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How does religion influence politics in India
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India and USA both are prominent democracies in today’s time. United States of America is a developed nation in comparison to India that is on the verge of being called a developed nation. USA as we all know is the most scientifically advanced nation with powerful resources and extreme control over world politics. India on the other hand is a growing superpower with the most diverse social ethnicity and religious unity as its strength. Both are examples of a successful democracy with their own unique styles of functioning. USA received independence from the British on 4th of July 1776 and India received its independence from the British on 15th August 1947. Both these nations were then converted into democracies and led by a common principle, “Government for the people, by the people and of the people.” USA went on to become one of the first independent democracies of its time and India today, is the world’s largest democracy. India and USA both work with a chain of command and processes that are functional within a government that is elected by the people of the country. But even inside a common political system, the two countries have various dissimilarities in its working. The United States has all the main governing decisions in the hand of the President. The President is given utmost importance in the system and has all the decisive powers. Indian political system on the other hand focuses its powers in the hands of the Prime Minister. The President is yet the commander in chief of the armed forces but disposes his duties only if the Prime Minister is unable to do so. United States of America and India are both huge democracies that thus require intensive formulation in terms of voting and elections. The organizational stru... ... middle of paper ... ...ia, USA has one major religion and one major language of communication. In the United States, English is the most commonly spoken language seconded by Spanish as the main medium of communication. Also Christianity is the most commonly followed religion in the country. India on the other hand is the country with the most amount of cultural diversity in the world. Every state in the country has its own local language with Hindi yet being the national language in India. There is a cumulative of 28 different languages spoken in India and almost 15 different religions practiced in the country, a majority of which are embodied under Hinduism. Democracy and secularism play important roles and have significant properties in different nations, yet affect each nation in a unique way. Thus we can incur that these countries are so much alike yet so different in their own ways.
The U.S. government is a democracy built off of the bases of greek and roman government, both of which are more common than most realize. Through the attempt of recreating these two once great societies the United States has built what is now known as arguably the most stable government on the planet. Thanks to these two societies the United States of America is the global powerhouse government and society where everyone wants to live today.
For more than a century, the concept of secularism and its boundaries has been widely disputed by secularists and non-secularists alike. English dictionaries define secularism as simply the separation of church and state, or, the separation of religion and politics. Michael Walzer, a true secularist, believes that this separation is an essential democratic value and ultimately fosters toleration of a plurality of religions (Walzer, p. 620). Wæver, an opponent of secularism, defines secularism as “a doctrine for how society ought to be designed”– that religion and politics ought to be divided in order to ensure religious liberty, as well as religious-free politics. However, he does not deem that such a principle exists (Wæver, p. 210). Based on these different viewpoints, I have established a unique concept of secularism: the principle that religion and politics be kept apart, that the state remains neutral in regard to religion, and that liberty, equality, and fraternity be upheld in an attempt to successfully promote religious toleration and pluralism.
Systems of governance and authority can have a profound influence on the development of human societies. For example, the major influence of the British Empire in the development of Indian and American human societies. All types of governments – from local politics to federal bureaucracies to huge empires – maintain their authority through specific techniques, including fostering a shared identity (nationalism), developing economic interdependence, and sometimes using overt force. Challenges to that authority through violent and nonviolent revolution can have significant consequences, including the collapse and replacement of whole systems of governance. Both the American Revolution and the Indian Independence Movement gained their freedom by challenging the British Empire with the use of alternating tactics and policies.
The words “Secularism” and “Religion” are used to describe abstract concepts with subjective definitions. As distinct as they are, they also act as mirrors to each other; as one cannot survive without the other to push against, no matter what definition is given to them. These words as defined by various writers, feminists, scholars and historians can be used to define and query these two categories. Gross, Castelli, Cady & Fessenden, Mahmood, Braude and Moallem use examples, culture, and opinions to define each in a different way. While they may be categories, secularism and religion are also answers to some of mankind’s biggest questions; but ultimately they are one in the same and seek to unite followers under a common cause.
In America, there are many ethnic groups with many varieties of language. The U.S. was created through many people from different countries migrating to the new states. In the U.S. there is an “official speech” which is in the English language. The language of both these countries is not only different in meaning and sound, but also reflects the way in which the people in these societies live, believe, and function. Religion usually plays a big part in the cultures of the world and is the basis for their beliefs and values.
