Examples Of Liberal Democracy Vs Totalitarianism

Since the dawn of human civilization, individuals have been constantly immersed in conflict with each other. Whether these conflicts stemmed from socio-economic inequalities, political disputes, property rights, religious disagreements, or any other contentious matter, the creation of human governments has necessarily been to handle, organize, and resolve conflicts between people within communities in the least destructive manner possible. Governments act as a formal instrument through which individuals in a society can agree upon shared rules, solve problems, and engage in cooperative behavior, and it helps avoid the severe repercussions resulting from revolutionary social upheaval. The purpose of government – as spelled out in the Preamble of the Constitution – is to “establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity.” While countless forms of government have sprung up over the centuries, only one has been resilient enough and has had the pervasive influence necessary to stand the test of time: democracy. While there are many different types of democracies, this paper will focus on liberal democracy specifically. A liberal democracy is a form of representative democracy that operates under the paradigm of classical liberalism. According to the Center for Research on Globalization, liberal democracy is defined as:

Societies subject to totalitarian reign experience a complete degradation of both civil and natural born rights. Entire populations are forced to follow a strict regimen, often against their free will and good judgement. In 1984, George Orwell warns of such corrupted power of a totalitarian regime. Big Brother instills a looming fear that agitates the people of Oceania, which, in the hearts of some, ignites a cry of rebellion. Those trying to peacefully challenge the system, much like Winston and Julia, are met with a cruel fate of reassimilation. Under totalitarian rule of Big Brother, such actions of civil disobedience are not effective because of the government's disinterest of citizen acceptance, unrelenting power, and a complete control

Nations all around the world are still healing from the wounds of twentieth century totalitarianism, yet more seems to be on the horizon. In his 1984 magnum opus, George Orwell warns future generations of the many dangers of allowing government, or the powerful few, from being the chiefs of law expression and history using the eerie, all-powerful dystopian Party. Unfortunately, it is a warning few have truly heeded in the past half century. Resulting from a lack of written laws, the Party may prosecute its citizens relentlessly and without reason. Moreover, the Party maintains an iron grip on all published information, ensuring a death hold on all free expression and education. Yet, above all, the Party controls history; it rewrites, revises and republishes the past to secure their totalitarian future. In spite of these warnings, the decades following the publication of this novel saw nations continue on the

Furthermore, in “1984” the main character Winston realizes that their government dictates the history keeping the citizens uninformed to a life with freedom. The ignorance of the people relinquishes the citizen’s freedom and power to the party. Winston points out that this countenances them to manipulate the people, “who controls the past controls the future. Who controls the present controls the past” (Orwell 360). When The Party is able to control the history they are able to manipulate their citizens to believing that the government that is being practiced is appropriate

Democracy is the ultimate political form of ideological liberalism. It refers to the ideal form of state, and is common to both classical and modern liberals.

A totalitarian government thrives on selfishness and strive for goals that are always for the benefit of one person or a small group of people that are in power. The most common example of this in world history is Nazi Germany during World War II. This flaw in political history make up a time that most people try to forget. The control that Hitler had over Nazi Germany brought about countless social, economical, and political issues to Europe. His society was founded on a racist hatred towards the

Over the years the Government or some other authoritative figure have tried to shape society into what they think is best. This quite often backfires due to an eventual difference in views or ideas. In trying to make an equal society any uniqueness or individuality is condemned. Comments drawn from these two works, “1984 by George Orwall” and “Harrison Bergeron by Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.” will show a comparison of how a government’s attempt to create a perfect society can go wrong and how an official can change the people with in a country through physical force into obeying.

