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| "Blast #09420, 2007, Photograph By Naoya Hatakeyama. |
It was not very long ago in the human history when almost the entire world had similar systems of governance as well as identical political and social structure. Most governments were hereditary monarchies. Politics usually meant palace intrigues and wranglings in the royal court. Far far removed from the common man. Society comprised of land owning and revenue generating entities of various importance on one hand and workers of various kind on the other, differing only by the level of apathy state had for them.
Things changed over time as political thoughts and various social theories germinated in the human thought process. Spread of education also hastened the wide dissemination of the ideas of equality and participative democracy. Great strides made in science, technology and the human knowledge base itself has ensured that in all things the status quo comes under microscope constantly.
Another momentous thing happened. Individual and group beliefs in the supernatural and the defining succor provided by the faith in a creator God slowly but surly melded into fiercely competitive organized religions. This development arguably has been the most potent catalyst of political change and social churning in the last millennium.
All of these historical developments have informed the prevalent systems of governance to some degree or the other. So today in the twenty first century we still have a monarchy like Britain on one hand; which actually is a democracy in every sense of the word. Britain is ruled by a women Queen to boot, who also happens to be the head of state of sixteen other independent countries. On the flip side we have Saudi Arabia. Another monarchy that could easily be straight out of medieval times. The comparisons could not be more stark. Saudi women were not even allowed to drive till recently and still need a male guardian at all times.
There are all kinds of democracies in the world. So we have the biggest democracy by geographical area , USA on one hand where one single individual president is the head of government and head of the state. With mainly two political parties and universal adult franchise , things are pretty straight forward . Everything is clearly delineated. On the other end we have India. President is only head of the state. Power lies with the prime minister and the parliament. Biggest democracy by numbers; 1/6 of the entire population of earth lives here. 1.3 billion people at last count. Dozens of official languages and hundreds of dialects interact here. Although things maybe moving towards a two party system, India's 1841 registered political parties contested recent elections. No it is not a typo. It is big; it is diverse and looks like a massive kaleidoscopic chaos that somehow manages to dance in unison; phew! India is exactly opposite of the quintessential American melting pot yet both are democracies.
All the progressive human thoughts notwithstanding there are currently a staggering 50 dictatorships in the world. Biggest of them is the most populous nation on Earth - China! It markets itself as peoples republic , however there is no trace of a republic and people have no rights. Xi Jinping has absolute power as president of the country; chief of communist party as well as that of the armed forces. China's client state North Korea is a communist dictatorship too and considerably more unstable, poverty stricken and dangerous. Bulk of the dictatorships are in Africa. 19 nations currently. Most of the population of these places is facing famine, hunger and systematic poverty. They have negligible healthcare; lack of education and complete absence of human rights. You would not know it by looking at the lavish lifestyles of their dictators though!
Russia is the original communist nation. Bolshevik revolution succeeded here in 1917 and it was exported to eastern Europe, china and several other countries. Russia was the original dictatorship of the proletariat. What is it today? Officially it is a federal republic with a book of laws, political rights for people and elections. However for the last couple of years laws and statues have been modified to suit one individual ; Vladimir Putin, who has been in power one way or other since 2000. Is it a dictatorship? You decide!
Let us not forget the religious systems of governance. Smallest of them is the Vatican city. Technically a self contained nation. Pope is the head of state and head of the government. It is all honorary just to give respect and status to the catholic church. In reality Vatican city is a part of Italy. Then we have a whole bunch of Islamic nations. They also can be categorized under despotic dictatorships, monarchies or mullahcracies. Some even call themselves democracies too, although on available evidence it is clear that democracy and Islam do not marry successfully .
1.8 billion people live in 56 Islamic countries. Most have adopted Koranic laws to differing degrees. One would think it would make them quite similar however the differences among them are legendary, historical and bloody. Iran and Iraq fought war for 8 years not very long ago, both countries have Shia sect in majority. Of course mostly Sunni Saudi Arabia has not been on good term with Shia Iran since the advent of Islam and currently they do not even have diplomatic relations among them. Saudi's are bombing their neighboring Islamic country Yemen on a regular basis. Syrian refugees and Palestinians before them have found refuge in the Non Muslim west and no Islamic neighbor nation is willing to extend a hand. It is quite common to find these countries castigating each other as 'Kafir', and Satan. This religious world is in flux and politically really not very settled.
There is an exception though. The successful Jewish state of Israel. It is a parliamentary democracy with a book of laws, political rights for citizens and regular elections. Although the state has been under regular violent attacks from different forces mostly supporting rights for Palestinians; Israel is reasonably prosperous, quite stable, a technical powerhouse and forward looking. It is also only the second nation carved on the basis of religion in the world. There is no third.
We may have our reservations about one system or the other but there is one commonality among all of them. We know who is in charge! When the shit hits the fan we know who to blame. In case of Iran it is Ali Khamenei; in case of North Korea we can lay it on Kim Jong-un. Russian escapades can be put on Vladimir Putin and of course all acts of US commission and omission will be squarely blamed on Donald Trump.
