Professional Documents
Culture Documents
National Differences
in Political Economy
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POLITICAL SYSTEMS
Collectivism:
TWO APPROACHES
Communists:
Socialism is achieved through violent
revolution.
Social Democrats:
POLITICAL SYSTEMS
Individualism
Opposite of Collectivism.
Refers to an ideology that stresses the interest of the
individual more than the interest of the state or the society.
The ideology is free market economy.
Everybody will take care of his private property and thus
be most productive rather than being inefficient. So, as a
whole, state will progress.
Adam Smith (1723-1790)
Embodied in the U.S. Declaration of Independence.
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TWO APPROACHES
Democracy
Government by the people, exercised either directly or
through elected representatives.
Totalitarianism
DEMOCRACY
This refers to a political system in which government is by the
people.
In Ancient Greece, citizens were directly involved in
decision-making.
Now, most modern democratic states practice representative
democracy.
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TOTALITARIANISM
One person/party exercises absolute control over all
spheres of human life (competing political parties are
banned)
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COMMUNIST TOTALITARIANISM
Advocates that socialism can be
achieved only through totalitarian
dictatorship.
Has been in decline worldwide
since 1989.
Communist Totalitarian states
deny many basic civil liberties to
their populations .
Exceptions to this trend are China,
Vietnam, Laos, North Korea, and
Cuba.
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THEOCRATIC TOTALITARIANISM
Found in states where political
power is monopolized by a party,
group, or individual that governs
according to religious principles
Most common form of theocratic
totalitarianism is based on Islam.
State limits freedom of political
and religious expression while the
laws of the state are based on
Islamic principles .
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TRIBAL TOTALITARIANISM
Tribal totalitarianism occurs when a
political party that represents the
interests of a particular tribe (and not
always the majority tribe) monopolizes
power.
Tribal totalitarianism has arisen from
time to time in African countries such
as Zimbabwe, Tanzania, Uganda, and
Kenya
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ECONOMIC SYSTEMS
There are three types of economic systems
Market economy
Command economy
Mixed economy
Collectivism __________ Middle Point _______Individualism
(Command economy)
(Mixed economy)
(Market economy)
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BROADER CONCEPTIONS OF
DEVELOPMENT: AMARTYA SEN
Development should be measured less by material
output, such as GNP, per capita and measured
more by the capabilities and opportunities that
people enjoy.
Human Development Index (HDI) measures
quality of life in different nations
Based on life expectancy, educational attainment,
and average incomes
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THEOCRATIC LAW
Based upon religious teachings.
Islamic law is the most widely
practiced theocratic legal system in
the modern world, although both
Hindu and Jewish law are still
practiced.
Based upon moral behavior.
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