Mankind has seen an awful lot of varying forms of governance all through the ages. the earliest being attributed to brute force and savagery. Where the biggest meanest was king, down to the middle ages with Monarchical systems and right down to present day Democracy. The key that was often the reason for each transition seems to have been the promise of a better life for society's most vulnerable. With each form it was inevitable that after a period of time the populace would come to realize that they settled for less. Hence, one revolution after another. Some bloody and swift some mundane and gradual. Nevertheless a transition always ensued.
I am not a historian, neither am I a political analyst or strategist. All the same I can not help but be amused by the different forms of governance at play all around the world. There seems to be two distinct categories. Monarchical Dictatorships and Democratic Dictatorships. The former being borne from hereditary factors, the latter? Well it happens to be a factor of a multitude of mitigating factors, the crux of which is the psychological state of mind of the populace which is often closely linked to cultural and traditional practices handed down through the generations.
The form of democracy in the United States can almost be described as a political joke. We have in quotes Red states and Blue states. What this largely implies is that no matter what the "Red" or the "Blue" political party are selling there are a certain number of people (an uncomfortably large part of the population) who would always vote for them. It's almost as if it were a religious rite carried out every four years. As if this wasn't ridiculous enough, there are also a smaller group of people who are usually referred to as undecided voters. This small but extremely annoying group of people could and are swayed by the most trivial of things. So, largely due to the entrenched beliefs and behaviors of these "Red" and "Blue" voters, elections are largely decided by this smaller group of people who are not in the least mindful or bothered about government policy or the economy as it were. So, where does the definition "government for the people, by the people" come in? Well, It doesn't. Not at the moment anyway. All the same, to an extent it does work.
In the United Kingdom it is a more closely contested form of governance, where politicians are swiftly punished for nonperformance. Regardless of ones political party or religious affiliation. Irrespective of this, it is still a somewhat lopsided arrangement given the fact that due to deep seated behavioral tendencies the ordinary people are less likely to arrive at or come by the opportunity to stand for election or have any meaningful say in the government. So, we see a constant stream of people with similar backgrounds which more often than not stems around a slightly more privileged upbringing. In other words a large number of people in government happen to be old school chums and fraternity colleagues. All the same, it does work. To an extent it does.
Moving to Africa, here we have a more confused, maybe even epileptic form of something. It, could hardly be called a democracy, not any where on the continent. Though, there were varying forms of pre-colonial democratically elected forms of governance. Colonization seem to have obliterated that and replaced it with the modern form of democracy. Between this transition was a vacuum. A vacuum which seems to have caused some sort of mental upheaval in the average Africans psyche. Modern democracy in Africa has been like trying to force a square peg into a round hole. And so, while the world largely moves on, Africa and Africans are constantly being hampered by miss-governance, corruption, and the ruinously crippling fingers of corruption. So, in most African states chaos is the norm. In varying degrees but chaos it is.
The idea of governance, of any form or shade is supposed to be centered on catering and looking out for the old, the weak and the most vulnerable in our society. But then just like animals do, what we see these days is a consistent and systematic predatory behavior on the most vulnerable by governments. It seems to be now the only mode of survival. It is either the most vulnerable being tricked into stepping into some vicious wheel or rat race to make sure funds are available to oil the joints and hinges of a government or to take from the weaker by force in other to feed to the populace so as to extend by any means a stay in government. A ghoulish mantra it is but it does work. It surely works.
And so, just like a continuum, mankind is headed back to savagery. Where the meanest, baddest, biggest guy is King. look around you, what do you see? We may as well be back in the caves as early men the only difference seems to be that the bad guy has got a different club.
I am not a historian, neither am I a political analyst or strategist. All the same I can not help but be amused by the different forms of governance at play all around the world. There seems to be two distinct categories. Monarchical Dictatorships and Democratic Dictatorships. The former being borne from hereditary factors, the latter? Well it happens to be a factor of a multitude of mitigating factors, the crux of which is the psychological state of mind of the populace which is often closely linked to cultural and traditional practices handed down through the generations.
The form of democracy in the United States can almost be described as a political joke. We have in quotes Red states and Blue states. What this largely implies is that no matter what the "Red" or the "Blue" political party are selling there are a certain number of people (an uncomfortably large part of the population) who would always vote for them. It's almost as if it were a religious rite carried out every four years. As if this wasn't ridiculous enough, there are also a smaller group of people who are usually referred to as undecided voters. This small but extremely annoying group of people could and are swayed by the most trivial of things. So, largely due to the entrenched beliefs and behaviors of these "Red" and "Blue" voters, elections are largely decided by this smaller group of people who are not in the least mindful or bothered about government policy or the economy as it were. So, where does the definition "government for the people, by the people" come in? Well, It doesn't. Not at the moment anyway. All the same, to an extent it does work.
In the United Kingdom it is a more closely contested form of governance, where politicians are swiftly punished for nonperformance. Regardless of ones political party or religious affiliation. Irrespective of this, it is still a somewhat lopsided arrangement given the fact that due to deep seated behavioral tendencies the ordinary people are less likely to arrive at or come by the opportunity to stand for election or have any meaningful say in the government. So, we see a constant stream of people with similar backgrounds which more often than not stems around a slightly more privileged upbringing. In other words a large number of people in government happen to be old school chums and fraternity colleagues. All the same, it does work. To an extent it does.
Moving to Africa, here we have a more confused, maybe even epileptic form of something. It, could hardly be called a democracy, not any where on the continent. Though, there were varying forms of pre-colonial democratically elected forms of governance. Colonization seem to have obliterated that and replaced it with the modern form of democracy. Between this transition was a vacuum. A vacuum which seems to have caused some sort of mental upheaval in the average Africans psyche. Modern democracy in Africa has been like trying to force a square peg into a round hole. And so, while the world largely moves on, Africa and Africans are constantly being hampered by miss-governance, corruption, and the ruinously crippling fingers of corruption. So, in most African states chaos is the norm. In varying degrees but chaos it is.
The idea of governance, of any form or shade is supposed to be centered on catering and looking out for the old, the weak and the most vulnerable in our society. But then just like animals do, what we see these days is a consistent and systematic predatory behavior on the most vulnerable by governments. It seems to be now the only mode of survival. It is either the most vulnerable being tricked into stepping into some vicious wheel or rat race to make sure funds are available to oil the joints and hinges of a government or to take from the weaker by force in other to feed to the populace so as to extend by any means a stay in government. A ghoulish mantra it is but it does work. It surely works.
And so, just like a continuum, mankind is headed back to savagery. Where the meanest, baddest, biggest guy is King. look around you, what do you see? We may as well be back in the caves as early men the only difference seems to be that the bad guy has got a different club.