In a twist of irony, Israel's chalk n cheese mirror image is the only exception to this rule- Pakistan.The first country ever created for the adherents of a faith. It is officially an Islamic Republic. Counter forces within the country have pushed it to be more Islamic on one end and republic on the other. It has become neither. An all powerful military establishment calls the shots on everything from budget to foreign relations. A super sect within the military ; its spy wing organizes political assassinations, demonstrations of all kinds, manages the judiciary , conducts regular coups and dictates policy to the elected. They currently have a prime minister who is commonly believed to be selected by them . It is an army dictatorship wrapped in a parliament that is garnished with Islam. Nobody is responsible and everyone maintains deniability.Their railway minster of all the people , issues ultimatums of nuclear war to an enemy . Easy to contradict later if it come back to bite them. In the past their chief of army denied knowledge of presence of Osama bin Laden in the back yard of their military compound. They also denied knowledge of nuclear proliferation by their chief of nuclear project. In an uncharitable description it is said that it is the only army that has a country.
No body knows anything in Pakistan yet a lot of mischief in the world gets directly attributed to them.Its political system is distraught; its economy is crumbling and a psychopathic obsession with winning more territory in Kashmir ensures that a ten times more powerful India is a constant threat to its very existence. It is a very complicated web where it is all sleight of hand, smoke and mirrors. Is it a democracy? Is it a theocracy; is it Islamic; is it a republic? Is army in charge; does the Prime minister have any power other than being a mouth piece? There are only questions and no answers in sight. It would be funny if it was not so irksome!
All the progressive human thoughts notwithstanding there are currently a staggering 50 dictatorships in the world. Biggest of them is the most populous nation on Earth - China! It markets itself as peoples republic , however there is no trace of a republic and people have no rights. Xi Jinping has absolute power as president of the country; chief of communist party as well as that of the armed forces. China's client state North Korea is a communist dictatorship too and considerably more unstable, poverty stricken and dangerous. Bulk of the dictatorships are in Africa. 19 nations currently. Most of the population of these places is facing famine, hunger and systematic poverty. They have negligible healthcare; lack of education and complete absence of human rights. You would not know it by looking at the lavish lifestyles of their dictators though!
Russia is the original communist nation. Bolshevik revolution succeeded here in 1917 and it was exported to eastern Europe, china and several other countries. Russia was the original dictatorship of the proletariat. What is it today? Officially it is a federal republic with a book of laws, political rights for people and elections. However for the last couple of years laws and statues have been modified to suit one individual ; Vladimir Putin, who has been in power one way or other since 2000. Is it a dictatorship? You decide!
Let us not forget the religious systems of governance. Smallest of them is the Vatican city. Technically a self contained nation. Pope is the head of state and head of the government. It is all honorary just to give respect and status to the catholic church. In reality Vatican city is a part of Italy. Then we have a whole bunch of Islamic nations. They also can be categorized under despotic dictatorships, monarchies or mullahcracies. Some even call themselves democracies too, although on available evidence it is clear that democracy and Islam do not marry successfully .
1.8 billion people live in 56 Islamic countries. Most have adopted Koranic laws to differing degrees. One would think it would make them quite similar however the differences among them are legendary, historical and bloody. Iran and Iraq fought war for 8 years not very long ago, both countries have Shia sect in majority. Of course mostly Sunni Saudi Arabia has not been on good term with Shia Iran since the advent of Islam and currently they do not even have diplomatic relations among them. Saudi's are bombing their neighboring Islamic country Yemen on a regular basis. Syrian refugees and Palestinians before them have found refuge in the Non Muslim west and no Islamic neighbor nation is willing to extend a hand. It is quite common to find these countries castigating each other as 'Kafir', and Satan. This religious world is in flux and politically really not very settled.
There is an exception though. The successful Jewish state of Israel. It is a parliamentary democracy with a book of laws, political rights for citizens and regular elections. Although the state has been under regular violent attacks from different forces mostly supporting rights for Palestinians; Israel is reasonably prosperous, quite stable, a technical powerhouse and forward looking. It is also only the second nation carved on the basis of religion in the world. There is no third.
We may have our reservations about one system or the other but there is one commonality among all of them. We know who is in charge! When the shit hits the fan we know who to blame. In case of Iran it is Ali Khamenei; in case of North Korea we can lay it on Kim Jong-un. Russian escapades can be put on Vladimir Putin and of course all acts of US commission and omission will be squarely blamed on Donald Trump.
In a twist of irony, Israel's chalk n cheese mirror image is the only exception to this rule- Pakistan.The first country ever created for the adherents of a faith. It is officially an Islamic Republic. Counter forces within the country have pushed it to be more Islamic on one end and republic on the other. It has become neither. An all powerful military establishment calls the shots on everything from budget to foreign relations. A super sect within the military ; its spy wing organizes political assassinations, demonstrations of all kinds, manages the judiciary , conducts regular coups and dictates policy to the elected. They currently have a prime minister who is commonly believed to be selected by them . It is an army dictatorship wrapped in a parliament that is garnished with Islam. Nobody is responsible and everyone maintains deniability.Their railway minster of all the people , issues ultimatums of nuclear war to an enemy . Easy to contradict later if it come back to bite them. In the past their chief of army denied knowledge of presence of Osama bin Laden in the back yard of their military compound. They also denied knowledge of nuclear proliferation by their chief of nuclear project. In an uncharitable description it is said that it is the only army that has a country.
No body knows anything in Pakistan yet a lot of mischief in the world gets directly attributed to them.Its political system is distraught; its economy is crumbling and a psychopathic obsession with winning more territory in Kashmir ensures that a ten times more powerful India is a constant threat to its very existence. It is a very complicated web where it is all sleight of hand, smoke and mirrors. Is it a democracy? Is it a theocracy; is it Islamic; is it a republic? Is army in charge; does the Prime minister have any power other than being a mouth piece? There are only questions and no answers in sight. It would be funny if it was not so irksome!
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