Western Civilization Essay Example for Free

Western Civilization Essay Functional political structures of prior centuries still exist to a great degree this very day. What that means is those political systems that are viable can transcend centuries and cultures to exist in the modern world. Political structures are not something that are pulled out of thin air and instituted. Instead, political structures and ideologies are the result of a process of evolution. In other words, a political idea or system will develop in an inception stage and then over the course of time, it will evolve into a more complex system that takes into consideration the various complexities that modern concerns may influence said development. However, what does not happen is that the entirety of an old system is completely thrown out unless it is a clearly failed system. Monarchies, for example, have collapsed because they simply are not functional in the modern era. Their modern equivalent, dictatorships, exist is certain parts of the world on a minimalist level (Cuba, North Korea, etc), but they are generally rejected by the vast majority of world governments whereas successful government systems propagate, albeit in different versions of their classical counterpart. For example, democracy started in Athens as a philosophical movement that later developed into a viable political system. This form of Athenian democracy that was instituted in Ancient Greece was considered a model of effective government and a great deal of the principles of Athenian democracy exist in modern governments, although there are a number of departures from the original Athenian concept. In the Athenian system, direct democracy was the dominant factor as opposed to representative democracy. We still see vestiges of this form of direct democracy in America in the form of ballot initiatives. In California, the most (in)famous form of direct democracy can be viewed in the decriminalization a medical marijuana, a law that never would have passed through a representative system.