Comparative_Politics

1) When compared to Germany and Russia, Britain’s political development was far more gradual and far less violent. Offer your own explanation of that outcome by analyzing and comparing the three nations. Nations rise out of the ashes of their traditional pasts primarily because institutions have developed which enabled them to absorb the political participation that has emerged from their political and economic assent. Three European countries developed into modern nation states and followed this path of assent, yet took different paths to development. Britain, Germany and Russian all developed into modern nation states, yet they developed in far different ways. The earliest country to develop was Britain. Its development was far more gradual and less violent then the other two nations. Central to the development of Britain was the industrial revolution. The industrial revolution transformed England from a backwards agrarian society, to a mechanized society that created a working class group. As the industrial revolution gained momentum in England it also created mass movement of people from farms to cities and with it came a population explosion. Germany was much different in how they chose to operate their country from the very beginning. Germany did have monarchies, but their monarchies refused any type of parliamentary system. It was not until 1871 that a united Germany was proclaimed, and even then virtually all of the power was in the hands of one person. This trend continued right up until 1919 when at that point, a democratic constitution was put in place. This lasted only fourteen years before citizens were becoming increasingly unhappy with this system. In 1932, Adolf Hitler came into power and Germany was changed forever. World War two brought about much violence that Germany is still paying for in a lot of ways even today. Russia was much similar in how their history played out to Germany than to Britain. Russia had very large class divisions, as well as a monarchy that ruled from the 14th century all the way until 1917. After 1917, the communist movement was implemented by Lenin and later taken over by Stalin which left millions of citizens dead, greatly damaged Russia’s economy, and left many citizens scared by their government. All of this too could have been avoided had they had some type of second party, or parliamentary system to keep these dictators in line. Industrialization was quite possibly the sole reason why Britain thrived as much as they did, as well as why their political development was much more gradual and much less violent. Britain was one on the first countries to begin industrialization starting in the mid-eighteenth century. By the nineteenth century, the rapid economic growth that was a result of industrialization was what really helped transform Britain into the economic superpower that it became. British industry and trade made Britain very wealthy, and this allowed them to lead the second round of European colonization. This wealth also allowed Britain to create a very powerful navy that was more than capable of protecting their boundaries, and even aided in taking over power of other territories. Because Britain was doing so well, it’s citizens were happy with how things were being run and saw no reason for any type of dramatic change. Industrialization and urbanization did lead to a push for expanding voting rights, but Britain complied and this lead to the first political parties creation in the 1880’s. Because Britain was willing to turn over a significant amount of its political power to it’s citizens, there was no need for any type of bloody revolution. Britain was willing to compromise therefore they continued to prosper. Germany did not begin the process of industrialization until after 1871. Germany and the rest of the world watched as Britain continued to thrive from industrialization, and they decided that they wanted to model after Britain’s great success. Germany decided that they did not want to wait for this great success and they chose to rapidly industrialize and try to play catch up with Britain. By 1900, Germany had also become an industrial superpower and began taking over other territories. Hitler’s time as dictator changed Germany dramatically and by the end of the war, Germany was left divided. Only parts of Germany ever regained industrial superpower status. By the 1990’s, Germany did eventually give up significant economic sovereignty to the people. Rapid change was not the best decision for Germany, and had they moved a little bit slower, and not have been so greedy, they might have been much more successful. Russia again differed very much from Britain in the way that they decided to industrialize. Stalin, Lenin’s successor, decided much like Germany to expand rapidly. Stalin made Russia a communist country, meaning he took complete control of all economic activity. Stalin took extreme measures that included the mass murder of many Russian peoples to get what he wanted. Stalin did succeed in turning Russia into an economic superpower that thrived even after World War II, but at a very high price to Russian citizens. After Stalin’s death, the amount of force and violence that had previously been used by the government was dramatically decreased, though not entirely gone. The Soviet Union could not keep up with the rapid economic growth of the west partially because they were not nearly as wealthy in resources. This eventually led to the collapse of the Soviet Union. Russia is now a semi-authoritarian state, but it has never regained the status of an economic superpower. I think that it is fair to say that Britain was very strategic and smart about how as well as how quickly they expanded their economic growth and power to the people. An early parliamentary system, weak though still existent, kept rulers in line and gave alternative opinions for monarchs to listen to. Slow industrialization allowed Britain to think about what they were doing, and allowed them to test several different ideas over time. Because they did not ever allow a dictator to take over their country, they never faced many of the problems that Germany as well as Russia did as a result of complete take over by one person. All of these reasons contributed to Britain’s great economic success and far more gradual changes among their government, as well as much less bloodshed.