0
Political Theory
Find questions about different political theories and government models here.
2,314 Questions
How do Karl Marx and friedrich Engels define the bourgeoisie?
Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels define the bourgeoisie as the social class that owns the means of production in capitalist societies. They characterize the bourgeoisie as exploiting the labor of the proletariat to generate profits and maintain their privileged position in society.
Who plays Peter-Pan in the movie Peter-Pan?
Jeremy Sumpter played Peter Pan in the 2003 version of Peter Pan
What is a substantive constitution?
It is the fourth longest Constitution in the world. Because it is so detailed and specific, it must be amended frequently as times and circumstances change.
The government in the US is a what kind of democracy?
The United States is often called a "representative democracy", and a "democratic republic".
The United States is certainly not a pure democracy. On a national level, policy is never directly decided by a popular vote. Instead, legislation is effected by representatives, with representation being through a largely federal system; much power is invested in a President, who is not directly elected, with his Electors being allocated through a federal system; contests over the meaning of the law are settled by judges who are appointed by the President with the approval of the national legislators.
The US Constitution prevents representation perfectly proportional to population, unless the population is equally spread amongst the states, because the Constitution forbids any Amendments which would reduce equal representation of the states in the Senate. But, none-the-less, it's at least theoretically possible for the voters to make choices amongst candidates so that the legislature, President, and judges reached pretty much the same decisions that a pure democracy would.
The word "republic" is rather vague. it can refer to any sort of government which is not a monarchy, but it generally refers to a system of government with a formal constitution in which a popular vote plays a significant role in decision-making. Calling the United States a "democratic republic" emphasizes that last idea.
How did George Bernard Shaw lose credibility as a member of the British Fabian Society?
George Bernard Shaw was a famous Irish playwright and critic. He was born in 1856 and died in 1950. Shaw had expressed his socialist ideas about government and joined the Fabian Society. This Society believed that socialism could be achieved in Great Britain, not by a violent Marxist revolution, but by a gradual democratic progress that would evolve into socialism for Great Britain. Fabians were peaceful and whatever sympathies they may have had with the Soviet Union, they were not "Bolsheviks" by any means.They became closely allied with the Labor Party.Shaw was already well known due to his literary publications.
Somewhere along the line, he became sort of a rogue member of the Fabians.
He became, for lack of a better term, enamored with Benito Mussolini and the concept of "strong-man government. As an aside, Mussolini began his career as a socialist.
Bernard expressed himself in extraordinary letters to various people in the peaceful socialist movement in England. His choice of language was a stunning reversal of what his former beliefs seemed to be.
His own words are part of the public domain. In essence he wrote that "We must get the Socialist movement out of its democratic grooves.
He prepared a more formal statement a few days later:
" We as Socialists, have nothing to do with liberty. Our message, like Mussolini's is one of discipline, of service, of ruthless refusal to acknowledge any right of competence. Liberty belongs not to the day's work, which it is the business of a socialist government to organize, but to the day's leisure, as to which there is plenty of room for Liberal activity."
This was by no means the end to his curious turnabout.
Soon after in his Fabian Autumn Lecture, by declaring that democracy was incompatible with Socialism, which can only be brought into existence by a dictator determined to thrust himself forward without scruple.
He further also made it clear that this was not just a passing bout of impatience by soon prasing Stalin and all the more shocking, in his last Fabian lecture he defended Hitler.
Shaw claimed Hitler's efforts have been obscured in England by the natural indignation and horror at the persecution of Jews. Shaw claimed that Hitler's violence and brutality were regrettable but were natural effect of the continuing "kicking" the exploitation and robbery to which the German people have been subjected to since 1919.
This turned the Fabians and leaders of the Labor party into dismay as Shaw was until then a celebrity , an intellectual and devoted democratic socialist.
How did pan slavism increases the sphere of the war?
It sought to unify all slavic ancestry in many nations (gradpoint)
The three member signatory nations of the North American Free Trade Agreement are the United States, Canada and Mexico, whose geographic and sovereign boundaries define the North American Free Trade Area.
Debate Democracy is the best form of government?
Democracy, in today's world, is the best form of government. Day by day, the number of democrecies in the world are increasing. Some of the reasons that support my posotion as pro are:
1. Democracy represents the views and notions of all the citizens of the country, whether majorities or minorities.
2. It helps in solving conflicts and quarrels in a better way.
3. It provides a dignity to the people.
4. It helps in realising one's mistakes and improving upon them.
5. There is no other form of government or an lternative better than a democracy.
In a democracy how is a new government put into place?
usually every four or five years an election is held so the people can vote on who they think the best leader for their country will be. These people are chosen from the different groups such as the democrats or the conservatives.
Of course, it makes a huge difference if this globally consistent set of laws is well designed, fair, and based on democratic principles, rather than being arbitrary and dictatorial. Just because the whole world would have one consistent set of laws, does not in itself make the world better or worse, but a good quality set of laws, especially if the laws were accompanied by some effective method of law enforcement (since the best laws in the world will be useless if they are not enforced) could do a tremendous amount of good, by creating legal mechanisms for non-violent resolution of conflicts, by making global commerce much easier, by giving people more secure and peaceful lives, by eliminating the rampant government corruption that presently exists in most parts of the world, and so forth.
It could be argued that the world should not really have one consistent set of laws because different populations in different locations have different needs, different traditions, different problems etc., and they need to have laws that are tailored to their particular situation, but I don't personally believe that. A well designed body of law would work well for everybody, even though some people would doubtlessly need some time to get used to the idea.
But it is also true that if the laws are badly designed or badly enforced, then all you would be doing is creating a horrible and oppressive global tyranny. So this scheme could work very well or very badly, depending upon how it was done.
Are corrupt governments responsible for poverty in third world countries?
There is no doubt that corrupt governments are a major cause of third world poverty, although they are not the only cause. Many third world countries have suffered terrible social, political, and economic disruption as a result of European colonialism, piratical capitalism, Cold War politics and other such influences emanating from the first and second worlds.
Is the use of external force to gift democracy to people in keeping with the spirit of democracy?
No xD
Which nation has been a model of democracy with fair and open elections?
None of them when you get down to it. Every nation has withheld damaging documents from voters preventing elections from being truly fair and open.
Was one argument against ratification of the Constitution that it gave too much power to the states?
NO. The Anti-Federalists who opposed the US Constitution were angered that the Constitution gave too little power to the states and too much power to the federal government.
What are the characteristics that make a government a true democracy?
At the most basic level, political scientists often ascribe two properties to a functioning democracy: 1. the ability of the public to contest elections against the incumbent government, with significant suffrage; 2. that public action or opinion can and does influence the actions of the government.
