genuine question because im not so great with political forms of government. everyone says that a democratic government is likely to fall into a totalitarianism, but how is it preventable during a crisis? i feel like the idea of democracy ran government seems perfect but when looking at the constant trends in history where they fall during a crisis, i wonder how totalitarianism is preventable
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A fully democratic government that is committed to a fully funded education system, that teaches critical thinking skills, and is complemented by a free press and an independent judiciary. That’s why Trump et al are trying to remove all of those things.
https://www.liberties.eu/en/stories/principles-of-democracy/44151
Here are 5 key components for a state or country to fall into totalitarianism. Many countries or states usually have 2 components.
https://mises.org/mises-wire/five-stages-totalitarianism
Any form, if it’s healthy. The Fascists haven’t spent the last half-century undermining ours from within for nothing.
I would reference Acemoglu and Robinson, e.g. Why Nations Fail, or The Narrow Corridor. , it’s best to understand that it’s not only the form of government / political system that is important to this question, but understanding that political systems exist within a series of institutions across society.
Some important institutions:
So rather than seeing government as good / bad (e.g. at what point is a government "democratic"?), it’s more that all societies exist on several spectrums with regard to each of those points. The more "inclusive" and less "extractive" these institutions are, the more resilient governments will be in the face of crises
The Haudenosaunee Confederacy might be a good example, or the Zapatistas. Many indigenous governance systems are designed to promote participation and equality, moreso than Western democracies.
See e.g. Haudenosaunee Confederacy influence on democracy
and Heeding the Voices of Our Ancestors: Kahnawake Mohawk Politics and the Rise of Native Nationalism by Taiaiake Alfred
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Every type of government can fall into totalitarianism . The Swiss have prevented by requiring their population to be armed. This is what stopped the Germans from invading in both WWI and WWII.
The united states were modeled on the Swiss cantons and US citizens were allowed to be armed rather than required to be armed.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cantons_of_Switzerland
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Firearms_regulation_in_Switzerland
https://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/swiss-politics/swiss-us-democracy_standing-at-the-forefront-of-swiss-federalism-were-the-iroquois/43645216
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If you mean "any form of degenerate government," rather than "totalitarianism," instead particular, then all of them are likely to do so over time as a matter of human nature. We do what we feel is best for ourselves first, and our family second.
Sometimes, this leads to positive ends, such as donating to charity just to get that ‘warm and fuzzy’ feeling. More often than not, however, it leads to us choosing ourselves over others in society. Over many years, this tendency slowly causes governments to degrade into wicked, degenerate versions of their former selves.
Plato developed the basis for anacyclosis, the cycle of regimes, and Polybius expanded upon it using the innumerable city-states in the Mediterranean region. The important thing to understand about this theory is that it exclusively uses simple forms of government to illustrate the reasons for why compound governments are more resilient, but also that they have only slowed the decay–not put a stop to it.
Below is a relevant excerpt from the Polybius link above:
>The truth of what I say is evident from the following considerations. It is by no means every monarchy which we can call straight off a kingship, but only that which is voluntarily accepted by the subjects and where they are governed rather by an appeal to their reason than by fear and force. Nor again can we style every oligarchy an aristocracy, but only that where the government is in the hands of a selected body of the justest and wisest men. Similarly that is no true democracy in which the whole crowd of citizens is free to do whatever they wish or purpose, but when, in a community where it is traditional and customary to reverence the gods, to honor our parents, to respect our elders, and to obey the laws, the will of the greater number prevails, this is to be called a democracy. We should therefore assert that there are six kinds of governments, the three above mentioned which are in everyone’s mouth and the three which are naturally allied to them, I mean monarchy, oligarchy, and mob-rule.
> Now the first of these to come into being is monarchy, its growth being natural and unaided; and next arises kingship derived from monarchy by the aid of art and by the correction of defects. Monarchy first changes into its vicious allied form, tyranny; and next, the abolishment of both gives birth to aristocracy. Aristocracy by its very nature degenerates into oligarchy; and when the commons inflamed by anger take vengeance on this government for its unjust rule, democracy comes into being; and in due course the licence and lawlessness of this form of government produces mob-rule to complete the series.
As a result, Plato and Polybius recommended that compound governments be formed, and that they should exhibit aspects of all three higher forms of government: Just Kingship, Wise Aristocracy, and Democracy. This is the basis of both the Roman Republic and our American Republic. John Adams is known to have written extensively on the subject, as well as Thomas Paine.
Our Republic was designed from the beginning to hold off the cycle’s turn for as long as possible by compounding our government. We have the President (who once represented a Just King, now a Tyrant), the Senate (who once represented a Wise Aristocracy, now an Oligarchy), and the House (who once represented Democracy, but are now allied with the Oligarchs and are threatening to degrade into Ochlocracy).
Which form of Republic will outlast other Republican governments? I’d think that more checks and balances would balance-out the human nature effects that lead to degradation, and less centralized power would help as well.
It would make it harder for people in power to choose themselves over others, and thereby build resilience to change. In the longterm (centuries-milleniums), this slows the turning of the cycle and political degradation. That resilience to change, however, prevents some changes that may be positive for the average person in the short-term (decades-centuries), so hopefully you like it how it is.
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