Political Ideas
Pham Gia Trung
Class: Pols 114
Tutor: Tran Viet Thai
Victoria University of Wellington and Diplomatic Academy of Viet Nam
REGIME COMPARISON IN HUNGARY IN THE 20TH CENTURY The 20th century had witnessed three regime transitions in Hungary: in 1918-1919, in 1944-1945 and in 1989-1990. Among those three periods of time, Hungary had exercised four different kinds of regime: from Imperial regime to Nazi regime, and then Communist regime before changed into Republic regime which remains this regime until now. From those four regimes, the Nazi regime and Republic one are the two regimes that are worth to be compared with each other to find out which regime is more democratic. The writer will use the human right and the election in those two regimes as the basic sector to judge how better democracy each regime brings about. Furthermore, the good of governance and the separation of power are also the evidence for the judgement.
First of all, we need to start with the definition of regime. A regime is a kind of norm and rule of politics that pays attention to individual freedom and collective equality. It also regards to the locus of power and the use of that power. A regime is institutionalized, which means that it is not easily or quickly changed. However, a regime can be transformed by some social events such as revolution or being conquest by foreign powers. A regime can be either democratic or non-democratic and often be embodied in a constitution.
In order to find out which regime is more democratic, defining democracy is necessary. Democracy is a system in which political power resides with the people and people can exercise this political power either directly or indirectly through participation (voting and elections), competition ( such as that between political party) and liberty.1 There are four attributes which constitute the main idea of democracy known as: “inclusion of the majority of the adult population through universal suffrage; election of top
Class: Pols 114
Tutor: Tran Viet Thai
Victoria University of Wellington and Diplomatic Academy of Viet Nam
REGIME COMPARISON IN HUNGARY IN THE 20TH CENTURY The 20th century had witnessed three regime transitions in Hungary: in 1918-1919, in 1944-1945 and in 1989-1990. Among those three periods of time, Hungary had exercised four different kinds of regime: from Imperial regime to Nazi regime, and then Communist regime before changed into Republic regime which remains this regime until now. From those four regimes, the Nazi regime and Republic one are the two regimes that are worth to be compared with each other to find out which regime is more democratic. The writer will use the human right and the election in those two regimes as the basic sector to judge how better democracy each regime brings about. Furthermore, the good of governance and the separation of power are also the evidence for the judgement.
First of all, we need to start with the definition of regime. A regime is a kind of norm and rule of politics that pays attention to individual freedom and collective equality. It also regards to the locus of power and the use of that power. A regime is institutionalized, which means that it is not easily or quickly changed. However, a regime can be transformed by some social events such as revolution or being conquest by foreign powers. A regime can be either democratic or non-democratic and often be embodied in a constitution.
In order to find out which regime is more democratic, defining democracy is necessary. Democracy is a system in which political power resides with the people and people can exercise this political power either directly or indirectly through participation (voting and elections), competition ( such as that between political party) and liberty.1 There are four attributes which constitute the main idea of democracy known as: “inclusion of the majority of the adult population through universal suffrage; election of top
Bibliography: .Alvarez-Rivera, Manuel, ‘ Election to the Hungarian National Assembly’, 2012, http://electionresources.org/hu/ (13 March 2011) Bejarano, Ana Maria, and Pizarro, Eduardo,’ The Changing Nature of the Limits to Democracy in Colombia’ in Introduction to Comparative Politics (New Zealand: Victoria University of Wellington, 2011) p 53 Cameron, Norman, R. H. Stevens, and Hugh Redwald Trevor-Roper, Hitler’s Table Talk, 1941–44: His Secret Conversations (New York: Enigma Books, 2000) Komoroczy, Geza, ‘ Jewish Hungary today’, 1997, http://www.jcpa.org/cjc/vp-351-komoroczy.htm (13 March 2012) Nunberg, Barbara, The State after Communism: Administrative transitions in Central and Eastern Europe ( Washington D.C : The World Bank, 1999) p101 O’Neil, Patrick, Essentials of Comparative Politics: Democratic Regimes (Newyork: W.W. Norton and Company ,2010), p110. .Peresztegi, Agnes, Compensation for Human rights violations against Hungarian Jewry: Human rights violations against Hungarian Jewry during the Holocaust (1939-1944) ( Montreal: McGill University, 1997) pp 11-18