In On Democracy, Robert Dahl presents five criteria that states are required to meet in order to satisfy the primary aim of democracy, which is to provide political equality to all of its citizens (1998, 37). The criteria include effective participation, equal voting, enlightened understanding, open agenda setting and inclusion. (Dahl, 1998, 38). Above these criteria, this paper will only focus on effective participation and enlightened understanding to apply them to India; this is because its citizens are going through a tough time with the two criteria to become a state with effective democracy. Therefore, this paper will demonstrate that India is in the process of achieving effective participation, but significantly lacks enlightened understanding.
Firstly there is the presidential system. There are many characteristics to a presidential system. The first main part of a presidential system is how the executive is elected. The executive is a president who is elected to a fixed term. Also a president is not only head of state, but is head of government. The president is the sole executive of the government. Even though there is a cabinet in a presidential system it does not have the power it does in a parliamentary system. The cabinet is chosen by the president instead of chosen by the parliament. A president has to follow a constitution rather than following history. The president actually has a large part in the government’s decisions. A big advantage to political scientists of the presidential system is that there is a separation of powers. The legislative branch being separate from the executive branch lets one another keep checks and balances on each other. This assures that no one branch will take over or attempt to take over the government. Another advantage of a presidential system is that the population elects the chief executive and the legislative branch. By winning a popular vote shows that most of a country is backing the executive which does not seem to cause revolution. The president can not dissolve an assembly as one can in a parliamentary system. Also in a presidential system there is the judicial branch, which is the court system. The judicial branch is important because it helps uphold the constitution. One of the last advantages of a presidential system is that there is more stability because a president is elected to a fixed term, where as in a parliamentary system a prime minister can be ousted at any time. A presidential system is not perfect, but it has it’s high and low points.
It has been a year; I have been in United States. At first, I thought that were different from India considering the geographical climate, religion, culture, lifestyle, social-life. But still each of them is inter-dependent and preaches to the world the idea of unity.
Firstly, K. Isbester mentions that democracy has a different meaning for everyone, as some can define democracy as a good aspect for development, on the contrary other believe that it is nothing more than voting after several years. Although, Latin America see democratic g...
Huge population, pollution, peace, snakes, saris, dance, curry, and religion are probably the most popular words that come up when we think about India. India is a well-known country. Although it is a relatively poor country, it has a rich and diverse culture. India is populated by approximately 953 million people. It has been a home for many religions, including Hinduism, Buddhism, Sikhism, Jainism, Islam and Christianity. The first four mentioned above originated in India (Finegan 151). Seventy percent of the populations are Hindus. In fact, Hinduism is the oldest and third largest religion in the world. Hinduism has deeply influenced Indian society, for several reasons: it has a long history in this place, it is related to the social status of Indians, and it is integrated with the cultural aspects in India.
Since its independence in 1947, political stability has been a key factor which has ensured that India is the largest democracy in the world today. In spite ...
Blais, Andre. "Electoral Insight." CCL Web: Criteria for Assessing Electoral Systems (1999): 1-6. Web. 26 Aug. 2010.
Every person on this earth has a superpower. It doesn 't matter your age, ethnicity, gender, or financial status. Superpowers can also be invisible to the naked eye, but we all have them. My superpower is not one of physical strength, I dont have x-ray vision, and I dont have the ability to leap from tall buildings. My superpower is Empathy.
There have been enormous efforts to spread democracy as a political system throughout the world by the developed democratic countries and the international development organizations including the World Bank. By the late 1990s the United States alone spent over a half billion dollars to promote democratic expansion throughout the world (Diamond, 2003). These were done considering that the democratic system leads towards development. As a result in the late 20th century we saw a huge political transformation towards democracy. During the last few decades a huge number of countries adopted democracy as their political system. However, it retain a big question how far democracy is successful in bringing development of a country? At this stage, some people also criticizes the effort of democratization arguing that it is done without considering the context of a country, sometimes democracy is not ideal for all countries and it is an effort to extinct diversity of political system. In studying the literature regarding the debate, we found a paradoxical relationship between democracy and development. Some argue that democracy has failed to ensure expected outcomes in terms of development. While others confronted that democracy has a considerable impact on development. Another group of people argue that form of political system actually does not have any impact on development process. On the verge of these debates, some development institutions and academics throw light on why democracy is not working properly, and what measure should be taken to make it more successful in bringing effective development of developing countries. Consequently, this writing is an effort of revisiting the different views about impact of democra...
The most common Indian religion is Hindu. In 1991, 82% of all Indians were Hindu. The Hindu religion has been around since before Christianity and is considered