North Korean Authoritarian Government
In this paper, I will attempt to explain why authoritarianism regimes such as the one in North Korea, still continues to govern even though the government is one of the more corrupted types of government still in existence today. The word authoritarianism is defined as, “a form of government in which the ruler is an absolute dictator (not restricted by a constitution or laws or opposition etc.)”(Word Net) There are currently many countries in our world that are not democratic societies. There are authoritarian regimes that still exist today. Probably one of the more well known authoritarian regimes is the government in North Korea. North Korea gained its independence from Japan in the year
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Of course no country wants to start a war with North Korea because of their military strength and their nuclear weapons. “A number of stabilizing elements assist the regime’s efforts to maintain internal order. The society seems united in popular support for the party, and the people have a strong sense of national pride. Kim Il Sung, by all indications, truly is admired and supported by the general population.” (Federal Research Division Library of Congress: Pg 275) It is difficult for people that are from a democratic government to actually understand why authoritarianism governments work. Most all of the authoritarianism governments that I know have a strong following from their people. Whether the masses like the leader because he is helping the economy or helping a food shortage situation is another story. Personally I think these people in these countries are so afraid of what the leader might do to them or their family that they just do what they are told. Of course these people have never had it any other way. They don’t know what it is like to have a democracy. They don’t know what it is like to voice their opinion. The people in North Korea didn’t get to choose where they wanted to be born. If we had a free world I’m sure when some of those
Dictatorship, is it truly evil or can it be more than that? North Korea has been under a strict rule for many years by over three generations of of leaders. Because of the tight rule citizen have been scared to speak in public and are still scared to this day. Stronger, more powerful humans prey on and dehumanize the weak in order to maintain a higher status. Jack did just this when he came into power on the island. North Korea’s government and Jacks rule from the novel, Lord of the Flies, are very similar in the way that they both are dictatorships, and they control their citizens with fear.
As evident through the striking similarities between the totalitarian government of 1984 and the Communist regime of North Korea, it really is as if Kim Il Sung obtained an early copy of George Orwell’s 1984 and used it as a blueprint for his system (Hitchens n.p.). George Orwell had been exposed to various types of imperialism throughout his early life, leading to a realization of his resentment for authority. Orwell produced the novel with the intent of warning future societies of the dangers of totalitarian governments, yet North Korea epitomizes a flawless depiction of the very authority that Orwell yearned to avoid through providing a detailed illustration of the ramifications of submitting to a tyrannical government (Merriman n.p.).
In the book Northing to Envy, Barbara Demick describes North Korea as an undeveloped country. “You can see the evidence of what once was and has been lost…” (4,Demick) The North Koreas aren’t up to the modern world and still haven’t learned that all humans need rights to be happy. Many aspects of human rights are broken in North Korean society that affect the people negatively, making them feel violated.
The government structure of North Korea has its existence in one man, Kim Jong Un. It existed in his father, Kim Jong Il, before him, and in his grandfather, Kim Il-sung, before him. North Korea has one of the few successful hereditary dictatorships based on a personalistic regime where the leaders are worshipped as almost a deity (after Kim Il-sung’s death he was made “eternal president”) creating a dynastic transfer of power (Aoki, 2012). In China the one party of the Chinese Communist Party will rule as an Authoritarian body over the nation, but in North Korea the sole power rest dangerously in the arms of one person. Some of the reason for this dissimilarity between the two government structures lies in the country’s differing political cultures.
Most people live a life without freedom; it could be because of religion, government, family, or authoritative power. Unfortunately, some people live without freedom to an extent in which they have no true thoughts for themselves. Whether it's through the leading powers of their country or by the process of being brainwashed, certain people live their lives mainly for the superior ambitions of their leaders. In North Korea, the citizens, since birth, are meant to honour Kim Jong Un and all his ideals. Similarly, in George Orwell's 1984, Big Brother and the party are the destruction of souls. As analyzed in Mailto Href and Leela Jacintos “The Country Where Big Brother is watching”, North Korea is a replay of George Orwell's 1984 in many ways.
