Stereotypes of Different forms of Government

Stereotyping, an oversimplified conception of a specific concept or type of people, is a common action in our society even though the consequences go unnoticed. Stereotyping itself is the greatest act of violence in a society because by doing it, we destroy the individuality and essence of each person, thus creating a bare life.

However, stereotyping extends far beyond the reach of the human skin and even to the depth of out macro-political structures. I am here to talk about the stereotypes that we have about different types of governments specifically:

1. The Stereotype of Democracy
2. The Stereotype of Dictatorships

Democracy...Democracy. Right now in your mind, you are picturing a really stable nation that has absolutely no problems. This is the stereotype that we have about democracy, which is it is really good. This causes the American people to impose democracy on others even though it might not be suitable.

One reason why democracy is not necessarily as good as it seems is because it takes a very educated population to have an efficient democracy which many nations lack. Even more important than an educated population, a democracy needs a population that cares. In the US only 25% of eligible voters actually vote in the presidential elections, showing huge apathy in the main democratic nation. The results of the apathy of our citizens are really critical in our current world because it has transformed what should be a democracy into a puppet show. This is from Time Magazine in 2007.

Politicians tell the people what they want to hear and do not really address key issues. In a recent presidential debate I watched, the only topics that were discussed were same-sex marriage and stem cell research. This is from CNN in 2007. Not being Christian, I am alienated from the ideas presented by my future leaders and I am questioning if I really do have any power. I am questioning democracy is right or not.

Democracy is also not necessarily a good thing because we never consider the power of the people. Democracy is essentially a government for the people by the people. When we think of dictators, we think of individuals who are very powerful and abuse their power, yet we do not realize that in a democracy, the majority has power and now there are thousands of dictators that can abuse their power instead of just one. At the point where the majority of the population has power, then every action made by the rulers is based ion whim and the “will of the people” which makes very violent and atrocious acts justifiable.

Dictatorship...Totalitarianism...Authoritarianism... Now negative images of Hitler and the Nazis, and Stalin and his dehumanization enter your mind. This is the negative stereotype in which individuals and certain groups hold the power in a government.

Many populations have people who are too poor or too uneducated to have a democracy because if power was given to the people, then nothing would happen. In this case scenario, a dictatorship is the best form of government for many reasons. An empirical example of a good dictator is Tito. Tito untied the warring factions of Yugoslavia and made it into a successful country economically, at least better economically. The great thing about a dictatorship is that it can operate even if all the people within that nation do not agree.

Lets go back to the Tito example. In Yugoslavia there were Bosnians, Herzegovinians, Croats, and Serbs. All of these factions were constantly fighting with each other and the Serbs even committed genocide against the Croats. If a democracy were implemented in Yugoslavia, the different ethnic groups would all pick their own candidate and they would try to kill the others candidate, thus perpetuating war and violence in the region. The dictatorship was so successful because all that it takes is a benevolent and influential leader in order to rule correctly, which was exactly what Tito did.

Another reason why dictatorships stray from the stereotype that it is a bad type of government is because dictatorships revere the individual. All throughout history, the general population has been against new and innovative ideas and has tried everything that it can in order to keep things the same. An empirical example of this is Galileo, who proposed a heliocentric universe and was thrown in jail for contradicting the ideas of the general population.

If the general population was given power to rule, then there would be almost no advancement in society and we would be similar to cavemen. This is because the revolutionaries and thinkers of the world are all individuals and not the collective population. Dictatorship embraces this individuality because it gives one very qualified and able person the power to make their own mark on the world, rather than completely destroying development by letting the general public rule.

Now we have to look at the impacts of these stereotypes. Since the United States has this idea that democracy is inherently good, we force it upon African nations as our foreign aid is contingent upon democratic legislation. The same idea can be applied to the opposite type of government in China as it provides strong state power while subjugating all of its citizens. The purpose of this paper was not to say that democracy is bad, and that dictatorship is good, but to show that we should not have this idea that democracy is always good and that dictatorships are always bad. The best way to evaluate which type of government a nation is to have is to recognize each nation individually based on its own needs and choose a system based on that. Please join my movement to end stereotyopes with people, governments, and all aspects of our life and to affirm individuality and life.