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Example research essay topic: Alexis De Tocqueville Democracy In America - 1,902 words

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... the typical feature of aristocracy only. Maybe when Plato wrote his Crito the process of the classical polity decay had gone far away and the appeals to come back were some kind of utopia. According to it a conclusion could be made that Plato did not promote aristocracy but admitted the end of unified classic polity. Further explanation of the origin of state gave Italian scholar Nicolo Machiavelli (1469 1527). In his treatise The Prince Machiavelli tries to explain the origin of states.

From the very beginning Machiavelli admits the force as a method of acquiring the states. He opposes state to a freedom. Such dominions thus acquired are either accustomed to live under a prince, or to live in freedom; and are acquired either by the arms of the prince himself, or of others, or else by fortune or by ability. 10 At first sight The Prince is some kind of manual how to manage the state. Unlike other scholars Machiavelli gives certain algorithms if you want to gain this or that result you should take appropriate actions. This book is very useful for the politicians who just start their political career first of all by the logic of narration. It is based on the deep knowledge of the ancient sources.

The innovative approach of Machiavelli is that he treats politics as one of the branch of human knowledge. But the most practical value is that the author while answering question how attempts to explain why these or those phenomena take place in the life of a state. He even tries to suggest some ideal model of the state management and the Prince or ruler corresponding to it. Machiavelli asserts that a stable state is the main priority and thus any actions to gain such aim are approved if even they are violent or even cruel.

Author asserts that a state needs to posses such a strong institution as army because a state according to Machiavelli must defend itself and has a right to attack other territories. Such conclusion is similar to that of Hobbes a state of war, but unlike Hobbes Machiavelli stands for the sound laws as a basis of any state. Army according to Machiavelli is an integral part of any state. In his speculations on military defense Machiavelli is against the mercenaries. He proves that mercenaries may be dangerous for the state security. He gives examples from the ancient history, Of ancient mercenaries, for example, there are the Carthaginians, who were oppressed by their mercenary soldiers after the first war with the Romans, although the Carthaginians had their own citizens for captains.

After the death of Epaminondas, Philip of Macedon was made captain of their soldiers by the Thebans, and after victory he took away their liberty. 11 Mercenaries can be either strong warriors or unskilled ones. If they are strong they will bring the threat to citizens who employed them and if they are weak, then the citizens will loose a battle. It is a duty of Prince to head an army during the battle. Machiavelli studies the question what it is better to be loved or to be feared. According to him a power should rest on fear rather than on love. Of course it is ideally if a ruler is loved and feared at the same time but it hardly can be.

According to Machiavelli fear is needed to keep his subjects united and loyal. He says that cruelty may turn to mercy more that it may be seen because cruelty may prevent from disorders, murders and robberies i. e. from chaos. This is a very dangerous statement of Machiavelli. If we analyze the modern history we can see that this statement, i.

e. desire to establish order using any means brought the bloodiest regimes to the power. In 1933 it was used by Nazi while seizing a power in Germany; in 1991 there was an attempt to bring safety and order by means of troops in Moscow etc. Machiavelli does not speak of ethical issues. A state is a main priority. The most important question for him is how to manage a state.

The power should be based on the stable basis otherwise it will loose. A firm basis for power according to Machiavelli consists of the sound laws and a strong army. But good laws can not exist if there is no strong army and if there is a good army there are good laws. The laws are supported by the armed force and it means there is neither social justice no human right. Such model of a state behavior could be somehow approved during extraordinary periods like threat of outer invasion, war or alike. In such cases ruler can usurp full power temporarily and follow Machiavelli's doctrine as it was during the WWII etc. , but in everyday life the Machiavelli's state is the typical example of dictatorship resting on the armed force.

The extreme opposed vision of a state gave Alexis Tocqueville (29, July, 180516, April, 1859) in his Democracy in America. He studied the political processes and their results on the pattern of America. He describes the revolutions taking place in Europe as ways to equality. Gradual establishment of the total equality is an unavoidable process. Tocqueville studies the phenomena of equality and democracy on the pattern of the United States. The equality of conditions is the result of a social revolution.

Equality influences the entire life of society and people. Tocqueville was the first who touched the problem of racial relations in the context of the state in general. The first who attracts the eye, the first in enlightenment, in power and in happiness, is the white man, the European, man par excellence; below him appear the Negro and the Indian. These two unfortunate races have neither birth, nor face, nor language, nor mores in common; only their misfortunes look alike.

