Democracy in West Germany and Mexico - Essay Example

Task Democracy In (West) Germany and Mexico Introduction Democracy is an attribute linked to the capability that allows individuals to self govern and make a majority of the decision based on free will. A democratic society is one that is free of restricting choices by the government or any institution that may limit idea generation. In most cases, a democratic nation is one that is defined by the ability of the people to express their decisions and rule their nation. It is a country that is governed by the people and power is delegated from the authority figure to the grass root level. In another definition, democracy can be used to define the power of the people to elect the government representative that is capable of enacting just judgment without prejudice and hate freely. A democratic society allows individuals to experience the freedom without limitations on the choices they make in achieving progress. The people are the makers of a nation, and their policies need to be met without causing discomfort to attribute a free society. Dictatorship, corruption and poor power delegation have been some measures that have led to the unjust policies that limit democracy. Once democracy is achieved, individuals are capable of having their demands met by the government selected and express their desire openly through the personality that they have elected or through the free media. Monarchy and a dictatorship-filled government have been expressed as the systems that limit public participation in policymaking. Germany had defined the society that lacks democracy under their tyrannical leader Hitler. Hitler had implemented efforts to conquer the world and ruled his nation with policies that he had formulated to benefit his selfish desires. On the other hand, Mexico has been struggling to achieve development even after achieving independence from the Spanish to define a poverty level that warrants intervention. This paper compares the democracy achievement of (west) Germany as compared to the modern day Mexico. Comparison of Democracy in (West) Germany and in Mexico Second World War, 1939-1945 had been blamed on the efforts by Hitler to expand his boundaries and gain domination of the world. Hitler had been defeated to lead to the rise of a new Germany attributed to the republic of Bonn (Prowe 1985, p451). This period had been marked with a period of crisis, which was mostly marked with increased political and social chaos. The nation had been used to the rule of the dictator who gave limited room for expression and discriminated against the Jews who were in war against the Nazi. The compositions that had defined Germany had been destroyed, and there was a lack of a central state with the destruction of the agricultural elite. The western region had been barricaded. After achieving, the title of the modern state in 1871, which defined its policies marked with aggression leading to its collapse when they had lost in World War 1. The country found division into western and Eastern Germany. Out of the two nations, West Germany managed to attain a form of democracy that rejuvenated the nation into developing into an excellent nation, once plunged in chaos (Katzenstein 1989, p329). Mexico, on the other hand has made several attempts at achieving democracy with each one failing due to poor implementation of policies. From 1929-2000, Mexico had seen minimal contributions towards policy change with the rule witnessed in a single political party, known as Institutional evolutionary Party (PRI). Their policy had been centered towards the generation of a social justice system that had failed dramatically. PRI had witnessed the success in Mexico beating its rivals each time a change was required. Its main opposition party National Action Party (PAN), founded in 1939 to fight against forms of injustice and political oppression. (West) Germany managed to develop a system that promoted free trade economy that blended appropriately with the collapsed economy. A new social market sprung from the freedom achieved that linked capitalism to socialism. This had led to a system that created the free trade of bodies without external interference. The government acted independently to the enacted policy to allow free trade and involvement in the market. Contrary, in Mexico, the constitution formed in 1917 had dictated for the formation of a democratic state whose development failed to be witnessed until later on in the century. The PRI had been dictatorial basing its rule on its personal policies delivering a system full of democratic disguise. The party had manipulated the system and ensured unjust delegation had been delivered to limit competition threat from the rival parties. Division of the powers and responsibility had been established on the Western Germany side by 1949 that promoted a federal government system. The new measure ensured that the division of power was removed from a centralized system to distribute it evenly across 16 states. Within this constitution, five states belonged to the previous East Germany to limit the earlier witnessed constraint of a centralized governing system. In the system, the president was accorded ceremonial responsibilities on the merit of legislative check on the powers. An example was seen in conducting election based on a rule from the legislation after a vote of minimal confidence had been passed. An added development had been witnessed on the obligation of the upper legislative branch to possess more power to adopt legislation. The economy in West Germany saw aid from allies whose sole ambition was to create a free society governed by basic rules. The Americans, French and British, had witnessed democracy on their soil and the efforts by the Soviet Union to limit their actions of limiting the harsh rule imposed on the Eastern side led to the