Authoritarian rulers place themselves above the law without any reprimand. There is no respect for civil society and the population has limited political participation. These rulers often strive to financially benefit themselves rather than their state and any opposition is removed by threats of violence. This increases fear within the population and increases power of the ruler or rulers. All media platforms are censored and monitored and the ruler or party
Authoritarianism is a regime type and, furthermore, a political vision that seeks to create compliance in authority and establish order and peace by striving for absolute legitimacy. In an authoritarian regime, power relations are vertically-organized, where there is little to no accountability for those in power and where civil and political rights of citizens, if established, are restrictive and violated. Two common misconceptions of authoritarianism are that they are durable and they have always have a paternal figure as leader. To the first point: though an authoritarian regime would be relatively simple to establish, the difficult task of legitimizing and consolidating absolute authority makes authoritarian rule an incredibly arduous endeavour. Authoritarian regimes can easily be snubbed out as quickly as they began to burn, pointing to how the legitimacy of authority is by far the most essential tool to the authoritarian. But who is the authoritarian? Many see authoritarian regimes as patrimonial, meaning that though there still might be complex institutions of bureaucracy, security, and even political parties, all authority comes from the top and the top alone. However, there can also be authoritarian regimes run by an institution, whether through a military junta or hegemonic political party. Authoritarianism can easily derive from civil society instead of through the military, yet the coercive powers of military are essential for consolidating power.
In an authoritarian government, there is one leader who makes all of the decisions. They could also have a group of leaders like in our democracy. The only thing is, the people don’t get a say in who is leading them. Instead of holding an election, like we do, the authoritarian government just picks whoever they think fits best. This is a problem because they are taking away the people’s
Unlike the government system we are familiar with today, Hannah Arendt describes totalitarian governments as, “operating according to a system of values so radically different from all others, that none of our traditional legal, moral, or common sense utilitarian categories could any longer help us to come to terms with, or judge, or predict their course of action.” In a dictatorship like North Korea, the actions of Kim Jong-ii is very unpredictable and the people are expected to react accordingly without challenging his
Korea was split into two countries following World War II with the northern half (North Korea) falling under a Communist domination and the southern portion (South Korea) becoming Western-oriented (Korea (North, n.d.). North Korea, officially referred to as the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea has a totalitarianism dictatorship as its current form of government (Korea (North, n.d.). This country initially adopted a constitution in 1942, which has been amended on multiple occasions (North Korea: Government, n.d.). Furthermore, the constitution establishes the country’s status as a socialist state that is defined as a dictatorship of people’s democracy (North Korea: Government, n.d.).
In Authoritarian governments they don't have a president like they do in democracy governments. Authoritarian leaders do not chose to take power of their country they inherited the power, or get chosen through the royal family. Whereas in democracy governments they chose to run for office and the people of the country
For thousands of years the rise of dictatorship and government’s was inevitable. A form of power had to be announced even before cities or countries were formed, to keep people safe and to have boundaries. Ever wondered how laws and rules come into place, it wasn’t just put there by magic, these laws in today’s society have been carefully chosen by the strict leaders over time. However a Dictatorships is a form of authority chosen or passed down by generations to lead a certain country or society. Many countries in today’s society still have dictators, which is unusual due to the new equal government authority over just one leader. Dictators and authoritarian governments in many cases
Individuals who believe that this political concept is impossible, are incorrect. In fact, our nation has a few over obsessive controlling leaders such as North Korea. From the article “Modern Examples of Totalitarian Regimes”, the author shares with the reader, why North Korea is considered a Totalitarian state. The article reads “North Korea does not tolerate any public deviation from the official line. Only one TV channel. Rules through a one rule party and a dictatorship. Mishandling a portrait of Kim Jong- Il is considered illegal. Public executions and torture are showed everyday (Amindu
Most simply, authoritarianism denotes the absence of free elections and the presence of unconstrained power. In this form of non-democratic government, the power and authority wielded by the leader(s) is not contingent upon popular support from the citizenry. Authoritarian leadership may be single or group headed. When a single person heads the government, it is known as an autocracy. When an elite group of individuals head the government, it
Singapore 's former Prime Minster, Lee Kuan Yew once said: "Human beings, regrettable though it may be, are inherently vicious and have to be restrained" (Kwang, Fernandez, & Tan 1). One can infer from Kuan Yew’s statement that he 's subtly saying that individuals shouldn 't be in control of their choices, yet there ought to be somebody to settle on choices for them. An ideology such as this can stem from an authoritarian government. In this day and age, most nations have a tendency to have a democracy. However, it wasn 't generally that way. Throughout history, there were nations under authoritarian rule. In order to fully understand what an authoritarian regime is, one must know the meaning of it. An authoritarian government is "an oppressive regime that rules through strict, intrusive, and violent enforcement of laws. It can “take the form of a dictatorship, but may also manifest itself in totalitarian bureaucracies or oligarchies" (Ritter 576). An authoritarian regime exists when a leader or a small group of leaders owns all property and are the sole decision makers for the entire population. There are only two questions left to be asked. How are authoritarian regimes created and how do they even stay in power? Authoritarian governments ascend to power due to a postwar upheaval and the leader in the charge; they stay in power by employing a resource trap and having a one party system.