Democracy is probably the most common form of government we have today. We have seen it in action and most can agree that even if it is not a perfect system, it is the most functioning one we have taken use of yet. There has been an array of different forms of government up throughout the years. What was the reason those did not work out? Are there any reasons as to why democracy is not the best option?
In my blog I will be mentioning the forms of government that are:
-Monarchy
-Military Dictatorship
Monarchy is a very old form of government. The very first one recorded all the way back to year 660, in Japan (Unacademy.com). Monarchy is basically the form of government in which the head of state is the sole ruler from their coronation, all the way to either their death or abdication. This form of monarchy was very common before, but now, at least in the Western countries, Monarchy is looked at more in a symbolic way. The functionality of this system varies. It all comes down to if the monarch is fit to rule or not, which depends considering that it is a position you are born into, not worked towards. A monarchy we see today that we could consider similar to those of the old world is that of Saudi Arabia. The crown prince of Saudi Arabia, as well as the prime minister.
In my opinion, monarchy is stupid. I think it should be abolished. It is not that I have something against the king of Norway or anything. It all just feels very secretive, because in theory we do not really know to which degree he still has power. My other reason for my opinion is how much money they receive. Most of it being tax payer money. In 2022 it was estimated that the royal family of Norway receives 335 million Norwegian Kroner (Nettavisen, 2022, ). That is a lot of money for someone who apparently does not have much power anymore in our country. What else could that money go towards? I am thinking maybe schools, public health services etc. But no, one single family gets that entire sum of money for being mascots that no on outside of Norway cares for, if they even know about them.
The next form of government I will be discussing is military dictatorship. The military dictatorship is an authoritarian way of running a country. A military dictatorship is when the military has taken control of a country and the dictator will often be a high ranking officer. We can observe that this form of government often is the result of a coup on the former government. An example of a country run by the military is Burma which has been a military dictatorship from 1962, and it still is today. This form of ruling is characterised by its few freedoms and strict punishment. You don’t really see this working too well. Personally I think it’s a really bad way of ruling (unless I was the dictator obviously). For a country to function well I believe there has to be a sense of autonomy for it’s people. If not a sense of unjust and lack of representation might make the people harder to control, and I know for a fact that would not be very appreciated by these dictators.
A dictatorship (when only one or a small select group rules a country) would work if there was the perfect ruler (me). But that’s not the case and therefore it doesn’t work well. I would say outside of democracy, the two other forms of government I mentioned are some of the most common ones. However, I do not believe my blog would be complete if I did not discuss democracy. Democracy is an old form of government, dating all the way back to ancient Greece. We think of them as the creators of this system, though it has evolved a great amount since then. I do not think if someone from our time went back in time, they would define the ancient Greeks system as democracy. Either way that is where the notion of ‘everyone’ should have a say.
Even if it seems like democracy is the best form of government that we have, it does not mean that it is perfect. It is a very flawed system that we cannot always assure is working as it should. There are so many variables that goes into it that can affect how for example election results turn out. Politicians will slam each other in every way they can to look better and receive more votes. Individuals can influence the results greatly by placing ads everywhere, that can subconsciously affect peoples choices.
This system can also fail in other ways. For example there is the issue of efficiency. A big downside of democracy is that it’s a very slow process with a lot of unnecessary talks. The process of building a hospital takes forever compared to countries where they have opted for different styles of ruling. I remember seeing China building like 6 hospitals in the beginning of the corona pandemic, while here we can’t agree on where to even place one.
Therefore I would like to conclude that although democracy is generally a well functioning system, it is not perfect, and it will be exciting to see what the next form for government we invent work, and if it’ll be better than what we currently have.
Amaranth 