-religious/sectarian violence between muslims, and the Arab Spring have both demonstrated, the muslim world is "a mosaic not a monolith" (Hague and Harrop 104). People have as diverse thoughts and attitudes, opinions, aspirations, world views in the muslim world, as much as we attribute that sort of diversity to the Western world. Although I still think there's something compelling about Huntington's article. If the Western world keeps viewing the Middle-East/Arab/Muslim world as this one unanimous threat, keeps generalizing and forming foreign policies which perpetuate these views and antagonize Muslims IN the west, then I think people within Muslim countries will have no choice but to react as Huntington predicted, as one unified power against rich Western countries that refuse to embrace us as humans or accept us as legitimate equals.
I think your final thought was very interesting about what the inevitable reaction from Middle East/Arab/Muslim countries towards western countries. Being seen as a threat just because of where you are from or the culture you have/follow will cause a reaction and change the image of how western countries are viewed all around.
DeleteThey are quite a few differences in authoritarian regimes and democracies. The main difference between the authoritarian regimes and democracies is the way in which officials are elected. The authoritarian regimes have predetermined officials who are chosen which is opposite of how democracies work. Democracies have an election to determine the elected official. In democracies, the people have a voice in elections with their right to vote which does not happen in authoritarian regimes. The voice of the people does not carry the same power in authoritarian regimes since the officials are predetermined. It is more of a "take what you get" circumstance in that case. Many people in democracies have a voice they can use to be heard by exercising peaceful protests, rallies, etc. However, in authoritarian regimes, this is unheard of because they will not tolerate the potential uprising of its people so they will not allow any sort of protest or public gathering. It is safe to say that the people are the powerful pieces in a democracy whereas the predetermined officials have all the say-so in authoritarian regimes.
ReplyDeleteI like your explanation of both authoritarian regimes and democratic, however it is hard not to compare some of your points to today's reality. I think you are right on with the authoritarian definition as it is pretty simple, one person in control, all the power is with one voice. I understand that democracy is where people get a voice, they get to vote, they get to have an opinion but the power given to politics almost veto the voices. To be able to protest and show how you feel is great, but in todays world I feel most voices goes unheard as one single negative action during a protest or a rally will take over the event, we choose to highlight and take the negative more to heart, which is pushing away people from these actions and slowly taking away our voice. I feel at least for the US the power of the people is slowly vanishing, however it is not going just to one person, it is going to the media.
DeleteI agree with everything that you have said. I think you explained the differences between democracies and authoritarian regimes well. Specifically the rights that you discussed that people who live in a democracy enjoy that the citizens of an authoritarian government do not. While at times the media try to take protests and turn them into their own political propaganda, it is still more freedom than the citizens of these authoritarian governments.
DeleteI like your explanation of democracies and authoritarian governments. I especially like the part where you mentioned the inability to protest in an authoritarian government. Being United States citizens, I cannot fathom what it is like to not be able to voice my opinion and malcontent with my government. I believe it is important to understand the power of a voice and what it means and work to further enhance that ability. It is a human right to be able to express oneself and many of us take that for granted when there are people in the world that do not have that right. It is essential to know the differences between these governments in order to progress our relationship with foreign governments and push for better human rights worldwide.
DeleteThere are many differences between authoritarian governments and democratic governments. It is most commonly understood that authoritarian governments exercise unlimited power, while democratic governments are run by the will of the people and feature regular elections. Authoritarian governments often use fear as a way to control their people and they do not allow for their people to have a voice in their politics or business markets. In democratic governments people vote for their elected officials and regularly voice their opinion on whether or not they are performing at an adequate standard. People in democratic governments also have a free market where anyone can create a business and no one business has a monopoly over another. Authoritarian governments differ in this because they control what is consumed and by who. Their citizens also are not allowed to vote like in democracies and political opposition is unheard of. Authoritarian governments are powerful regimes that have spent generations preserving the fear in their citizens in order to remain in power. It is important to remember that no government is perfect and no two are the same.
ReplyDeleteI agree with your thoughts on the differences between authoritarian governments and democratic governments. I really like how you added the idea about "unlimited power" in authoritarian regimes. I believe that is a key point in the differences and should definitely be mentioned.
DeleteIn authoritarian regimes the government receives all of the power and the power is controlled by a group of generals. In practice, you are not guaranteed rights as a citizen. Choice is not given in elections because the people do not have a voice in the political system. An authoritarian regime relies heavily on ideology, religion, and personal charisma as a source of moral authority. Threat and force are often used as "strategies" to keep peace. The core of an authoritarian regime is social stability. In a democracy the power is run by the people. Everyone is ensured their individual rights which is guaranteed by the constitution. Choice is allowed during elections and the government and people are under the rule of the law. People are given the right to express differences and protests are legal under the main guideline that harming others is not allowed.
ReplyDeleteThere are several differences between democracies and authoritarian regimes. Democracies must follow certain rules to be considered a true democratic government. The most important rule deals with the citizens and their involvement in the government and politics. Along with citizen involvement, democracies also respect the rights of the people: freedom of speech, press, and religion (http://www.ushistory.org/gov/13a.asp). Another important aspect of a democratic government is that they are ruled by law (http://www.ushistory.org/gov/13a.asp). The last imperative criteria is the use of elections, but not just any, this must be fair, available, and competitive (http://www.ushistory.org/gov/13a.asp). Authoritarian rule is very different from a democracy. Authoritarian governments are ruled completely by one leader or a small group of people. Citizens may be asked for views and opinions, but they hold no real weight in the decisions being made. The most essential difference between these two forms of governments is that an authoritarian regime does not allow freedom of speech, press, and religion; citizens are told what to do and expected to obey (http://www.ushistory.org/gov/13a.asp). There are several other differences between democracies and authoritarian regimes, but these are the most essential.
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