Compare and contrast the values, institutions and actions of the Essay

Compare and contrast the values, institutions and actions of the city-states of Sparta and Athens - Essay Example Athenian citizens had enjoyed strong constitutional rights in political and legal aspects. This made them strong, materially and psychologically, which was envied by many non-citizens and these aspects were not compromised upon for anything else. At the Funeral Oration of Pericles, it was declared that the Greek Constitution was unique in its laws and is an example for others. It is meant for all people of the State and hence is democracy. The laws provide equal justice to all in their private differences; no form of discrimination is allowed based on social status or race and creed and not even by economic status. Any citizen serving the State will not be hindered by the obscurity of his position. This freedom extends from government to ordinary life (Butler, K; 18). Political organizations in Athens and the surrounding cities differed in specific instance conflict, as well as cooperation among groups. Athens was always in a better position than other States and tend to dictate to t he smaller states with which it was in league. Failure to meet Athenian expectations, whether reasonable or unreasonable, sometimes resulted in harsh treatment and other sorts of vindications announced. The impact of Greek concepts spread extensively through the Roman jurisprudence and philosophy, particularly the idea of ‘rights’ that the Greek government had announced. On the other side, Sparta was also admired by the Ancient World for different reasons. It was a military prowess and had a stable political system. Military, in Sparta, was different in that it was strengthened to cause repression of the majority of the internal population instead of defense against external aggression. This is treated as an early example of the conscious creation of state institutions for massive, ongoing repression of the kind Hobbes’ absolutist governor would have to have. Contrast to the Athenian ideology,

Success of the Communist Movement of the 1960's in Cuba and Not Research Paper

Success of the Communist Movement of the 1960's in Cuba and Not Bolivia - Research Paper Example Research demonstrates that Cuba was the third most developed country in the continent of America. Some aspects of development recorded in Cuba in 1950s surpassed European countries, such as Belgium, Spain, and Portugal. Cuba was not among the nations, which suffered from severe economic problems and reported lowest living standards of the citizens (Dolgoff). In contrast, Cuba was among the American countries that had the highest living standards before the revolution took off. Although Cuba was not a well developed nation economically and there was poverty in the country, Cuba did not face hunger as well as economic crises in the years prior to the revolution. Prior to the 1959, Cuba was reported to be relatively developed country. It was compared on economic standards of development to capitalist countries, such as Costa Rica besides Taiwan (Dolgoff). According to Eckistein (1982), at the time of revolution, Bolivia reported one of the poorest and least developed economies on the co ntinent. The GNP per capita of the country was the second lowest in South American region. The country was ruled by a small kin and land-based oligarchy. The majority of the citizens in Bolivia operated as tenant farmers as well as sharecroppers. In contrast, the Cuban economy was much developed and superior to the Bolivian economy. Cuba was one of the countries with a developed agricultural economy. Nonetheless, the heavily capitalized economy of the country was significantly dominated by foreign companies. Prior to the Cuban revolution, the agricultural economy of Cuba is reported to have been the most integrated economy in the global economy. The agricultural economy in Cuba increasingly used wage labor in the country. According to the Latin American... The Cuban revolution staged in 1959 by Fidel Castro was meant to liberate peasants and low class citizens from low standards of living and improve the economy of the country. The communist structures together with the overwhelming support of peasants from rural and urban regions ensured that the revolution was a success. Seven years later, Guevara Che, who actively participated in the Cuban revolution, set out to Bolivia to stage a revolt in the country that had similar economic problems to Cuba’s and enjoyed massive support of communism. However, 11 months later, he was captured, and killed and the revolution did not succeed as planned. There is a general misconception that poverty leads to communist uprisings and that accumulation of wealth do not contribute toward communism. This notion is misleading as demonstrated by the revolutions in Cuba and Bolivia in 1960s. Poverty does not lead to communism neither does wealth accumulation result in non-communism. Empirical data from various research materials will be reviewed to present the economic statistics and arguments indicating that before the Cuban revolution took place, Bolivia was more underdeveloped economically, yet communism did not thrive in the country as it did in Cuba, which was more developed. Subsequently, after the revolutions of which Cuba increasingly practiced communism but struggled with economic problems whereas Bolivia, which deviated toward non-communism progressively developed economically than Cuba. The political spheres, structure and organization of the communist parties in various countries, and the support of anticommunist nations contributed to the success or failure of the revolutions.