clappito-
good questions.
first be very clear on the terms and definitions
as they relate to governing systems and economic
systems.
types of governing systems:
adhocracy: government in an unstructured fashion; an unstructured organization
anarchy: absence of government
andrarchy/androcracy: government by men
aristocracy: government by the nobility (aristo="the best")
autarchy: government by an absolute ruler
autocracy: government by one individual, autarchy
bureaucracy: government by civil servants; also the civil servants themselves
confederacy: a union of sovereign states
corpocracy: government by corporations (industry)
demarchy: government by the people by lot
democracy: government by the people, either direct (through referendum or popular assembly) or via elections (representative form)
ethnocracy: government by a particular ethnic group
geniocracy: government by those of a high average intelligence
gerontocracy: government by the aged - see the Spartan gerousia
gynarchy: government by women
gynocracy: government by women; gynarchy
hierarchy: government by a ranked body; government by priests
hierocracy: government by priests or religious ministers
kakistocracy: government by the worst
kleptocracy: government by thieves - not an existing form, but a negative appreciation of any regime where corruption is excessive
klerostocracy: government by all, by sortition (random selection, lot)
krytocracy: government by judges
matriarchy: government by women or mothers
meritocracy: government by those with merit
minarchy: government with the smallest possible bureaucracy or size
monarchy: government by one individual
ochlocracy: government by mobs
oligarchy: government by the few; sometimes specified after their fixed number :
dyarchy: government by two, as in a dual monarchy
heptarchy: government by seven people
triumvirate: government by three people
tetrarchy government by four people
panarchy: universal rule or dominion
particracy: government by political parties
patriarchy: government by fathers - the original Roman Senate, styling itself Patres ('fathers'), came close; usually just said of rule by men
plantocracy: government by plantation owners
plutocracy: government by the wealthy
polyarchy government by many people, a vague antonym to monarchy and oligarchy
pornocracy: government by prostitutes
republic: government by professional politicans elected by the populace
stratocracy: government by the armed forces - usually termed military dictatorship or junta
synarchy: joint sovereignty, just as the condominium of Andorra
technocracy: government by technical experts
thalassocracy: sovereignty of the seas
theocracy: government by a deity through clergy or by religious law
timocracy: government by the propertied class
and THEN...
we have scores of national economic systems,
most of which fall under the major headings of
capitaism and socialism or combinations of the two.
it is hardly possible to have any pure form of
national economic system in this day and age anyway
because of the golbal economic interaction and
interdependence of all the various national economic
systems.
most people boil down their political and economic
ideology arguments to an "either-or" debate, which
is pretty stupid and shallow IMHO. they tend to believe
that either you're for democracy or you're a communist.
it's not that simple.
in the case of ernesto "ché" guevara (or most any other
revolutionary leader) i think he become motivated to
help lead a large group of politically and economically
oppressed people to revolt against the forces and
sources of their oppression... period! he was killed
before the revolution was over.
if and when a revolution succeeds, there are a myriad of
directions these people might go as far as their
choices of governing and economic systems. look at
the revolution against apartheid in south africa
for example.
i googled some of those definitions above and ended up
on the wikipedia site which is facinating to rummage
around through to get some good background on all this
stuff. start here and read and follow links until
enlightened or tired:
en.wikipedia.org
i think you'll either reframe or withdraw some of
those questions you posed when you get further into
the complexities of governance and economics. you
won't be grouping cuba, the ussr, north korea and
china naively into one category called "communist"
anymore.
also remember that no country is static in either
a govering or economic sense. especially the USA.
we are changing and evolving continually - sometimes
for the better... sometimes for the worse.
-alberto granado |
