LDC Task
SS-HS-1.1.1
Students will compare and contrast (purposes, sources of power) various forms of government in the world
(e.g., monarchy, democracy, republic, dictatorship) and evaluate how effective they have been in establishing
order, providing security and accomplishing common goals.
What is the best form of government? After reading texts describing forms
of government, write a 2 page essay that discusses government and evaluates
forms of government. Be sure to support your position with evidence from
the text.
What does it mean to ‘evaluate’ government? Evaluation is the act of considering, judging
and deciding on something that has been made. The process of judging a service, or a
tangible object, is an evaluation. The word may be used in professional or societal terms, in
regards to deciding whether something is good or not. In your evaluation, it may be
helpful to rank the forms of government 1, 2, and 3 in the order in which you think they
are ‘good.’
Definitions of terms to know and texts you will be reading …
- Democracy – a form of government in which the people of a country rule
directly (a direct democracy) or through elected representatives (a representative
democracy or republic). In order to become more knowledgeable on
democracies, you will be reading an excerpt from On the Social Contract by Jean
Jacques Rousseau.
- Communism – an economic and political system in which the means of
production are owned by the government and the government decides what will
be produced. In order to become more knowledgeable about communism, you
will be reading an excerpt from The Communist Manifesto by Karl Marx and
Friedrich Engels.
-Monarchy - undivided rule or absolute sovereignty by a single person. In order
to become more knowledgeable about monarchies, you will be reading an excerpt
from Leviathan by Thomas Hobbes.
At the end of this activity, you will be asked to write an essay. In this essay, you will
evaluate (rank) each of these 3 forms of government by the following ways: accomplishing
common goals, providing security, and establishing order. You should use each of these as a
heading and rank the 3 forms of government underneath it, explaining each of your choices.
____/10 Showed a clear understanding of how Communism works
____/10 Showed a clear understanding of how Monarchies work
____/10 Showed a clear understanding of how Democracy works
____/10 Ranked each of the governments in the appropriate categories
____/10 Thoroughly explained each of the rankings
from
THE COMMUNIST MANIFESTO
1848
“Modern industry has converted the little workshop of the patriarchal master
into the great factory of the industrial capitalist. Masses of laborers, crowded into
factories, are organized like soldiers. As privates of the industrial army they are
placed under the command of a perfect hierarchy of officers and sergeants. Not
only are they the slaves of the bourgeois class, and of the bourgeois State, they are
daily and hourly enslaved by the machine . . . and, above all, by the individual
bourgeois manufacturer himself. The more openly this despotism proclaims gain
to be its end and aim, the more petty, the more hateful and the more embittering
it is. . . .
The Communists fight for the attainment of the immediate aims, for the
enforcement of the momentary interests of the working class; but in the movement
of the present they also represent and take care of the future of that movement…
In short, the Communists everywhere support every revolutionary movement
against the existing social and political order of things.
In all these movements they bring to the front, as the leading question in each,
the property question, no matter what its degree of development at the time.
Finally, they labor everywhere for the union and agreement of the democratic
parties of all countries.
The Communists disdain to conceal their views and aims. They openly declare
that their ends can be attained only by the forcible overthrow of all existing social
conditions. Let the ruling classes tremble at a Communistic revolution. The proletarians
have nothing to lose but their chains. They have a world to win.
Working men of all countries, unite!”
Bourgeoisie: the middle-class employers and owners
Proletariat: the workers, wage-laborers
About Communism:
Because it destroys property rights, it makes the production of wealth almost impossible.
Since the use of one's mind is no longer a method of creating wealth, communism has only
one method of production: Through hard physical labor. But without the use of reason, even
this is severely limited in its scope.
Since the population gets an equal share of the wealth produced, there is virtually no
incentive to produce, since one's effort is of negligible benefit. To compensate for this, the
government must intimidate and force the people into working hard. Since self-interest is
eliminated as a motivation for production, it is replaced by its cruder sort of self-interest in
the form of fear of death. The government slaughters citizens to keep the rest in line.
