Political and Economic Systems of Asia, South America and the U.S - Essay Example

. Political and Economic Systems of Asia, South America and U.S United of America is a strong democracy governed by a president as its head elected every four years. It has other federal governments from fifty states. It is a republic with constitutional based federal governments. The president is the head of government as well as the head of state (Storey, 333). The president derives his powers from the constitution. The federal states closely work with the national government through their elected members called senators. The state governments have powers to make laws touching on education, contracts, crimes and family. For the national government it has two major political parties which have dominated the political system for a long time. The three arms of national government are independent of each other as outlined in their constitution. Republican remains a major political ideology of the American people, based on various values such as freedom of religion in that the government cannot support religion neither support it. There is equality before law for all citizens, civic duty of all citizens to support the government by participation and paying of taxes, freedom of speech such that the government should not restrict through laws nor actions citizens freedom of non- violent speech. Democracy is the core value where government respects citizen decision through elections. Elections are so organized that electorates vote for individuals and not for political parties as with other parliamentary systems. The elections are so organized that they have policies governing them to avoid their interference with the country economy. The main difference between US and other democracies that are developed is in power given to the upper house, power of Supreme Court and clear separation of power given to the executive and legislature. The political system of US ensures that policies developed at national level are for the benefit of the nation. Despite the fact that states have different policies the national policies ensures the country enjoys good relation with the rest of the world. Compared to the political system of Asia where the countries each operated as individual with different form of government ranging from constitutional monarchies, communist, federal states, dictatorships, one party states and military regimes (Justin,450). Although civilization stated way far in Asia the political system of that continent have not seen much change over time. The political systems are still affected by imperialism as well as colonialism with some countries continuing with strong links to colonial masters. The situation is mixed with some countries retaining hostilities with each other and other still retain closed single party regimes with no regard for human rights (Justin, 309). The fact that Asia as continent is not governed under one government presents a number of challenges in that unlike in the past some countries have liberalized their markets and worked on policies that are ensure good governance for instance China and India. The existence of different regimes has made Asia not to have a big impact in the world economy because they lack a one voice. The political system of South America and that of Asia are more so the same since they all have different types of regimes. In the mid 20th century most countries were ruled by the military under dictatorship when citizen had few civic rights however revolutionary protests took place in the 1980s and all countries are now republics that are governed through written constitution (Marsh, 8). Each of the 13 countries is governed individually and bound to its own constitution. Illiteracy poverty and the remote nature of most countries make it more difficult to vote. The large and diverse population further complicated the governance of South America. Comparison of the Economic Systems Asia has for a long time had a closed economy due to the nature of the governance that existed in many of its countries. The long regimes of communist countries characterized the region. The economic system of the region was widely regarded as communism. The economic sector has three area; agriculture, manufacturing and the service industry. Asia was traditionally established in agriculture this has improved over time and there have been focus on other areas in manufacturing especially in China, India and Japan. Due to these changes Asia is now ranked as among the fastest growing economies of the world today with the largest continental GDP in the world. It’s characterized by wealthy oil countries such as Kuwait. Most of the natural resources have also been found in countries within Asian continent such as liquid natural gas in (Marsh, 9). Asia has a large population of about 4.2 billion people spread across forty six different states. The largest economies of Asia are China, Japan, Russia and India. Most countries in Asia are having rapid growth and their industrialization in manufacturing industries is coming up very strong. In 2010, the GDP growth was about 7.9% with a nominal GDP OF US$ 18.515 trillion and the PPP was as US $24.077 trillion (Marsh, 19). Its vast area, large population and many resources are making it the world largest economic region. The huge number of cheap and readily available labor in India and China gives them economic advantage over the other countries in the same region. Asia is struggling with economic disparities that are a source of tension threatening not only the current growth but the future stability. The threats of nuclear weapons as well as impending depletion of oil reserves are threatening the economic growth as many countries in Middle East are reliant on oil generation. The economic system of United States is based on the principle of private ownership of property; it a free enterprise. The producers, consumer and government all play a role in shaping the decision in a system referred to as the price system (Storey, 333). They have economic policies that govern the markets such that all parties in the economy function without conflict. The citizens have freedom to choose what to buy and from whom while the producers choose what to produce and set their prices. The government ensures legislation to ensure safety on the public as well as ensure there is reasonable competition in the market. The economic forces of demand and supply establish prices of goods and services. There are instances of most people being both producers and consumers and this creates a dynamic economy that accelerates growth. The economy of US is the world largest national economy (Storey, 354). The efficient governance, developed infrastructure and their abundance in natural resources ensures high productivity. Due to the capitalistic nature of the Americans, the government responds by creation of agencies to protect consumers and promote public interest. In this market oriented economy, the decisions are made by firms on when, what and how much to produce. The laws of supply and demand control prices with no interference from the government. The economy of South America is based on exploitation of natural resources and development of the industrial sectors. The continent is endowed with a lot of natural resources such as copper, natural gas, iron ore ,gold etc but the illiteracy levels is high thus she is not able to exploit her full potential. Subsistence farming supplements the economy with about 30% of the population engaged in farming (Lamontagne et al, 27). The economic gap between the poor is larger than that of Asia. Despite that the major disparities that exist in these three economies of Asia, South America and United States the major countries that are coming up to compete with United states. These are India and China from Asia, Brazil in South America. These three countries make what come to be known as BRIC. They have improved their economic policies and are attracting other major economies from Europe and America. It has been estimated that by year 2030, China will have been the largest economy in the world (Whalley, 5). The Asian economy has opened up due to its liberalization and reduction in the role the government plays. It has outward oriented policies that attract multinationals investment due to its large population and ready market for the manufactured goods. They have subsidized on imports while focusing on exportation to encourage more investors to come and invest their. The opening up and development of good policies in these countries is what has helped them achieve major growth. Conclusion Political, economic and social ideologies shape the values, culture and norms of the society. Bad governance impacts on the life of the societies as well its economy. This because the leaders elected are the ones who make laws that govern the country. The political system of Asia and South America are different with that of US in that while US in under one government headed by the presidents. The states in Asia and South America are each governed separately and therefore making of national policies is under each individual government. This has made these two continents lag behind in technology, education and governance. This has affected these societies in that the economic gaps between countries continue to widen. In some countries the government controls everything from the means of production, transport and education. State intervention requires internal effective structuring and good policies to ensure good strategy towards industrialization. The formulated policies should be targeting reaching goal of being the economies to watch of the 21st century. The United States of America gives power to the legislative branch and ensures that no interferences occur. Political system of a country is shaped through the laws that are passed to govern the state while the economic system is shaped through policies on trade, import, industrialization and on market control. The two in some instances are coined together as leadership determines economic growth and progress. Asia lacks good governance that will ensure that her potential is fully exploited, China for instance after abandoning communism has seen tremendous growth in the last few decades. Works Cited Justin, Paul. Business Environment: Text and Cases, 2E: 2nd Edition, New Delhi: Tata McGraw Publishing Company Limited. 2008. Lamontagne, Monique, and Patrick Heenan. The South America Handbook, London: Fitzroy Dearborn Publishers, 2002. Marsh, Ian. Democratisation, Governance and Regionalism in East and Southeast Asia: A Comparative Study, London; New York: Routledge, 2006. Storey, William.US Government and Politics. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2007. Whalley, John. Chinas Integration into the World Economy, Singapore: World Scientific, 2011. Read More