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Democracy According To John Moon's Essay

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Moreover, Moon argues that “[e]lections are lauded as symbolic of the arrival of democracy, but every democratic theorist agrees that there is far more to democracy that elections” (116). Removing Saddam Hussein and setting up elections, does not address the underlying systematic issues within the country. There are other Baathist leaders besides Hussein, and removing the dictator does not remove the Sunni versus Shia conflict within the region. Moon goes on to state that “[a]n Iraqi-headed government may embody sovereignty, but scholars of democracy are unanimous that the tricky part of maintaining the monopoly on the legitimate use of force lies not in creating instruments of power, but in constraining its illegitimate exercise. That requires …show more content…

Just like within Mockingjay, elections were seen as the end result to creating a democracy, rather than simply the initial phase. Moon explores two key claims, “…the more autocratic the nation, the longer it will take to achieve democracy” and “…the more prolonged the autocracy, the more difficult and protracted any democratic transition will be” (117). The rhetoric of the Bush administration promoting the democratization of Iraq did not include a realistic image of the time, information, political connections, and resources required to even help the country set up a functioning democracy. The removal of Saddam Hussien was just the beginning, but it was constructed as the ultimate goal, just like removing Snow was Katniss’s primary mission. Although Moon’s claims effectively show how the historical contexts of governmental systems contribute to footholds of authoritarianism within a country, this isn’t explored within Mockingjay and it was not fully addressed in our discussion of

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