The improvement of national security and stability is a complex objective, and it cannot be achieved only through promoting freedom, democracy, peace, and development. If the social moral base in the country is poor and corrupted, the state will suffer defeat in its efforts to endorse good order using policies, laws, and regulations. Therefore, society needs a moral support from religious and faith-based organizations. Trustworthiness of this position is proved by many examples from the history; and even the examples of some modern countries present evidence, supporting it. In the following paper, more details of why such a position is approved will be observed. Overall, the evaluation of facts from varied sources shows that society is the basis of the state, and if it is corrupted and does not have a basis of high moral standards, the government is sure to fail in its efforts to endorse peace, stability, and security.
First, speaking about the possibility of promoting freedom, democracy, and development by the state without support from society, it is necessary to remember several bright examples from the history of humanity. The Roman Empire is known as the glorious world power, which had been based on the fundament of democracy, human rights, and development. This excellent reputation was one of the main features of this prominent state for centuries. However, when the population of this country had undergone a significant decline in moral and ethical values, the state suffered calamity. It is well known from the history how easily German barbarian tribes conquered the Roman Empire (Lott, 2011). When historians argue regarding the reasons for the fall of this massive world power, all of them agree on one point, which is the fact that Roman family institute had suffered decline due to immorality, homosexuality, and citizens’ thirst for debauchery. In addition, religion did not have its strong foundations in the Roman Empire, which is explained by the peculiarities of the empire’s creation. The state was a multinational and multicultural formation that included a variety of nations with their own religious and moral standards. Even despite the efforts of Roman Emperors such as Constantine the Great to unite the country using introducing the only religion, at the end of the day, society did not happen to be consolidated based on the same religious and moral norms. Thus, as a result of the gradual moral breakdown on the reason of hunger for entertainment and amusement, Roman society, and then Roman state had went away (Lott, 2011).
Also, the examples, similar to that one of the Roman Empire, are well observed nowadays. For instance, so many modern African countries fail to have stability and peace in them. If to address the measures, implemented by their governments to secure freedom, democracy, and development, it becomes evident that much has been done to have the necessary improvement and even prosperity. However, the desired achievements do not come, and people continue suffering the reason of wars, disorders, and disturbances of different kinds. If to have a deeper glance into the situation in those countries, it is possible to identify one common feature – they all fail to have a religious and moral foundation (Ikenberry, 2005). People in those countries have different religious preferences: some of them have ancient pagan beliefs, whereas the others have stuck to Charismatic Christian Churches that came not long ago, while the rest of the people are fascinated by the ideas of atheism, which have been so popular lately (“African religious sources”, 2009). As a result, there is no unity in between societies of such countries. People do whatever they believe to be fine for them, and if they think committing crimes will help them to provide for their families in the conditions of severe poverty of those African countries, they go and commit crimes, and nothing stops it (Carlsnaes, Risse & Simmons, 2002). Therefore, the efforts of local governments to promote peace and security just fail as society is not ready to demonstrate a genuine interest in the general well-being of their country.
Finally, endorsing such exalted values as promoting freedom, democracy, and development by the government requires a certain measure of preparation on the part of the nation. In case citizens have a different idea of what is beneficial for them, they will keep on looking for a way to break the law, endorsed by the government.
In conclusion, it is important to note that promoting peace, stability, and democracy by governments should be directly connected with promoting religious and moral standards among the people of the country. This is explained by the fact that people will not stick to the policies, norms, and regulations, offered by the state unless they are confident in their appropriateness. The examples from human history along with modern-day courtiers’ examples support this conclusion by showing that moral breakdown in society leads to the collapse of the state along with its legislative basis.
References
African religious sources. (2009). In M. Asante, & A. Mazama (Eds.), Encyclopedia of African religion. (pp. 751-797). Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications, Inc.
Carlsnaes, W., Risse, T., & Simmons, B. A. (Eds.). (2002). Handbook of international relations. London: SAGE Publications Ltd.
Ikenberry, G. (2005). The Global Resurgence of Religion and the Transformation of International Relations: The Struggle for the Soul of the Twenty-first Century. Foreign Affairs, 84(3), 132.
Lott, A. (2011). History of international relations. In J. Ishiyama, & M. Breuning (Eds.), 21st century political science: A reference handbook. (pp. 303-311). Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications, Inc.