The Economic and Political Situation in Honduras - Essay Example

Ultimately, in attempting to explain the economic and political system of any nation, the researcher is presented with a variety of facts and figuresthat help to broadly define such a nation. For purposes of this particular analysis, the research will focus on the case of Honduras and the economic and governmental realities that help to define the lives of those that live within its borders and share its many hardships. Although descriptive, the main purpose of the analysis is to present an up to date, realistic, and informed interpretation of the reality of life in Honduras for the nearly 8 million people that call it home. Whereas it might be assumed that a bicameral legislature in tandem with a judicial and executive branch is the standard by which many nations govern themselves, this is a false assumption. Many nations throughout the world operate under a unicameral system of governance with a separate executive and judicial branch. However, the nation of Honduras is somewhat curious in that it represents a unicameral system in which the executive, the president of the nation, is in fact also the head of the legislature. Invariably, this particular situation creates a litany of problems due to the fact that the abuse of power and potential complete control that the president may have within the country is almost without limit. As a function of discussing and analyzing the case of Honduras, the following analysis will be concentric upon the manner in which a change in the legislative – executive relationship that exists within Honduras would ultimately be beneficial to the democratic stability of the nation. As a function of this particular piece of analysis and research, it is the hope of this author that the reader will gain a more informed and nuanced understanding with respect to the way in which this unicameral and executive led structure of government works, the means through which abuse ultimately exists, and a key prescription for growth and change that could be engaged as a means of ameliorating these issues. Rather than coming to the understanding of the fact that anyone nations democratic system is invariably better than another’s, the analysis will strictly focus upon known and measurable shortcomings that exist and means through which these shortcomings can be addressed in order to promote efficiency, utility, equity, and fairness within the nation of Honduras. Like many nations throughout Central America, Honduras exhibit a surprising lack of diversity. For instance, the broad majority of Hondurans, approximately 90%, can be described as mestizos (a mixture between natives and European background). The remaining 10% of the population is split between indigenous peoples, Amerindians – comprising 7% of the total population, black Africans, comprising 2% of the total population, and whites – comprising 1% of the population (Zhu, 2013). Accordingly, this relative lack of diversity creates a situation in which the minority needs of key individuals throughout society are likely brushed aside within a democratically elected government; due to the fact that these diverse stakeholders are not able to have a powerful enough voice within the nation’s unicameral legislature in order to promote the rights and interests that they deem most important. Historically speaking, Honduras has had, as with so many Central American nations, something of a rugged past (Bursins, 2013) From the late 1960s until the early 1980s, a military junta held complete and total control over the internal and external affairs that this small nation exhibited. Ultimately, this junta was propped up and supported by the United States due to his the opposition to any communism or Marxist ideology within the nation of Honduras. The overall level of importance that this rugged past has had upon the development and governmental structure of Honduras is profound. The underlying reason for this has to do with the fact that individuals within Honduras have come to experience something of a shared history in which a powerful and dynamic government has defined and structured the way in which life, business, and politics have taken place. Such a collective understanding of governance is perhaps one of the causal and most definitive stumbling blocks in seeking to engender a further level of Democratic change and representation of the people within Honduras. As described briefly within the introduction of this analysis, the current executive – legislative institution relationship in Honduras is one that places an undue level of control within the hands of a single individual; namely the president (Kloch, 2012). Even though it is true that the president of Honduras is a democratically elected official, the period of time in which this individual heads the government is one in which an inefficient level of checks and balances exists. What is meant by this is that the obvious abuse of power the individual who is not president also the leader of the unicameral legislature can have is profound. As such, a key concern that many individuals have voiced with respect to Honduras, or any nation that engages with a form of government similar to Honduras, is that an immediate and persistent abuse of power by an individual who is elected as president will take place from the moment that this presidency is engaged up until the moment in which a new individual is voted in as the new incumbent. Furthermore, if an individual who is president is also able to have an undue level of decision-making power with regards to the legal framework that defines the nation, a further abuse of power can of course be noted with regards to the way in which a president could ultimately change the laws that govern the elections, promote his own business interests, or provide a level of kickbacks and bribes to those who support him. Tangentially, punishment could be meted out for those individuals that form the opposition; creating a system through which the legislature could be used as something of an extrajudicial arm through which business restriction, regulation, and other hardships could be put in place. A further element of harm that this can and does engender is with respect to the uncertainty and instability that it fosters. Although the previous definition of inequality and abuse of power that has been discussed is profound, a broad swing between presidents, political ideologies, and/or individual personalities can have lasting ramifications upon the overall stability of the Democratic process, the attractiveness of the nation in terms of business agreements, and the level of trust that individual stakeholders within society had their particular government. If such a system exists, it is invariably true that individuals will experience political whiplash as policies, procedures, laws, and approaches to a litany of different issues are redacted, changed, improved, or altered entirely; merely due to the fact that a new individual seeks to take the country in a different direction or redefine power in a different manner. As such, a definitive and prescriptive way with regards to which a redefinition of the executive – legislative relationship that currently exist within Honduras could benefit from change, it must be understood that this level of benefit can roughly be defined within three main categories. The first category can be defined with respect to the way in which the ordinary citizen would benefit from this change. The second is with regards to the way in which political elites would respond to the change. And the final measurement is with regards to how institutions that currently exist within the government would be able to respond and either enhance or diminish the effect of this change. Firstly, with regards to how a change in the executive – legislative relationship would improve democratic stability with relation to the ordinary citizen, it must be understood that the changes and shifts of direction that the nation has thus far exhibited create a situation in which trust and political stability are virtually nonexistent with regards to the general population (Gordon & Weber, 2011) One need look no further than the way in which a business/employer operates and seeks to derive a revenue in order to understand the direct level of impact that this could have upon any individual within society. In short, the ability of the government to redefine the rules, and progressively shift the dynamic of governance, as the given leader sees fit, is not effective in helping to provide any level of stability within the country in question. The engagement that this change would have would also serve to benefit stakeholders within society due to the fact that the overall level of the Democratic process would be maximized. As will be discussed in some depth later in the analysis, the prior determination of power created system through which the Democratic process only worked to between key periods of time; namely those in which the president was elected and empowered with the rights to oversee and motivate the parliament in whatever direction he/she saw fit. The economic reality that exists within Honduras is perhaps the more depressing aspect of the analysis. For decades, Honduras leveraged its charm and location to attract tens of thousands of tourists each and every year. These tourists oftentimes hailed from as far away as Canada and Europe. However, as the security situation in the nation has deteriorated and as it has become well known that Honduras has one of the highest per capita murder rates in the entire world, the tourist attraction that had previously existed all but dried up (Alcott, 2013). Without a well developed industrial sector and/or high tech sector, Honduras has been struggling to provide a living wage to its labor force. In tandem with the economic analysis of Honduras, it is impossible to mention the situation that exists within the country without analyzing the impact of the illicit drug trade that flows through the nation; ultimately bound for Mexico and the United States. One of the primal reasons for the high murder rate that is exhibited within Honduras does not have to do with the fact that Hondurans are inherently violent; instead, it is predicated upon the fact that the drug lords and drug gangs that dominate entire swaths of the country exact a high toll on their rivals (CIA World Factbook, 2014). Running gun battles on the streets are often an everyday occurrence as these drug cartels and mafia groups seek to dominate the extraordinarily lucrative trade. As young men and women come to realize that drug trafficking has the potential to pay them more than any other line of work within Honduras, they invariably gravitate to this economic opportunity and in turn do great harm to the way in which the economy could otherwise seek to engage young, talented, and educated individuals into economically productive industries throughout Honduras. References Alcott, George. 2013. 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