Models of politics and constitutions:What is politics and why is important to the functioning of society?

First Report (due date: Friday 1 November 2012)Write a report of up to 500 words on the following question.

What is politics and why is it important to the functioning of society?

The report is worth 5% of your total course mark. Please make sure you have a bibliography attached which indicates where you derived your information from. Wikipedia is not considered to be a reliable source for University level work.

Assessment Criteria• written expression• clarity of argument• references and bibliography• research skills• standard of presentation

Aristotle's classification of governments (taken from Hague and Harrop, 2010)

Rule byForm  

One FEW Many

Genuine Kinship Aristocracy

Polity

Perverted

Tyranny Oligarchy Democracy

Do we need one more column?What about rule by no-one?Anarchists argue that government itself is the problemThe best way to ensure the good of all is to get rid of structures of political power…….But this relies on people having an innate sense of rules and ‘correct’ behaviour

“Political regimes will never fit into intellectually defined boxes” Huntington 1991,

However these boxes are very important tool if elaborate on them,helping us decide what sort of regime we are looking at and how we can expect them to behave…. and as political scientists its expectation of behaviour were looking at hypothesising on .

So we are going to look at some styles of government by looking atsome regimes, finally we will discuss and critique: democracy, authoritarian and benign dictatorships

Stalin helped rapidly industrialise the USSR, which would help it win WWII and become a superpower. He strengthend the Bolsheviks/Soviets contol over the USSR and created a truely totalitarian state. He imposed the cult of personality, perhaps the best known/achieved besides that of Hitler. Under Stalin the country also completed its collectivisation, however at a great cost in terms of lives lost.

The USSR lost an unprecedented amount of people under Stalin, 60 million in the second world war but estimates range from anywhere from 10-30 million people before and after the war as a result of his rule.

Silvio Berlusconi is an Italian politician and media tycoon who served three times as Prime Minister of Italy from 1994 to 1995, 2001 to 2006 and 2008 to 2011.

The Prime Minister told the BBC on its flagship Andrew Marr show that when it came to his government and the Murdochs, "It would be absolutely wrong for there to be any sort of deal and there wasn't... There was no grand deal". http://www.opendemocracy.net/ourkingdom/anthony-barnett/murdoch-and-big-lie

in 1976, Secretary of State Henry Kissinger told Guzzetti: "We are aware you are in a difficult period. It is a curious time, when political, criminal, and terrorist activities tend to merge without any clear separation. We understand you must establish authority.“ when is a democracy not a democracy? Is it when it helps dictator's to retain powers?…

For nearly 40 years, the figure of General Augusto Pinochet has divided the Chilean people. Many Chileans still consider him a patriotic military man who prevented the consolidation of Communism on Chilean soil and who laid the foundations for a prosperous, modern country. For many other Chileans, however, Pinochet is the man who destroyed a long-standing democracy and set up one of the cruellest authoritarian regimes Latin America has ever experienced. When the general was arrested in London in October 1998, some Chileans euphorically celebrated the event whereas others angrily repudiated the British action. http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/journal_of_cold_war_studies/summary/v013/13.3.silva.html

What is democracy, and is there a better alternative?

However benevolent a dictator is, it's still a dictatorship. Or

President Robert Mugabe, in office since 1980, the pro-independence campaigner who wrested control from a small white community and became the country's first black leader.Until the 2008 parliamentary elections, Zimbabwe was effectively a one-party state, ruled over by Mr Mugabe's Zanu-PF. A power-sharing deal has raised hopes that Mr Mugabe might be prepared to relinquish some of his powers, but in the meantime he presides over a nation whose economy is in tatters, where poverty and unemployment are endemic and political strife and repression commonplace.Zimbabwe.

SO BACK TO ARISTOTLE’S ANALYSIS

‘Perverted’ or ‘debased’ forms of government only benefit the rulers themselves

Obvious in the cases of tyranny and oligarchyHe saw democracy as susceptible to mob rule

‘Good’ government is any system where you govern for the good of all

Impossible for monarchs or aristocrats to always put the interests of the community ahead of their own

Polity is open to manipulation by demagogues.

HOW DO WE DEFINE THE GROUP?

The stateThe nationThe communityThe regionThe societyThe economy

HOW DO WE DEFINE ‘BENEFIT’?

Political benefits? Political freedom, human rights, civil rights

Economic benefits? Growth, development, services

Who decides? Do people always know their own best interests?