, Research Paper
How and Why Political Systems Change
Since the creation of mankind the world has been continually
changing. With each day, man develops, countries grow and
political systems change. A political system is an important set
of social institutions. Political systems have many functions.
Political systems create resources for education, health,
welfare, industry and foreign policy. Political systems have
changed drastically over centuries and are still changing
everyday. To understand why and how political systems change,
there are many factors. Some major factors are evolution,
revolution and economy.
A major factor and influence on why a political systems
change is due to the countries social economy. The approach in
which a country deals with certain political processes are
affected by internal divisions of income, wealth and occupation,
also by economic dependence or poverty.
There is always a positive association between economic
development and equality or income. The Linearity theory states
that economic development leads to urbanization which leads to
communication which leads to high levels of education and in
turn leads to Democracy. This theory does an excellent job in
showing how economics lead to a change in political systems.
Wealthier nations such as the United States, Japan and other
European countries often have more equitable income distributions
than poorer countries. According to Robert J. Mundt, a political
researcher, ?in advanced industrial nations the wealthiest ten
percent of households receive about one quarter of the national
income, while poorest receive forty percent and about twenty
percent get only fifteen percent of the national income; in
middle income countries like Brazil, the wealthiest ten percent
gets forty-six percent of national income and the poorest forth
percent get only eight percent.?
An example of a country that social economy influenced the
change in their political system would be the Russian Federation.
The social economy lead to the fall of Communism. The Russian
federation was a communist country believing in state owned and
centrally planned government. Years ago the communists were able
to keep up with the other big money powers of the world. But as
time went on and they tried to catch up, their economy was too
hard to control. Their products were poor quality and their
quantity was created on a need basis. There was no efficiency.
The people of Russia would have to wait years for cars,
apartments and waited hours in lines for simple things like food
and other basic necessities. The soviets began to argue with the
government. In 1991, Russia had gone through the worst of it?s
inflation and industrial problems. Eventually Russia became the
Russian Federation and there was an end to Communism.
Urbanization is another reason that political systems change
and develop. People run out of recourses on their rural lands and
are forced to flee to the bigger cities. People go to the bigger
cities hoping to find a better life for their families and
themselves. As more people go these cities, it creates more jobs.
Industry grows and the social economy also grows. Political
systems begin to create governments that work on foreign policy
and trade which creates more money. Eventually the political
systems shape their governments to look like those of the other
bigger wealthier countries in the world.
Another factor that changed many countries political systems
is that of a revolutionary change. Two countries that were
strongly influenced by the revolutionary change were Russian and
Germany. After World War I, Russians believed the revolution
lead to the collapse or imperialism and capitalism. Russia was
doing well before the war. Industry was still grown and the
people seemed to be happy. That did not last long though, the
war changed everything. When the Russian military went to war
against Germany, the tsarist government fell. As the tsarist
government fell apart so did the Russian economy. The government
found themselves stuck in a situation that they did not know what
to do. In 1917 democratic moderates over the power of the tsar.
This group hoped to make the country more modern and democratic.
But in a strange turn of events, the leader of the moderate
democratics, betrayed his western allies and made a peace
agreement with Germany. Eventually a Russian revolution created
a party with the help of Germany lead to the fall of imperialism
and capitalism. Soon after Russia became a communist country.
Revolutionary change is apparent when looking at China?s
development as a government. China and Russia?s political change
are similar in many ways. One of the biggest revolutionary
movements in China was Maoism. Maoism was created by a person
named Mao Zedong. Mao believed in strengthening and rebuilding
China and by doing so, he and his followers believed in guerrilla
warfare and in turn created a so-called revolution. Maoism
believed that it was important to listen to the peasants and
tried to propaganda to join his army. He believed heavily in
guerrilla warfare to take over the government. Mao?s acts were
unsuccessful and in 1949 Communism became China?s government.
Great Britain is a country was evolutionary change and
development not only influenced it?s own development, but also
many other countries in the world. Great Britain government is
considered the mother government. It is the oldest government in
existence. Their evolution as a government was watched and
studied by many countries. Many parts of democratic governments
such as the legislative and executive branch can be seen as early
as 1066 for Great Britain. Great Britain legislative branch was
called the Great Council and the executive branch was called the
king council. The Parliament was created early in their
government and is very similar to many countries man governmental
body. Great Britain created in 1689 Bill of Rights which gave
people their individual rights and liberties, such as freedom of
speech. Within the last few years, Great Britain has seen some
decline because if the Grand Old Party. There has been no major
change in years in their government and some researchers believe
it is effected their economy and other problems the country is
having.
The legislative branch was called the Great Council and the
executive branch was called the Kings Council. The Parliament
was created which is Great Britain?s main government body. The
Parliament can be compared to other main bodies such as the House
of Representatives in the United States or the Majilis on Iran.
In 1689, Great Britain created the Bill of Rights. The Bill of
Rights created human rights for everyone. Many countries around
the world have tried to create similar rights for their people.
Although Great Britain economy has a slight decline within the
last few years, it has proven to be one of the most stable
governments in the world.
The political attitudes vary from country to country as well
as they always change. As countries evolve, the attitude of the
people change according to what is happening. In countries that
are in a strong economic standing, the peoples? attitudes
probably will lead more toward a nationalist feeling. For
example, the people of Germany are upset because ever since that
wall separating East and West Germany had to come down, there has
been lower unemployment and fewer jobs. At first everyone was so
happy to see the wall come down and now some wish that it never
had. It is proven that the more happy the people are with their
government, the more they will participate. When more people get
involved, this leads to political change.
Sometimes a countries political system changes when the
people are not happy with the government. People get outraged
with corruption, unemployment, welfare, education, and human
rights. When the people are outraged, they have been known to
revolt against the government. Also the people support a leader
that will change the system from the way that it is being ran. An
example is in Mexico decades ago. A leader stepped up that said
he would represent the workers and the farmers. The people
immediatly fought to get this man in power, and he eventually he
was elected in to power and created the PRI, which is a political
party that remained in power for decades.
When looking at the evolution of countries and the change in
their political system, it seems as if many countries have
changed their form of government to a democratic government.
Many countries have adapted to the Western Countries? forms of
government. Within the past couple of decades, more and more
countries are slowly moving into a democratic form of government.
Democracy has not fully proven to be the answer to all country
problems but has been a step closer to helping some situations.
There are many theories that try prove the democratic countries
are less likely to have a war and more likely to be similar and
in the long run better the world economy.
China is the longest standing communist country and has no
desire to try to reform to democracy. Political scientist do not
believe that this is a good decision for China. In China,the
people have no rights, and most of the country is poor. Also you
are only allowed to practice the religion the government tells
you can. Right now in China thousands of people are thrown in
jail and killed for trying believe in the religion of their
choice.
Many researchers agree that democracy is one of the most
influential forms of government. As time change, so will the
countries of the world. It is very hard for comparative scientist
to make exact predictions on what will be the future for
political systems. Looking back on history we can expect many,
many more changes.