Institutions

5 Pages 1269 Words

There is no doubt that the set of practices associated with “democracy” were first seen in the West. Most of these democratic nations such as the United States and Britain were strong enough to spread influence to eastern countries such as Japan and even China. There are, however, questions that arise as to why these democratic practices have been set up and even copied throughout the world. The biggest questions dealing with this situation are, is a democracy so much better than other political and governmental setups in the world, and if so, why?
To estimate the performance of any political or legal institutions in society, many factors must first be considered. In a successful political and legal institution, all of these factors are present. In a prosperous institution such as the United States there is a clearly defined middle class. While in Brazil there is a rich class and a poor class, with no clearly labeled group of middle class people. A lack of black markets is a factor that promotes political and legal success. Although the United States does have black markets, there are a low number of them, and they are not as numerous or harmful to businesses or people as the black markets in Brazil. In successful institutions, there is always an established, fair judicial system. Here in the United States we have the court system, and an ethical police force, but in countries such as Mexico, courts may be corrupted, and police often try to extort people and even businesses. Another factor that is found in these successful institutions is a representative government, and a public that has faith in its government and its systems. These factors are found in the United States, but in many other countries such as Cuba, these systems are replaced by a dictator and a public that only shows a small amount of morale and faith in their government. In the politically and legally successful United States, the economy is healthy ...