development of the new nation. An effort to deliver democracy in Mexico in 2001 saw a development that challenged the party’s domination with the development of a civic-based organization to fight against the economic oppression. INMUJERES is an example of a women activist organization that sprung to promote gender equality (La Botz 1995, p153). In 2002, a federal system that promoted transfer of transparent information had been formed. The body was tasked to promote freedom in the expression of interests with enactment to limit oppression that had characterized the previous regime. The creation of these movements led to the development of a society driven by civil rights to struggle against the injustice that had been presented by the political and economic constraints by the prevailing government. The allies of West Germany ensured to develop a system that eliminated the previous harsh regime of the Nazi commonly termed, denazification led to the prevalence of democracy. Through organizations like American Federation of Labor, (AFL), significant progress was made in the chairman of the democratic front CDU, winning the first election in 1949 to form the first government that met the federal standards. This leadership to promote democracy had been witnessed in his attempts and progress to establish a democratic system that sustained the economy to lead to recovery. He further achieved a witnessed balance between the social-market strategies and free- markets. A quasi-welfare nation had been established identified to provide a less income and service provision. A leadership attempt at delivering democracy in Mexico was witnessed after the result of the movement led to the creation of a multiparty system following the revelation of a scandal that followed the controversial election of Carlos Salinas in 1988. The PRD party split from the ruling party PRI leading to PAN expanding its constituency. President Ernesto campaigned for the Federal Electoral Law in 1996 creating independence to the IFE, issuing public funding to political parties to maintain, at a level, a system that had been marred with corruption (Green 1996, p226). Germans had lived at grave levels that threatened their demise to generate worse conditions that promoted starvation aided by their allies, to eliminate the threat that they had posed on the democratic society. West Germany’s achievement of a rapid economic growth by 1950s was attributed to the sanctions imposed on them being lifted, to pave the way for international involvement in the trade and investment opportunities presented. The growth was steady around the 1950s but fell three decades later when the oil prizes had been accelerated. There was a larger number of individuals migrating into West Germany from the Eastern side whose economy had been threatened, with the involvement of the Russians to eliminate their threat. 1951 saw Germany together with other democratic nations join the European Coal and Steel agreement that presented the European Open markets (Nicoll & Salmon 1997, p47). In 1955, the nation joined NATO to be included as its 15nth member. This economic plan to develop Germany supported by the Marshall strategy together with the international support to reinvent industrialization led to its uprising as an industrialized power, with a ranking of third position in GDP. In Mexico, a historical event was witnessed in the failure by PRI to obtain a larger number in the Chamber of Deputies in the legislative elections conducted in 1997 to generate hope among the citizens. Vicente Fox, the PAN leader, won the elections following these events in 2000 providing a much needed hope for the economically weakened nation. This win had been linked to the development of a system that prompted a deliverance from a system full of marginalization to a free society that promised a change in the policies. However, the democratic change still witnessed a barrier in the IFE formed under the PRI to regulate the local elections that provided direct support to the citizens. The PRI influenced had been too strong for the new regime, and they still required support from the corrupt system to prosper (Eisenstadt 2004, p51). This forced corruption among officials in the PAN and PRD to gain favor in the popular and corrupt party, therefore, limiting the efforts to the initially resented regime. Conclusion Democracy in Western Germany had been influenced by the presence of external support to gain favor and establish a free market to promote fairness. Mexico, on the other hand, had a rule subjected by a single party that had formulated dictatorship traits to blind its citizens on the implementation of democracy. The system in Germany had a strong influence and its location favored investment and involvement of external nations with the capability to sustain its development. Mexico witnessed little international involvement and lacked a strong system to counter the regime presented in the PRI party. The long wait for deliverance from the oppression from the PRI was thwacked by corruption witnessed in the new parties. List of References Eisenstadt, T., (2004), Courting Democracy in Mexico: Party Strategies and Electoral Institutions, New York: Cambridge University Press, Print. Green, C. J., (1996), Financing the 1996 election, New York: M.E. Sharpe, Print. Katzenstein, P., (1989), Industry and politics in West Germany: toward the Third Republic, New York: Cornell University Press, Print. La Botz, D., (1995), Democracy in Mexico: peasant rebellion and political reform, New York: South End Press, Print. Nicoll, W., and Salmon, T., (1997), Building European Union: a documentary history and analysis, Manchester: Manchester University Press, Print. Prowe, D., (1985), Economic Democracy in Post-World War II Germany: Corporatist Crisis Response, 1945-1948, The Journal of Modern History, Vol. 57(3): pp. 451-482. Read More