Excerpt from Thomas Hobbes “Leviathan”
“The only way to erect such a common power, as may be able to defend them from the invasion
of foreigners, and the injuries of one another, and thereby to secure them in such sort as that by
their own industry and by the fruits of the earth they may nourish themselves and live
contentedly, is to confer all their power and strength upon one man, or upon one assembly of men,
that may reduce all their wills, by plurality of voices, unto one will: which is as much as to say, to
appoint one man, or assembly of men, to bear their person; and every one to own and acknowledge
himself to be author of whatsoever he that so beareth their person shall act, or cause to be acted, in
those things which concern the common peace and safety; and therein to submit their wills, every
one to his will, and their judgements to his judgement. This is more than consent, or concord; it is a
real unity of them all in one and the same person, made by covenant of every man with every man,
in such manner as if every man should say to every man: I authorise and give up my right of
governing myself to this man, or to this assembly of men, on this condition; that thou give up, thy
right to him, and authorise all his actions in like manner. This done, the multitude so united in one
person is called a COMMONWEALTH; in Latin, CIVITAS. This is the generation of that great
LEVIATHAN, or rather, to speak more reverently, of that mortal god to which we owe, under the
immortal God, our peace and defence. For by this authority, given him by every particular man in
the Commonwealth, he hath the use of so much power and strength conferred on him that, by
terror thereof, he is enabled to form the wills of them all, to peace at home, and mutual aid against
their enemies abroad. And in him consisteth the essence of the Commonwealth; which, to define it,
is: one person, of whose acts a great multitude, by mutual covenants one with another, have made
themselves every one the author, to the end he may use the strength and means of them all as he
shall think expedient for their peace and common defence.
And he that carryeth this person is called SOVEREIGN, and said to have sovereign power;
and every one besides, his SUBJECT….”
About monarchy:
In his seminal text, Leviathan, the philosopher Thomas Hobbes offers what was then a radically novel
conception of the origins of civil government. Hobbes’ ideas of the commonwealth are predicated upon his views
of human nature and the state of mankind without government, and so he establishes his position on these
concepts before addressing the commonwealth’s creation. First Hobbes writes of the natural condition of human
beings, which he believes is inherently troublesome; the state of nature that exists without a government, which
to Hobbes is terrifyingly chaotic; and then the laws of nature that he says can, but do not always guide human
behavior towards self-preservation. Once these presuppositions are established, then Hobbes writes of the
formation and design of the commonwealth. The Leviathan’s creation through a covenant is voluntary,
rational and necessary, Hobbes believes, because is it the only way to guarantee man’s peace and security and
the only way to escape the dreaded state of nature. Continuing along this line of thought, Hobbes decides that
the most powerful government is best, and so he concludes that a monarch with unlimited rights should rule.
EXCERPT FROM JEAN-JACQUES ROUSSEAU,
THE SOCIAL CONTRACT (1762)
“It follows from what precedes that the general will is always right and always tends to
the public advantage; but it does not follow that the resolutions of the people have always
the same rectitude. Men always desire their own good, but do not always discern it; the
people are never corrupted, though often deceived, and it is only then that they seem to
will what is evil.
There is often a great deal of difference between the will of all and the general will; the
latter regards only the common interest, while the former has regard to private interests,
and is merely a sum of particular wills; but take away from these same wills the pluses
and minuses which cancel one another, and the general will remains as the sum of the
differences.
If the people came to a resolution when adequately informed and without any
communication among the citizens, the general will would always result from the great
number of slight differences, and the resolution would always be good. But when factions,
partial associations, are formed to the detriment of the whole society, the will of each of
these associations becomes general with reference to its members, and particular with
reference to the State; it may then be said that there are no longer as many voters as there
are men, but only as many voters as there are associations. The differences become less
numerous and yield a less general result. Lastly, when one of these associations becomes
so great that it predominates over all the rest, you no longer have as the result a sum of
small differences, but a single difference; there is then no longer a general will, and the
opinion which prevails is only a particular opinion.
It is important, then, in order to have a clear declaration of the general will, that there
should be no partial association in the State, and that every citizen should express only
his own opinion. Such was the unique and sublime institution of the great Lycurgus. But
if there are partial associations, it is necessary to multiply their number and prevent
inequality, as Solon, Numa, and Servius did. These are the only proper precautions for
ensuring that the general will may always be enlightened, and that the people may not be
deceived.”
About Rousseau and Social Contract:
For Rousseau, the most important function of the general will is to inform the creation of
the laws of the state. These laws, though codified by an impartial, noncitizen “lawgiver,”
must in their essence express the general will. Accordingly, though all laws must uphold the
rights of equality among citizens and individual freedom, Rousseau states that their
particulars can be made according to local circumstances. Although laws owe their
existence to the general will of the sovereign, or the collective of all people, some form of
government is necessary to carry out the executive function of enforcing laws and overseeing
the day-to-day functioning of the state.