State Institutions: Comparing Norway And Ethiopia

Great Essays
The Significance of State Institutions:
A Comparison between Norway and Ethiopia
There are several different ways in which a state can choose to govern its citizens. The two types of government that are frequently analyzed and structurally oppose one another are authoritarian versus democratic regimes. The main difference between a democracy and an authoritarian regime is that a democracy is comprised of a government that reflects the wants of its citizens. On the other hand an authoritarian regime consists of a government that has unwavering control over its population. There is an ongoing promotion for democracy to be universally adopted as the dominant form of government. This promotion of democracy has not been fully successful due to there
…show more content…
The Freedom House is, “an independent watchdog organization dedicated to the expansion of freedom and democracy around the world.” (Freedom House 2016). If a state is democratic it will receive a lower score and the freedom status will be classified as ‘free.’ Ethiopia’s freedom status is ‘not free.’ It has a freedom rating of a 6.5. Another way to look at how democratic a country is to examine the political and civil rights score a state is given by the Freedom House. Again the lower the score the more democratic a state is. Ethiopia has a political rights score of a 7 and a civil liberties score of 6 (Freedom House 2016). The poor scores Ethiopia received can be attributed to the political instituion of Ethiopia as the Freedom House reports it, “recognizes that freedom is possible only in democratic political environments where governments are accountable to their own people.” Ethiopia is a country that represses political and civil rights which has led to citizens not being able to discuss their concerns or needs. Another way in which Ethiopia is a weak instituion is because of its high level of corruption. According to the Freedom House, “corruption remains a significant problem in Ethiopia. EPRDF officials reportedly receive preferential access to credit, land leases, and jobs.” A strong political instituion does not put the public interests second or seek to only benefit themselves. “Political corruption…common in countries where democratic institutions are weak or absent. Private rather than public interests dictate policy” (Transparency International 2016). Ethiopia does not have a constructive political instituion because it is lacking within its leadership to utilize the resources available to the country to work in the interests of its

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    Bostonistan Case Study

    • 2073 Words
    • 9 Pages

    A stable democracy typically is better off financially, less likely to go to war and better positioned to fight corruption. This is why states across the globe stride toward a democracy and depending on circumstances fail. For example, Bostonistan and Germany, established democracy, but due to divided parties and gridlock this form of government was no longer acceptable. There is no variation of democracy that ensures success, however it will triumph when the right systems align with the citizens ' values and states history. From there the Government’s commitment to root out corruption, abandon failed old practices, and take account public interest will lead to a steady successful state.…

    • 2073 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front officials are granted with things such as credit, land leases and good paying jobs, whereas, lower-level officials grant bribes in return for processing documents. In support with this information, even with the changing of the government from dictatorship to democracy there are still many changes that need to be made ensure that the country will run…

    • 1587 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Great Essays

    Absolutism Dbq Analysis

    • 1216 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Liberty and freedom is often overlooked in some countries but other countries have never seen freedom or liberty before. That is because our vast world has many different forms of government with different forms of control, two being democratic rule and absolute rule. Democracy by definition is a system of government by the whole population or all eligible members of a state, typically through elected representatives. Many countries today have democratic governments such as the United States of America, Argentina, Brazil, Canada, and Mexico. Ancient Greece is credited with the birth of democracy in the 5th century B.C.E. Originally, democracies favored free men and granted them the right to vote.…

    • 1216 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Foreign Aid Limitations

    • 736 Words
    • 3 Pages

    The limitations on Foreign Aid include whether or not it is effective, deciding between a planner and searcher, and misallocation of provided aid by government officials. The billions of dollars that have been collected worldwide, and specifically designated to foreign aid, have been abused by politicians in developing countries and in turn, have registered as not generating an economic growth or negatively affecting a developing country’s economy. The big argument within economics and foreign aid is whether or not it is effective. Economists argue for both sides; however, with no sufficient amount of concrete evidence it is impossible to determine which claim is true.…

    • 736 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Chapter 5 Of Dahl Summary

    • 794 Words
    • 4 Pages

    In chapter 5 of Dahl, he discusses the different associations through which governments practice is rules. He discusses the different government systems, and the main reasons why a democratic government is the best way of governing compared to alternatives. Democracy refers to governments that meet a specific criteria. In the previous chapters, he discusses how a government can never be totally democratic because it is impossible to meet every single criteria, but a system of governing can in fact be more democratic than others. Dahl discusses ten advantages of governing a state democratically.…

