Capitalism and Democracy

Essay by raddieUniversity, Bachelor'sB+, July 2005

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Capitalism and Democracy

From the very dawn of intelligent human interaction to the present day,

the concept of capitalism has dominated the way we trade goods and

acquire wealth. Except for the necessity of a simple communist society in

pre-modern times, or the noble humanistic notion of a socialist society,

the free market has always been the most efficient way to run the economy

once the most basic needs of life have been satisfied. Only during the

last several hundred years has the idea of a modern democracy been

developed and applied through the modern state. These two concepts are

thought by some to be interrelated, but contemporary critics of the

liberal form of democracy seek to separate the two notions of capitalism

and democracy. However, when examining the evidence of the relation of

the two, let us not use the altered conceptions or versions of these

terms, but rather analyse them by their base meanings as we have come to

understand them.

After this analysis of the terms and a resulting

stipulation of what their base meanings are, critics may say that any

further analysis of the relationship between the two terms would be

tainted by their supposed definitions. The problem with this is that

without a common frame of reference between the two, no comparison would

be logically possible without considering an infinite range of possible

meanings. With this technical matter aside, the analysis will continue

with an investigation into arguments both for and against the separation

of the two terms, and then an evaluation of the true nature of

capitalism&rsquos relationship with democracy. Specifically the free

market economy dictating the actions of any democratic regime. After this

task of evaluation is complete, the argument will conclude with

illustrating how capitalism will actually lead to a more liberal...