The United States, Africa, and Asian Political and Economic Systems - Essay Example

Introduction In Africa there are several political and economic systems. Varied African countries practice capitalism, democracy and rare cases of communism which are largely declining with time. In Asia, the political and economic systems take different directions are the west is affiliated with the communisms while the East practices communism. Socialism is also experienced in some parts of Asia like in North Korea. In the United States, they practice capitalism which is blended with socialism. The federal government regulates various aspects of the economy such as the flow of currency but also exercised wide array of capitalistic outcomes. The different economic and political systems practiced by the three continents have had enormous consequences on the leadership and control of the economy. Capitalism, especially, has caused more evil than good particularly to Africa and the Asian region. The United States, Africa and Asian political and economic systems Most African countries are democratically governed. Citizens have the right of electing their preferred candidate into different elective positions through voting. Capitalism is widely practiced in Africa. Capitalism is based on private ownership of properties and especially the means of production. Individuals have the economic freedom of owning most of the countries means of production such as major businesses like the oil and gas, energy, factories, among others. Such fundamental sectors are owned privately and individual owner determine their productivity outputs, prices and also when production is to take place. Capitalism also enables individuals to freely compete in the economy without interference from the government. The basic assumption of capitalism is that the person who wins in the economy is the most deserving. Prices are favorable to the consumers due to competition as consumers prefer the best quality going for the least amount of money. A capitalist market is determined by the forces of demand and supply. When supply decreases, demand increases, and consequently, the prices go up and the opposite is true. In Africa, capitalism is practiced in most countries as socialism and communist have since lost their attachment in Africa. This can be seen where the most essential sectors of the economy are privately owned. Capitalism in Africa is practiced in pure form as there is no interference by government. However, in the United States, capitalism is diluted by socialism as the markets are not free for individuals to own essential sectors of the economy without the regulation by the government. The markets are highly regulated. Furthermore, the exchange rates and the value of the American currency don’t freely float in the market without high measures of manipulation through rates-setting by the federal government. The United States government regulates the investment decisions by a system of rewards and penalties which is known as the Internal Revenue Code. In this case, the federal government uses their intervention capabilities to intervene in capital deployment and wealth distribution through the imposition of federal tax code. In Asia, political and economic systems are divided between the ‘East Asia’ and the ‘West Asia’. The division on political and economic systems saw countries like China, North Korea and North Vietnam appeal to communism as national liberation while the western countries like South Vietnam, Philippines, Japan and South Korea appeal to capitalism as national liberation. The East Asia has shifted from the economy with a final horizon which is concerned with the best welfare of its people, equity and survival of nature and moved to an economy where the final horizon is concerned with competition for capital accumulation and individual accumulation of wealth. While the Eastern side embraces capitalism, the western part is still in the era of communism. China is the most plausible country in the East Asia that has moved towards the extreme of capitalism. While the Soviet Union on the west engages in an economy which has a communist horizon, china, on the East engages on an economy with capitalist horizon. The Asian governments have for a long time now been involved in the regulation of the economy though intervention measures but the East have taken to the neo-liberalization of their economy to advocate for free flow of currency and free trade. China’s emergence as a world capitalist economy during the second half of the 20th century seeks to challenge the United States capitalism which has led to establishment of conflicting issues between the two countries. China has had a very strong economy but was not able to challenge the United States, United Nations and the international monetary funds until recently. These institutions have for long time overruled china through the know­ledge, struc­ture and his­tory over time. Just like the United States, capitalism in china has led to violation of human rights both economically and politically. This can be seen by intervention of china in Nepal and Tibet which led to violation of human rights politically. Also, they fought for land with an aim of combating and profiting from the food crisis which is a violation of human rights economically. The United States capitalist aspects have also been on the spotlight for violation of human rights in Iraq, Guantanamo, Vieques, and Afghanistan. Both communism and capitalism in Asia