    • 794 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    A strong democracy is essential for a state’s freedoms, liberties, and its well being. In order to obtain these notions, a democracy must receive legitimacy from the people. Legitimacy is the concept in which the people believe and give their consent to the government for its right to rule. A democracy functions accordingly to people’s will, and legitimacy will only fortify a democracy as the people will be allowed to judge and express opinions to make final decisions regarding the status of government officials and their privilege to hold power and rule over the state and citizens. As a first time democracy, Xlandia can begin to build legitimacy as it “binds itself to the rule of law.”…

    • 438 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    There are many counties with many different forms of government. Although, what is widely considered to be the best form of government is democracy, it allows citizens to have a variety of rights and freedoms while putting constraints on the government’s power. Authoritarian regimes on the other hand are widely considered to be awful forms of government. Authoritarian regimes have centralized leadership without any real checks on power and suppression of civil liberties. This begs the question, if authoritarian regimes are so bad, why are they seen so much?…

    • 1444 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    All governments are created to maintain a certain degree of order. Some governments allow each citizen an equal opportunity to participate in political outcomes. Other governments restrict the ability of citizens to have any influence over their nation’s rule. Both cases fall within the scale of government types: from oppressive regimes to anarchist factions. Although these types can differ dramatically, the same goal of all governments remains alike.…

    • 1252 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Decent Essays

    The United States has a very strong democracy compared to an authoritarian government. Authoritarian governments enforce strict obedience to authority and expects everyone to follow it. The United States on the other hand has citizens who stand up for the country. I will tell you about the difference in leading styles and the extent of the government power. Authoritarian governments inherit their positions or take it forcefully.…

    • 260 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Which set of individuals hold the power to both rule and govern a society, and how this power is acquired, is of crucial importance as it determines the overall way of life of a given group. Relations of power and politics are highly fluid, and can present themselves in a variety of divergent forms. A common form of political power relations is democracy. Democratic political rule involves a system of power relations vested in either elected individuals or the people themselves (Murrel, 2007). In contrast to democratic political rule is oligarchy.…

    • 1875 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Ronald Reagan once said “Government's first duty is to protect the people, not run their lives.” Yet some types of governments disagree. They believe that it is the governments job to run their lives. Dictatorship and almost every other type of government disagrees with Reagan. The type of government that agrees with him is democracy.…

    • 453 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    There are two types of model that consist in this world false utopia and the myth/reality. According to Thomas M. Magstadt totalitarian is a political system in which every facet of the society, the economy, and the government is tightly controlled by the ruling elite. Authoritarianism is a system in which all legitimate power rest in one person called a dictator or small group known as oligarchy (Magstadt pg 90& 120). Totalitarianism and Authoritarianism are both like the dictatorship form of governance, but there are great differences between them, namely: who control the political power, the relationship between the ruler and the ruled, and how the dictator comes to political power. Totalitarianism is integral part of contemporary history.…

    • 763 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    Many studies have shown that democracy brings economic and social benefits for its citizens. The fact that poor democracies frequently outdo poor autocracies in bringing services and human well-being shows how strong this case is. Lekvall (2013:29) argues that outside Eastern Asia, ‘the median per capita growth rates of poor democracies have been 50 per cent higher than those of autocracies. Moreover, the risk that poor autocracies will experience severe economic contractions is twice that of poor democracies. The quality of life in poor democracies is significantly better than in poor…

    • 1947 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Every nation and country has a way of running itself; a way to govern what is considered lawful and unlawful. In the United States of American, there is a massive controversial debate about whether our democracy is majoritarian or if it is more pluralistic in nature. Some may argue that the mass public, or every citizen in the country, is able to control the government’s actions. Others will state that many groups are able to work together amongst themselves to be able to allow more involvement of the citizens in a majority of the nation’s decisions. Both of these ideas of how our government works are similar in ways as well as different in many other ways.…

    • 1617 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Importance Of Democracy Essay

    • 1172 Words
    • 5 Pages
    • 2 Works Cited

    Not only do the people have zero power to interfere in the governing body, but they sometimes are persecuted due to their beliefs, race, language and religion. Therefore, democracy is the best policy to adapt to balance out the involvement of minorities and majorities in affairs other than…

    • 1172 Words
    • 5 Pages
    • 2 Works Cited
    Superior Essays