George Orwell’s 1984 is a prime example of a deep dystopia with a totalitarian government. Totalitarian governments have full and total control. The Inner Party, which is the main form of government in Oceania, has total control over its people’s thoughts and actions. They use many forms of abuse in order to control them. The Inner Party controls the government and is the upper class. The middle class is called the Outer Party. These people are given jobs from the government and are more educated than the Proles, which make up the lower class. The Outer Party is in charge of executing the Inner Party’s policies, but they have no say in them. The government uses many forms of manipulation to control their people. The members of Oceania’s society do not misbehave out of fear of punishment. People who betray the government vanish. They disappear and there is no evidence that they even existed. The government also uses the threat of abuse to keep its people in line. People of Oceania know they can be tortured or killed for even the slightest misdemeanor. The middle class is led to believe that they are living a high quality life through a method of false prosperity. The government fools people by changing history so the only form of truth the people think they have is their own memory. Many people discard their own memories and believe whatever the Party tells them is truth. Winston Smith is the character in which the book is centered around. He has doubts

Over seventy years after he lived and wrote, the works of English journalist and democratic socialist George Orwell, continue to fascinate, stimulate and enrage his readers concerning the structure of society and the organization of government. The controversial writer openly spoke out against the absolute power of any government, warning that a fascist government would deprive its people of their basic freedoms and liberties. Orwell’s novel, 1984, serves as a reminder of the danger of totalitarianism by depicting a future in which all citizens live under the constant surveillance of the “Big Brother.” Through the main character, Winston Smith, Orwell demonstrates the dangers of totalitarianism; writing of the consequences of absolute government in several essays and proposing socialism as an alternative. To Orwell, the role of government is to represent the common people rather than the old and the privileged.

The majoritarian model is currently being used in Canadas political economy, however, Canada’s would be better off with a shift to the consensus model as it included all minority groups and represented the true meaning of democracy. The consensus model represented the people in a society by including minority groups, using a federal or decentralized government and a multi-party system. The consensus model ensured the inclusion of groups in plural societies, where this was absent under a majoritarian ruling. A majoritarian model of government only made decisions in the hands of a select few, whereas, in a consensus model the power was divided in a federal or decentralized government. Finally, a consensus model allowed for multiple parties to run for election under the multiparty system and voting was done under proportional representation. However, in a majoritarian government, there are two parties running for office which operated under a disproportional election.

The novel 1984 written by George Orwell gives the reader a distinct view of a dystopian society. The government in the novel is very controlling. It uses propaganda to manipulate its people to believe what it wants them to believe. In general; nowadays, other governments have freedom and fewer rules but, they still show on the television: such as the news for what they want their people to know. The party in the novel shows a representation and a similarity to the government Germany in 1933. However, both were not successful. George Orwell’s 1984 suggests that an authoritarian government that uses propaganda to control its citizens cannot be successful.

Historically, literature has always echoed the key issues and themes present during that time. In the period which Orwell wrote this novel, totalitarian government was a popular concept seeing implementation around the world such as Nazi Germany, Soviet Russia, and Mussolini’s Italy. In the novel 1984. While Orwell’s world is a fictional one, it can be said that he uses it as a voice for social commentary, and he predictions as to what a world would be like if totalitarian governments would rule the world. This essay will aim to explore how Orwell goes about doing this.

The governments in today’s society have brainwashed their citizens into believing everything their leader says and thinks is correct and everything else is wrong. This can sometimes be known as a totalitarian government. George Orwell’s novel 1984 revolves around totalitarianism. The members of the party in Oceania are taught and required to worship their leader Big Brother whether they believe in him or not. In the novel 1984, George Orwell shows the problems and the hatred with a totalitarian government through his use of symbolism, situational irony, and indirect characterization.

Two totalitarian regimes which are both political systems and influenced society significantly are Communism and Nazism. They influenced and changed people’s rights, their views on things and people in general. Communism and Nazism are the two totalitarian systems I’m going to talk about. They were spread in different areas, but both of them caused big consequences. Communism started in Russian and spread around in Eastern Europe and Nazism started in Germany and spread in that area. People have gone through many bad times when those two totalitarian systems were in power, but we can’t always say that people’s lives were better before they were in power.

Liberal democracy, with a capitalist economy, is the only form of social organization that will work in this world. Socialism and Communism appear to be sound in theory, but would never come close to achieving what capitalism does. Liberal democracy and capitalism allow for a beneficial competition where communism does not. This competition, in the liberal tradition, on both political and economical levels, allows for the best balance of security and freedom to the people under the government. However, this liberal tradition does not take care of every problem, but it does a better job than any alternative. Competition is a necessity in this world. A more competitive market allows for a more functional