Georgina Zakour
"POWER CORRUPTS AND ABSOLUTE POWER CORRUPTS ABSOLUTELY"
“Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely.” This is a quote by Lord Acton. He was a moralist and an historian who expressed this opinion in a letter to Bishop Mandell Creighton. This expression means that in most cases or almost always, powerful mean are bad men and the more power they obtain, the more corrupted they become. Power was chosen to be limited to people to avoid this corruption. The proper term for this is Constitutionalism.
Constitutionalism is the idea that government can and should be limited in its powers, and that its authority or legitimacy depends on its observing these limitations. It is often associated with the political theories of John Locke. A constitution is a set of fundamental principles according to which a state is governed. The purpose of having a constitution is so that the government is prevented from abusing its power over the people and so that they use their power for the benefit of the people. In the constitution, the rights of an individual is stated and their freedom.
Other ways in which the power of government is limited such as Democracy. Democracy constitutes the circulation of power. It allows the citizen to have a say and participate in the government. Hence, a limitation to the government’s power. Freedom of the press is another limitation to the power of the government. The press is allowed to express their views on what happens in the government freely and without any consequences.
Although in some countries power is limited to avoid corruption, there are still countries where power is not limited. There are countries under the rule of totalitarian and military dictatorships, as well as autocratic nations where leaders have absolute power. This exists in countries such as Bahrain, Oman and Morocco.
In conclusion, there are many ways the power of government is limited and the most effective way thus far is the use of a...