Free Essay On Consolidated Democracies, Transitioning Democracies, And Authoritarian Regimes

The essence of a consolidated democracy is the rule of the people and the Government is formed primarily by the will of the people. The primary characteristic of a majority rule government is political diversity and competition between the parties as well as within the parties. Free and fair, general elections are at the heart of consolidated democracies. It is only through elections that a party can legitimately form a government and runs affairs of the state. Separation of power is also a trademark of consolidated democracies. Established democracies, thus, limit the power of the state organs and empowers pluralistic structures in the public arena, which is fundamental if the will of the people and its varying hobbies are to have influence in the arrangement of power.
Transitioning democracies lies between the consolidated democracies and authoritarian regimes and that is why they have characteristics of both the systems to some extent. Institutions are not very strong in transitioning democracies. They have political parties but mostly the parties are run by families and there are no proper intra-party elections. Allegation of riggings in elections are also common, but the electoral process still have legitimacy.   
Authoritarian regimes are quite the opposite to all the forms of the democratic systems and are equitable to totalitarian frameworks. The power is concatenated in a party or in an individual who runs all the affairs of the government. Most authoritarian regimes do conduct elections but the elections are just a sham and so, an authoritarian government does not answerable to the people and there is no concept of majority rule. The political intuitions are very weak in authoritarian regimes because of lack of genuine political activities and the state organs have no clear working boundaries, they all work under the direction of the ruling elite. Authoritarian regimes are mostly run by military dictators, Monarchs and sometimes by revolutionary charismatic leaders.  Authoritarian regimes don't permit freedom of discourse, press, and religion, and they don't secure minority rights. Their leaders frequently originate from one little social class, for example, top military authorities, or from a little group of aristocratic families.

Works Cited

"Comparing Governments." Ushistory.org. Independence Hall Association, n.d. Web. 22 Jan. 2015.