Regimes in Practice

Alignment with Depiction Paradigms

Regimes are not theories like ideologies, or member-dependent associations like parties. As a result they appear to obey the depiction paradigms much more closely, as the following Table indicates.

» See the ethical-political analysis of regimes and ideologies.

Note that the upper two rows contain artificial regimes whose existence depends on an actualized regime.

Model Paradigms	Regime	Possible Examples	Head-of-State	Political Institutions
Unified	Visionary leader-based Aristocratic	Hammurabi, Pericles, Jefferson, Marcus Aurelius	Philosopher-king	Operate within an actualized regime moving it towards a higher level.
Atomistic	Idealized theory-based	Vatican	Varies	Artificial societies isolated and protected by another regime
Dynamic	Constitutional democratic	UK, Australia, Canada, USA.	Monarch/President defends constitution but plays no part in legislating by Parliament.	Individual rights are primary and everyone has civic duties. Judiciary defends individuals against government power.
Structural	Republican	France, Italy.	Head of State (President) exerts power over Head of Government (Prime Minister)	Legislature defends minority interests. Opposition parties can win power. Independent judiciary.
Causal	Oligarchic Bureaucratic Plutocratic	Lee's Singapore, Pinochet's Chile.	Head of State is the primary oligarch or a puppet.	Legislature defends majority interests. An opposition may affect policies but never gains power. Judiciary is replaceable.
Dualistic	Authoritarian	Franco's Spain, Marcos' Philippines Erdogan's Turkey	Despotic presidents/monarchs	Leader dominates, and the opposition is controlled and exploited. Judiciary is controlled.
Unitary	Absolutist Totalitarian	Hitler's Germany, Stalin's USSR Putin's Russia Iran's Theocracy	Tyrannical presidents/monarchs	Leader crushes/kills opponents and controls elections. Judiciary and legislature are puppets.

Process in Constitutional Democracies

It is possible to see that all the paradigms are used for different purposes to manage a democratic society. The Table below is meant to be illustrative rather than complete.

Unified	Civic duties manage inter-personal relationships and include concern for marginalized groups, foreigners, animals, and the natural environment.
Atomistic	Anyone can be an activist in regard to social issues. Individual rights are protected against the abuse of governmental power and criminal activities.
Dynamic	Pluralism is the basis of political activity with recognition of minority groups.
Structural	Separation of powers; commissions of inquiry.
Causal	Development of a ministerial structure with civil service support to address different social needs in a valid way.
Dualistic	There are mass elections typically with two opposing policy offerings; and parliament operates with a majority versus an opposition. The political parties usually reflect conservatism versus progressivism.
Unitary	The country is sovereign with all equal and undifferentiated before the law and in its defence.

Failure of Governments

One of the most striking features of ancient and modern government is its failure to focus on the public good regardless of the ideology espoused. The principal reason is probably to be found in their support for the ruling class. However, even where governments appear to be well-meaning, their frequent incompetence seems staggering, almost beyond belief.

There are many reasons for this, but here we will focus on just one small aspect previously identified.

The typical genuinely democratic government, even when the party in power espouses a Socialist ideology (Structural) or a Centrist-Liberal ideology (Causal) or if there are multiple parties involved, ends up being constructed in a Dualistic way. Mostly it is traditionalists/conservatives vs progressives/liberals, but in all cases, it is the majority vs the opposition, and both sides start thinking of the next election from Day-1.

Anything a government might do that would be genuinely beneficial for the community is usually described as "requiring courage" because the public cannot grasp the complexity of social change, and the opposition will attack with distortions to stoke public fears. That is less a moral failing, and more an expectation in dualistic depiction. Machiavelli also provided a dualistic account of supporters and defenders “It ought to be remembered that there is nothing more difficult to take in hand, more perilous to conduct, or more uncertain in its success, than to take the lead in the introduction of a new order of things. Because the innovator has for enemies all those who have done well under the old conditions, and lukewarm defenders in those who may do well under the new. This coolness arises partly from fear of the opponents, who have the laws on their side, and partly from the incredulity of men, who do not readily believe in new things until they have had a long experience of them.” Extract from The Prince..

As explained, actualization of dualism generates simplistic thinking.

H.L. Mencken wrote: "For every complex problem there's a solution that simple, neat and wrong." Any problem addressed by a government is inherently complex. Any solution offered by government is inherently simplistic.

Example :

A final comment: If ever an ideology has failed in practice it is Communism. Yet Communism appears to be the most constructive ideology, with the most respect for individuals, the greatest concern for social justice the strongest orientation to achievement and effectiveness, and the most realistic approach to systems thinking. That might surprise you. The problem appears to be that at the societal level at least, humanity has not matured to the point that systems thinking is appreciated and mature and ethical functioning can be expected.

There is an additional common focus for change: ourselves.

Apply the paradigms to personal change.

Originally posted: 30-Jun-2024. Amended: 10-Jul-2024.