The Good, The Bad, and The Politics

The Good, The Bad, and The Politics

Politics, what has led to the largest events in history from revolts to assassinations they have been the most immense headlines for hundreds of years.

This paper will focus on how people over time have come together and fallen apart through politics. Elaborated by discussing ancient politics, how these became modern politics and the up rise of dictators throughout human history. The evidence that will be used is primary and secondary sources.

Politics as a way of ruling has been around for thousands of years and many of the ancient politics have inspired new age politics that are seen throughout the world. An example of an early government established is the government that was used in Ancient Rome in a way of a Republic split into three sectors. The three sectors of the Roman republic were the Consul, assembly, and senate branches which dictated the republic for the time that it ruled, then it became an empire. The change to a republic was shown as the following “ Caesar emerged victoriously and was named dictator for life. Previously, the title dictator was given to an appointed, and temporary, leader in times of military emergency. Other leaders within the republic feared Caesar would become a tyrant with this new title.” (Stanfield 2018). This was the first time someone of power in Roman Republic history established himself as an emperor and showed that he wanted complete control of office without a limit or until he was overthrown by someone else who wanted control. This then started what was known as the Roman Empire which was one of the greatest empires known to human history and to the present day is the most studied empire in history classes around the world. The age of the emperors lasted for hundreds of years and many of the emperors lasted for many years an example of one being Claudius who lasted for over 40 years as emperor of the great Roman empire. The fall of the Roman empire came abruptly after hundreds of years of rule by emperors the end to what was seen as something that could possibly end came. This was in the form of emperor Augustus and is formally known as the last Roman emperor.

The fall of Rome is typically blamed on the following “Most classicists believe that a combination of factors including Christianity, decadence, the metal lead in the water supply, monetary trouble, and military problems caused the Fall of Rome.” (Gill 2019). This throughout history has been the reason for the fall of many places and has continued to be problems that present themselves in the present world such as lead in the water supply.

One of the most regarded forms of ancient politics that are seen everywhere is that of the Ancient Greek form of government. The systems of government in Ancient Greece are shown as the following “The four most common systems of Greek government were Democracy, Monarchy, Oligarchy, and Tyranny.” (Cartwright 2018). These forms of government were based upon who was ruling and what form of government they preferred for Greece. The form that the Greeks are most heavily credited for is Democracy as it is the most seen form of government present day and the one that was used the most in Greece. This form was loved because citizens were allowed to help make choices for the government in which they lived in which was a big plus when it came to vote for new rulers and going against the other less common forms that arose in ancient Greece. The Ekklesia a part of the ancient Greek democracy and is defined as the following “Athenian democracy was a direct democracy made up of three important institutions. The first was the ekklesia, or Assembly, the sovereign governing body of Athens. Any member of the demos–any one of those 40,000 adult male citizens–was welcome to attend the meetings of the ekklesia, which were held 40 times per year.” (Bell 2018). This was a basic form of a senate type consul that was used to hear from the people in Greece that had a voice to make them happy and be sure that the government can continue running at the level it was and always ensure that the people of ancient Greece were happy. The Greek democracy had 2 more important parts known as the Boule and the Dikasteria, these were basically all forms to include the people of the country and do what is the definition of democracy which gives the people the basic rule of the country and allows them to be content with the decisions they make. Democracy in Greece was the precedent for a form of government that will probably be around for the time of human existence and will be widely regarded as one of the most heavily practiced forms of government worldwide.

Ancient Roman and Greek politics made what is the basis for the majority of governments that are seen in present-day and what will continue being the majority of governments in present-day, due to the effects these governments brought to the early times of these countries and empires and the success it has brought to present-day countries as well.

Modern politics take lots of inspiration from ancient ones but for the most part there are some that take slight inspiration and create their own new form and way of government, this being Communism. Communism begins with the writer Karl Marx talking about an ideology which is what many writers in this time did and used words such as communism and socialism to explain the ideology he had in his thoughts. Communism being defined as the following “political and economic doctrine that aims to replace private property and a profit-based economy with public ownership and communal control of at least the major means of production (e.g., mines, mills, and factories) and the natural resources of a society.” (Ball 2019). This signifies that the government basically has control of everything one can possibly own from a business to a playground in your backyard, the government has immersive control of what is yours and what can’t be yours. Communism is a form of government that can be found in countries such as Cuba, Venezuela, and North Korea. These countries have some of the lowest rankings in terms of quality of life which brings up the question of the controversies of this form of government and what it has caused from revolts to people being murdered is very controversial. The earliest forms of communism were first seen in Germany and Russia and started off as a great form of government until class struggles began to get very real and the people of these countries felt oppressed with how they were being treated. Germany was in 2 parts split into a communist sector and a normal sector and the reunification didn’t start until the late 80s signified by the fall of the Berlin Wall which began the reunification in many countries of eastern Europe. The goal of communism is to set up a better and more positive economic system for the people but in every example we see, people are oppressed to start a revolt if possible and fight for their liberties as a citizen of a country to live how they are supposed to be treated. Another one of the biggest disadvantages of communism is “Planners lose the valuable feedback these prices provide about what the people want. They can’t get up-to-date information about consumers’ needs, and as a result, there is often a surplus of one thing and shortages of others. To compensate, citizens create a black market to trade the things the planners don’t provide, which destroys the trust in Marx’s pure communism.” (Amadeo 2019). Since many things are controlled as the things you watch on tv many people fix this by illicitly sharing media from other countries to be able to enjoy the shows and movies that people from other countries are able to stream easily. The leadership in communist countries is typically a bloodline of dictators to establish who has control the best example of this is in North Korea as Kim Jong Un is the son of the previous leader and the grandson of the leader before that. This bloodline has had the people of North Korea oppressed since the early 1940s when North Korea was liberated after a war and began to form their own government. Another example of this is in Cuba as Fidel Castro began with power and eventually gave it up to his brother Raul Castro to ensure the family still had power.

All in all, communism is a very popular form of government that is used in many countries around the world and will presumably go down as one of the most controversial forms of government known to mankind. It will also continue to be used and stay in power in those countries that have already established themselves as communist forces such as North Korea, Cuba, and Venezuela.