Вы находитесь на странице: 1из 19

GMBA 604: BUSINESS ENVIRONMENT POLITICAL (MBA/MSC) LECTURE # 3

POLITICAL SYSTEMS BY

KWAKU OSEI-AKOM
FEBRUARY 25, 2012

As we noted earlier, a political system refers to the system of government in a nation. The laws made by a countrys political system affect the personal lives of people in and visiting the country, as well as the activities of countries doing business there.

Political Participation We can characterize political systems by who participates in them and to what extent they participate. Participation occurs when people voice their opinions, vote, and show general approval or disapproval of the system. Participation can be wide or narrow.

Wide participation occurs when people who are capable of influencing the political system make an effort to do so. For example, most adults living in Ghana have the right to participate in the political process by voting in elections.

Narrow participation occurs when few people participate. In Kuwait, for example, only citizens who can prove Kuwaiti ancestry participate in the political process.

Political Ideologies
We can arrange the worlds three political ideologies on a horizontal scale, with two on either end and one in the middle. At one extreme lies totalitarianism the belief that every aspect of peoples lives must be controlled for a nations political system to be effective.

Totalitarianism disregards individual liberties and treats people as slaves of the political system The state reigns supreme over institutions such as family, religion, business, and labor Totalitarian political systems include authoritarian regimes such as communism and fascism. At the other extreme lies anarchism the belief that only individuals and private groups should control a nations political activities An anarchist views public government as unnecessary and unwanted because it tramples personal liberties Between totalitarianism and anarchism lies pluralism the belief that both private and public groups play important roles in a nations political activities.

Each group (consisting of people with different ethnic, racial, class, and different lifestyle background) serves to balance the power that can be gained by the other. Pluralistic political systems include democracies, constitutional monarchies, and some aristocracies To better understand the elements of politics that influence national business practices, we need to examine two prevalent political systems totalitarianism and democracy. Totalitarianism In a totalitarian system, individuals govern without the support of the people, tightly control peoples lives, and do not tolerate opposing viewpoints. Nazi Germany under Adolf Hitler and the former Soviet Union under Joseph Stalin are historical examples of totalitarian governments.

Today, Myanmar and North Korea are prominent examples of totalitarian governments. Totalitarian leaders attempt to silence those with opposing political views and, therefore, require the near-total centralization of political power. But a pure form of totalitarianism is not possible because no totalitarian government is capable of entirely silencing all its critics. Features of Totalitarian Governments Totalitarian governments tend to share three features a. Imposed authority - An individual or group forms the political system without the approval of the people. - Leaders often acquire and retain power through military force or fraudulent elections. - In some cases, they come to power through legitimate means but then remain in office after their terms expire.

b. Lack of constitutional guarantees Totalitarian systems deny citizens the constitutional guarantees woven into the fabric democratic practice They limit, abuse, or reject concepts such as freedom of expression, periodically held elections, guaranteed civil and property rights, and minority rights. c. Restricted participation Political representation is limited to parties sympathetic to the government or to those who pose no credible threat. In most cases, political opposition is completely banned, and political dissidents are severely punished. Lets now take a detailed look at the two most common types of totalitarian political systems: theocratic and secular.

Theocratic Totalitarianism A political system in which a countrys religious leaders are also its political leaders is called a theocracy. The religious leaders enforce a set of laws and regulations based on religious beliefs. A political system under the control of totalitarian religious leaders is called theocratic totalitarianism. - Iran is a prominent example of a theocratic totalitarian state - Iran has been an Islamic state since the 1979 revolution in which the reigning monarch was overthrown. - Today, many young Iranians appear disenchanted with the strict code imposed on many aspects of their public and private lives, including stringent laws against products and ideas deemed too Western. - They do not question their religious beliefs, but yearn for a more open society.