have a very small variation in scale due to the effects of globalization. Just as capitalism, communist’s countries are prone to effects of westernization as a result of industrialization and modernization. When the economy of china was devastated resulting to ecological destruction, the effects were felt by the communists too just the way the capitalists felt it. Furthermore, Japan and South Korea experienced the1997 Asian financial crisis sparked by capitalism. This resulted from high scale withdrawal of cash investments from the Asian economy by western investors due to the westerner’s attempts to tap into new and opportunist markets that have not been tested. The Asian region is experiencing new dynamics of capitalism since the last decade. Each region striving to make their capitalism different from the one in the United States which is characterized by boom and bust alternatives which cause economic failures. In other Asian countries like the North Korea, socialism is practiced where primary ownership of most means of production is controlled by the government. This economic system is purely practiced in North Korea. In other countries practicing socialism, the state has preeminent control over the major sector of the economy and is predominantly involved in the regulation of such ventures. However, private enterprise comprising of small scale business men who are mainly focused on the agricultural sector and businesses exist in the ownership of such enterprises. In Asia, The rise of capitalism is associated with innovation and the rise from the norm when people prefer copying other existing technologies from the west or operating with outdated technologies. Introduction of innovation comes with a package of risks. The new Asian economic systems based on capitalism many thus provide the stability needed in the economic markets. The economy perceives the high risk ventures are the most rewarding ones. This practice is highly western where investors are willing to take risks in high return investments which in turn increase their tendencies to fail. Capitalism has very adverse effects to the African development and the economy. The extension of international capitalism from the United States worsens the African economy by pulling them helplessly into the global free trade which is advocated by the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (I.M.F.). As a result, the already stretched natural resources are and exposed and overexploited without consideration of the deteriorating conditions the resources are in. Contrarily, the money furnished for those resources go into the pockets of some few individuals who use them to gain more power and wealth at the expense of the mass population. This is a clear indication that capitalism in Africa does not favor the socio-economic developments. In Africa, capitalism and imperialism are viewed as the core causes of underdevelopment in the continent. This is because the culture promoted by capitalism is that of exploitative dependence which underpins underdevelopment. It has been witnesses and will continue to be perceived that Africa cannot experience any development in the economy characterized by profit seeking and wealth accumulating individuals. On the contrary, capitalism has been seen to yield conflicts, greed, selfishness, division, ethnicity and tribalism. Capitalism has been the source of the many problems experienced by different countries. Africa is a continent that is heavily endowed with many natural resources which can be utilized well to help in improvement of the economy and in development. Despite all this, Africa faces major problems of starvation, hunger, conflicts, political and ethical instability, poverty, poor sanitation, shortage of clean water, displacement among others. Meanwhile, politicians and wealthy businessmen fraud the little resources depended upon by the citizens causing repression and oppression of the economy and the capitalist class. These problems are caused by capitalism as this political system encourages mass capital accumulation by the ruling class. In Africa, capitalism is responsible for immense fraud, corruption, wastage of public resources, land grabbing and impoverishment of the economy. Instead of using resources for development, the continent remains underdeveloped while few people become vastly wealthy. The three continents discussed herein demonstrate the political and economic systems practiced in the United States, Africa and Asia. Capitalism cuts across all the continents. The United States is the initiator of capitalism in the other continents but does not practice pure capitalism. Socialism is also practiced in the United States. In the United States, capitalism was essentially used to further their imperialism to other countries in the African and Asian region. In Africa, capitalism was an extension from the west as a result of civilization, industrialization modernization and colonization. Capitalism in Asia is practiced in parts with the capitalist countries moving towards the Asian revolution which seeks to solve the economic and political challenges that have been brought about by the effects of imperialism in Asia. Venn diagram of the relationship between the economic and political systems in the United States, Africa and Asia is presented below. Work cited Gray, John. From Post-communism to Civil Society: The Reemergence of History and the Decline of the Western Model. 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