Both occupy an equally inferior position in the country that they inhabit; both experience the effects of tyranny; and if their miseries are different, they can accuse the same author for them. 12 While describing the political party system of the United States he points out that there are countries with a number of political parties having various ideological platforms and the threat of inner armed confrontation is probable. Such parties have nothing but differences in common. In the United States there are two major parties. Both of them share the same democratic values. The difference was that Federalists tried to limit the power of people and the Republicans were supporters of the wide liberties. Federalists were in minority but they fulfilled their mission by preventing the entire political system from the anarchy after the ruin of the first Confederation.

Tocqueville points out the ability of Americans to combine individualism with the interests of others. They (Americans) therefore do not deny that every man may follow his own interest, but they endeavor to prove that it is the interest of every man to be virtuous. 13 Tocqueville also notes that people in democratic countries are independent and not strong enough. They are not able to withstand all challenges individually. They would be helpless if they did not start assisting each other. Social unions play important roles in the life of society.

Americans tend to unite in various associations, unions, committees etc. The ability to create social associations of citizens is one of the main principles of democracy. Tocqueville using the United States as an example, comparing them with other countries, mainly France studied the basic principles of a democratic country, how it should be built and managed. Karl Marx in his German Ideology (1845) analyses the background of this or that social regime. He writes that the attitude towards labor is a key factor of defining the social development.

According to Marx the contradictions in the society are based on the division of labor. Common interests according to Marx do not coincide with the interests of individuals. The interaction between the members of society based on private property is more hostile than constructive. As we see people are not free at all in such conditions For as soon as the distribution of labour comes into being, each man has a particular, exclusive sphere of activity, which is forced upon him and from which he cannot escape. 14 Marx gives the definition of classes; they are formed on the principle of owning the production means. The ideas of the ruling class are in every epoch the ruling ideas, i. e.

the class which is the ruling material force of society, is at the same time its ruling intellectual force. The class which has the means of material production at its disposal, has control at the same time over the means of mental production, so that thereby, generally speaking, the ideas of those who lack the means of mental production are subject to it. 15 Karl Marx was the first who bring the term of class confrontation into the science of society. According to Marx the division of society according to attitude to the production means makes one class (owning such means) dominate over another one and this domination will sooner or later lead to the revolutionary conflict. The main idea of Marx which he developed in most of his works was that the Communism was the top priority of the social development. Socialism is a transitional stage preceding the communism.

The modern history showed the failure of the Communism-Socialism doctrine. It indicated that only private property and a fair competition moves the social progress. All socialism-communism regimes sooner or later turned to so-called capitalism way of development. As for the term socialism itself it is a rather contradictory issue. If it is based on the observation of social rights and freedoms, countries which are considered to be socialist ones sooner or later turn to totalitarian rule (North Korea), dissolve (USSR) or accept economic principles of the free society remaining nominally the socialist ones (Vietnam). There are more examples of so-called capitalist countries where the social aspect (health care, pensions, and salaries) is even more substantial than that which used to be in countries with a socialist regime.

Citation: Thomas Hobbes, Ch XIII Hanna Arendt, p. 130 John Locke, Ch. 2, Sect. 4 Ibid, Ch. 11 Ibid, Ch. 11 Aristotle, Politics, Book 1 Ibid Aristotle, Politics, Book II, part 4 Plato, Crito Machiavelli, Ch. 1 Ibid, Ch. 12 Alexis de Tocqueville, Ch 18, vol. 1 Ibid, Ch. 8 vol. 2 Karl Marx, Private Property and Communism Ibid Bibliography Thomas Hobbes, Livia than, The Project Gutenberg EBook of Leviathan, by Thomas Hobbes, May 2002, (Ebook # 3207), available at web downloaded 11. 12. 2009 Arendt Hanna, Eichmann in Jerusalem, A report on the banality of evil, Revised and enlarged edition, The Viking Press inc, 1964, e-text available at web, downloaded 11. 12. 2009 John Locke, Second Treatise of Civil Government, 1690, available at web downloaded 11. 12. 2009 Aristotle, Politics, available at web downloaded 11. 12. 2009 Crito, Plato, Translated by Sanderson Beck, available at web downloaded 11. 12. 2009 Machiavelli, Nicolo; The Prince; translated by W. K. Marriott, February 11, 2006 [EBook # 1232 ], available at web downloaded 11. 12. 2009 Alexis de Tocqueville, Democracy in America, available at web downloaded 11. 12. 09 Karl Marx, The German Ideology. 1845, available at web downloaded 11. 12. 09


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