Secular Totalitarianism A political system in which political leaders rely on military and bureaucratic power is called secular totalitarianism. It takes thee forms: communism, tribal, and right-wing. a. Communist totalitarianism

- Under communist totalitarianism (or simply communism), the government maintains sweeping political and economic powers - The Communist Party controls all aspects of the political system, and opposition parties are given little or no voice. - In general, each party member holding office is required to support all government policies, and dissention is rarely permitted.

b. Tribal totalitarianism - Under tribal totalitarianism, one tribe (or ethnic group) imposes its will on others with who it shares a national identity. - Until quite recently, tribal totalitarianism characterized the governments of several African nations, including Burundi and Rwanda - When the European colonial powers departed Africa, many national boundaries were created with little regard to ethnic differences among the people. - People of different ethnicities found themselves living in the same nations - In time, certain ethnic groups gained political and political power over other groups. Animosity among them often erupted in bloody conflict.

c. Right-wing totalitarianism - Under right-wing totalitarianism, the government endorses private ownership of property and a market-based economy, but grants few (if any) political freedoms - Leaders generally strive for economic growth while opposing left-wing totalitarianism (communism). - Argentina, Brazil, Chile, and Paraguay all had right-wing totalitarian governments. Despite the contradictions between communism and right-wing totalitarianism, Chinas political system is currently a mix of the two ideologies. - Chinas leaders are engineering high economic growth by implementing certain characteristics of a capitalist economy while retaining a hard line in the political sphere.

- The Chinese government is selling off money-losing, staterun companies and encouraging investment needed to modernize its factories. - But Chins still has little patience for dissidents who demand greater political freedom, and it does not allow a completely free press. Doing Business in Totalitarian Countries

What are the costs and benefits of doing business in a totalitarian country?
On the plus side, international companies can be relatively less concerned with local political opposition to their activities. On the negative side, they might need to pay bribes and kickbacks to government officials. Refusal to pay could result in loss of market access or even forfeiture of investments in the country.

In any case, doing business in a totalitarian country can be a risky proposition. In some countries, laws regarding the resolution of contractual disputes are quite specific

In totalitarian nations, the law can be either vague or nonexistent, and people in powerful government positions can interpret laws largely as they please. In China, for instance, it may not matter so much what the law states, but rather how individual bureaucrats interpret the law. The arbitrary nature of totalitarian governments makes it hard for companies to know how laws will be interpreted and applied to their business dealing.
Companies that operate in totalitarian nations are sometimes, criticized for lacking compassion for people hurt by the oppressive policies of their hosts

Executives must decide whether to refrain from investing in totalitarian countries and miss potentially profitable opportunities or invest and bear the brunt of potentially damaging publicity

Democracy A democracy is a political system in which government leaders are elected directly by the wide participation of the people or by their representatives Democracy differs from totalitarianism in nearly every respect. The foundations of modern democracy go back at least as far as the ancient Greeks. The Greeks tried to practice a pure democracy, one in which all citizens participate freely and actively in the political process. But a pure democracy is more an ideal than a workable system for several reasons: - Some people have neither the time nor the desire to get involved in political process. - Also, citizens are less able to participate completely and actively as a population increases and as the barriers of distance and time expand. - Finally, leaders in a pure democracy may find it difficult or impossible to form cohesive policies because direct voting can lead to conflicting popular opinion.

Representative Democracy For practical reasons, most nations resort to a representative democracy, in which citizens elect individuals from their groups to represent their political views. These representatives then help govern the people and pass laws. The people reelect representatives they approve of and replace those they no longer want representing them Representative democracies strive to provide some all of the following: - Freedom of expression. A constitutional right in most democracies, freedom of expression ideally grants the right to voice opinions freely and without fear of punishment.

Periodic elections Each elected representative serves for a period of time, after which the people (the electorate) decide whether to retain that representative.

Two examples of periodic elections include the U.S. presidential elections (held every four years) and French presidential elections (held every seven years)
Full civil and property rights Civil rights include freedom of speech, freedom to organize political parties, and the right to fair trial . Property rights are the privileges and responsibilities of owners of property (home, cars, businesses, and so forth).

Minority rights In theory, democracies try to preserve peaceful coexistence among groups of people with diverse cultural, ethnic, and racial backgrounds. Ideally, the same rights and privileges extend legally to each group, no matter how few its members Nonpolitical bureaucracies

The bureaucracy is the part of government that implements the rules and laws passed by elected representatives. In politicized bureaucracies, bureaucrats tend to implement decisions according to their own political views rather than those of the peoples representatives.
Despite such shared principles, countries vary greatly in the practice of representative democracy

Doing business in democracies Democracies maintain stable business environments primarily through laws that protect individual property rights.

In theory, commerce prospers when the private sector includes independently owned firms that seek to earn profits Capitalism is the belief that ownership of the means of production belongs in the hands of individuals and private businesses. Capitalism is also frequently referred to as the free market Bear in mind that, although participative democracy, property rights, and free markets tend to encourage economic growth, they do not always do so.

Вам также может понравиться