Introduction
The clear understanding of the various forms of both political and the economic systems is of paramount importance in effective governance of countries and their most critical institutions and industries. The understanding of these political and economic systems will help significantly in making good use of the philosophical issues in formulating the guiding policies to run these organization for the common good of all citizens of given countries.
Different countries of the world usually practice different approaches in providing various services to their people and this in most cases depends on the nature and the cultural practices of given parts of the world. It should be noted that some systems of governance may work so well in a given country, but this does not guarantee the effective operation in other countries if it is adopted.
In the recent time, the various countries are trying to adopt partially some aspects of governance and incorporating them in their systems to see if they can work productively and thus this has led to mixed systems of governance. For example, a governance system, which advocates for the market which is controlled by forces of demand, and can also implement some price controls on goods and services, which are so critical to its citizens. Thus, it can protect its people from exploitation from business people, who want to maximize their profits at the expense of their fellow citizens.
In this case, we are going to look at some differences between socialism and democracy and compare and contrast the fundamental believes and concepts (Morris, 2008, p. 1). We will also look at the key people who helped with the ideas which led to both socialism and democracy and also look at the countries where they are practiced. Finally, we will address the philosophical issues and how they support policy development in various countries and, also, in organizations.
Differences in socialism and democracy
The most distinct difference between the socialism and democracy is that in socialism we are mostly focusing our energies on the governance of the economic activities and the economic systems of a given country while in the democracy we are concentrating on the political governance of people and the various organizations in given counties of the world.
In socialism, we have the economic and the political activities concentrating on the ownership of the ways of production and sharing of the resources which are based on the collective property by the community as a whole. In these cases, the economic systems emphasize the running of corporative societies at the public level.
Here the production is done by people as a community at large in organized public associations and the benefits which accrue from these civic associations are shared on individual merits and also depending on the number of efforts a given member has rendered in such organization. In this case, democracy will only be focusing its efforts to ensure that these public associations involved in the production of essential goods and services are managed by under democratic terms.
This implies that the leadership which is governing these public corporations will have to be chosen by the majority and also the decisions be considered on majority basis since in democracy the guiding principle is the common presumption that majority is always right and their decisions rule those of minority (Viklund, 2006, p. 1).
This is clear evidence that the power to govern is derived by seeking a mandate from the people either directly from the people themselves or indirectly from their trusted representatives who have been given such mandate to choose on their behalf by the people themselves.
In the socialism there is excellent emphasizes on the adoption of the most recent and effective technological advancement to ensure that the different organizations are run by applications of scientific principles to make sure that economic activities are doing well. This will effectively counter check the adverse effects of capitalism from finding the entrance in a socialism community or nation in which a few business people take advantage over the others to enrich themselves.
It is also well known that the emergence of socialism was a result of efforts of people trying to curb the effects of industrialization and continued ownership of crucial sectors of the economy by private sectors. Some socialist advocates for the ways of production of goods and services and also their distribution to be put under state control and ownership while the others concentrate on putting the modes of production under the hands of the cooperative workers.
In the other side, democrats advocate or approve nationalization of the organizations, which offer some essential services and goods selectively. This means that it is only the organizations which are involved in providing the most necessary and critical products and services are supposed to be owned and controlled by the state or other wards the public as a whole (Sarup, 2006, p. 1).
It is also obvious that in socialism we have what can be described as a command economy. This is because the prices are pre-determined by use of try and error method by the responsible board which is in charge of fixing the prices of consumer goods and because the political system controls most of the production of essential products and services and also their distribution. This is quite different from democratic systems because of their political organizations which advocate for individual ownership of assets and, also, the private acquisition of business organizations (DuRand, 1997, p. 1).
Basic believes and concepts of socialism and democracy
The socialists believe in collective ownership of goods and services, and thus they are always ready and willing to sacrifice to higher magnitudes for the sake of betterment of the communities at large and not their well being alone. Their economic and political organizations are usually structured in a way in which they can promote the common good of all people.
Here community and public efforts are highly appreciated other than the individual efforts. Here the concept of planned economy is of great concern in the economic systems and also the political organizations in the sense that the number of goods and services to be produced and also to be distributed together with the recommended prices are usually pre-determined by the responsible departments in both the political organizations and, also, in the economic systems. In one way or the other democrats may tend to agree with socialist by trying to incorporate some of the socialism practices in their political organizations and the economic systems (Morris, 2008, p. 1).
For the democrats may decide to put measures to control the production and prices of some essential good to respond to the wishes of the majority who may not be in a position to afford some of the most basic and crucial goods and services. This will comply with the common belief of democracy that the wishes and decisions of the majority will always dominate under all situations.
Even though democrats can sometimes change their systems of governance to reflect on the wishes of the majority they firmly believe in the free market whereby the forces of demand and supply determine the prices of various goods and services.
Karl max and Aristotle
Karl max came up with what is recently called Marxism in which he tried to explain how socialism came about. He argued that conscious of the people who work very hard to earn a living in terms of salaries and wages made fell like slaves and creating the desire for them to seek freedom from such slavery and drop the passion for being capitalists and go for collective ownership (Crespo, 2003, p. 1). He also reasoned that it is the social well being which influences the consciousness which is very vital for the existence of humanity and thus promotion of socialism.
Socialism is practiced in countries like the Republic of China whereby the socialist and centrally planned economies are practiced, and it is worth to note that here the cooperative workers are highly regarded. On the other hand, the Aristotle has worked very hard to explain the democratic forms of organizations.
In this case, Aristotle contrasted the governance by many people, governance by a few people and governance by a single person. Here he suggested that the most essential principle of democracy is freedom and liberty. He also said that the decision made by the majority of the people should be taken to form justice (Baron, 2008, p. 1).
Democracy is mostly practiced in most parts of the world because it is widely acceptable by people even though it is not friendly with some parts of the world and especially in African, even though it is highly embraced in the United States of America.
Conclusion
It is evident that the philosophical issues and how they support the formation of the various policies in both socialism and democracy are of paramount importance in multiple governments. This is because it will help in evaluating the various political and economic organizations in a given country. It will be for well good of all governments to adopt forms of governance which will promote the continued existence of humankind.
Here we have looked at differences between socialism and democracy, their most common believes and concepts and also the people who led to the ideas of socialism and democracy and the countries where are practiced. We have also incorporated the philosophical issues and how they support the policies mentioned.
Reference List
Baron, D. (2008). The Difference Between Socialism and Communism. Web.
Crespo, P. (2003). Democracy & free markets vs. socialism. Web.
Durand. C. (1997). The Idea of Democracy and the Idea of Socialism. Web.
Morris, D. (2008). Socialism VS Democracy Obama VS McCain. Web.
Sarup, K. (2006). Democracy vs. Communism: Lessons from history. Web.
Viklund, A. (2006). Democracy and Socialism. Web.