Democracy vs Communism - Essay Example

Democracy vs. communism: The world has seen different kinds of ruling means by which the cities and nations are being governed. An array of systems and rules can be investigated in this regard. Each of them has their own strengths and weaknesses. While some involve direct form of election and relatively done so through the direct consent of the citizens, others are done through selection process which may or may not involve the will and consent of the commoners. Monarchy, dictatorship, aristocracy are some of the systems common across the world, democracy and Communism are two of these systems. These two have been in place for a long time. The roots of communism can be stretched to 19th century while democracy is relatively older in concept and existence. The early traces of democracy can be roughly traced back to the Greeks ruling period in the B.C era. To some people and experts of democracy, it is the rule of nature which has been in place in unofficial manner since long, even longer than the time when the word democracy was being introduced and used for it. Each of the above mentioned systems has its own advocates, its own followers and own critiques. In present day democracy has spread far than communism and only a bunch of nations are enrolled in the following of communism. Democracy: On a rough count over 120 countries follow the rule of democracy. This is out of the total 190 plus approximate countries that are present on the surface of earth. This system finds its following in nearly every continent and every part of the world. Abraham Lincoln defines democracy as “form of government that is for the people, of the people, by the people “(Wamala,90). It can loosely be termed as set of system where the representatives seek the people’s support for election. The elected members then go to the main platform which is the parliament. These parliamentarians then elect a prime minister amongst themselves and that usually comes from the majority party that holds more number of seats in the representative lot (Tilly). However this mere definition does not define democracy. It has to do with many other aspects which nearly cover all the dimensions of the individual human life. It is this reason that this system finds its following across the world in such a large number. It provides full protection to the citizens, provides legal rights and protection, humanitarian rights, everyone in this system is equal and answerable to the law (Lansford). On international front, democracy is often attached to the imperial pursuits of number of nations that are democracy followers. For example the great powers like America and number of European countries that are following democracy can equally be termed as imperial states and have to some extent extended their rule, their hegemony in the lesser mighty nations in the name of democracy. The representatives are the servants of the nation and not the ruler. They are assigned the fixed tenure stay in the House of Representatives so that they may address the issues of the locals and bring about improvements in their constituencies. These representatives are elected for fixed duration which is mostly between four to five years. They go back to the public at the end of tenure and are answerable for their performances and achievements. The process of democracy has gained paced in the second half of twentieth century especially on the account of world war two, which number of dictatorial states were humbled, this was followed by the independence of number of colonies across the world, and finally in the last part of the century, when the soviet republic collapsed, nearly a dozen countries came out of the fold of socialism and started the journey of democracy. The Central Asian republics, Germany, Yugoslavia, Italy after second world war are few of the examples in this regard. Capitalist states follow democracy. The electoral process in democracy has to be completely transparent. For this purpose the administrative organizations have large responsibility in ensuring that the process is conducted in a fair and transparent manner and the rightful owner of the guard comes to forefront and serves his people in the most suitable manner. In a democratic system, other institutions are solely independent and have the power to perform by their own. The judiciary for example which is one of the most important pivot of the country’s structural unit, its free and legitimate existence makes democracy more genuine. The judiciary, executive, and legislature all exercise their powers in their defined domain and do not violate any rule, however if any of these goes beyond their power or is inefficient, the other two can come in action and take any action that it may consider appropriate according to the rule of law of the land. Other purposes of this system are the developmental processes. Large amount of funds are being allocated to the representatives to be invested in the local areas for the prosperity of the urban, increasing education, creating awareness about social issues, providing medical relief, other benefits, all are responsibilities of the government and its electives in the democratic system. Economic rights, political rights, civil rights, all are to be provided to the individuals in the democratic system. Communism: This form of system found came into existence through the geniuses of German philosopher and sociologist Karl Marx (Marx and Engels). Though it is being followed in small number compared to democracy yet, is one of the most complete systems around the world that makes appeal to the world and its leaders. It is mostly termed as left wing policy based system which is in contrast and mostly in negation to democratic system which is often coined with the imperialism that is spread across the world by the democracy practicing nations. In 1848 Karl Marx gave this concept a total new and accomplished look by introducing the “Communist Manifesto”. Since then socialist republic and a socialist revolution took place based on this principle and the country U.S.S.R rose up to the rank of super power who was eventually disintegrated by the capitalist power United States of America. This system is characterized by work distribution, classless society, no segregation and fulfillment of the basic needs by the government. The literal meaning of this word is derived from Latin which is synonymous to the “belonging of all”. The government is responsible for providing them with shelter, food, commodities, health and other basic needs of the individuals. The wealth concentration element is nearly screened out with uniform possession. The basic components of this system were morality and egalitarian distribution that was aimed at eliminating the exploitation that is so visible in other forms most notably the capitalist system. Communist manifesto is strongly critical of the capitalist economic system. The Das Kapital that was later on narrated by Karl Marx sheds light on the capitalist approach in a very critical manner and highlights its weaknesses and shallowness. According to him capitalist system is a continuous struggle between two classes, the bourgeois and proletariat and the former always crushes the rights of later. According to him and the theory, the socialist revolution is bound to occur since this conflict would enrage at any time between the two poles that are in a continuous struggle with one another, this struggle would end with proletariat emerging over the bourgeois who have always exploited to the lower class (Wheen). This system is totally against the private ownership and gives authority to the government as a collective owner of the property in order to avoid any class differences. References: Tilly, Charles. Democracy. Cambridge University Press, 2007. Lansford, Tom. Democracy. Marshall Cavendish, 2007. Marx, Karl and Friedrich Engels. The Communist Manifesto. BompaCrazy.com, 2003. Wamala, Elizabeth R. Ugandan Philosophical Studies, 2. CRVP, 1999. Wheen, Francis. Marxs Das Kapital: A Biography. Grove Press, 2008. Read More