Is the wizarding world a democracy? - Grown up Impressions of the WW

[junediamanti]

No: HPFGUIDX 75615

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, Trevor Peterson <laxer26 at y...> 
wrote:
> Steve wrote

> The WW seems to be a dictatorial democracy, much like the Ancient 
Greek states of Macedonia and Sparta. Where a leader was elected by a 
group of powerful aristocrats for a specific period of time. These 
leaders were given total control for their elected period, commonly 2 
years.
> 
> Fudge could do as he did with those powers, but notice how he had 
to get the public on his side by controlling the press spin. Fudge 
with all his powers was afraid of public opinion and tried to shape 
it. Dictators only worry about public opinion when in a Democracy.
> 
> Laxer: First, show me where either of us said that the US was a 
Democracy.  All that was said was that the wizarding world is not 
following the US model of government.  Second, yes you are kind of 
correct with saying that the US is not a democracy.  Websters says 
that in a strict sense, a democracy is where the supreme power is 
vested in the people. - my note- the only place where you will then 
be able to have a democracy is small towns because of the 
inefficiencies of making decisions-  The first definition that 
Websters gives is ....the supreme power is vested in the people and 
exercised by them or their elected agents.  
>  
> On that note, the WW is a democracy if the people elect the 
minister of magic or the wizengamot, otherwise no.  And in my humble 
opinion, even if the WW is a democracy technically, it is not a good 
one
>  
> laxer
June:  

It seems to me that if you read the five books in sequence, the POV 
is drifting slowly towards a more balanced understanding of both 
worlds as Harry grows up and becomes more mature.  

The first impression we get of the WW is that it is utopian - 
compared with Harry's grey prisoner of war status in the RW.  

JKR has been gradually introducing darker elements of the WW, 
especially in the three later books; I will list a few below to show 
what I mean, though I do not pretend the list is exhaustive:

Sirius, imprisonment without trial or proper investigation; and then 
possible "execution" by decree.  (This is a world that permits 
judicial murder - which IMHO is what execution is, and worse in the 
case of the dementor's kiss, torture - imprisonment under the 
dementors' charge must be not unlike Orwell's Ministry of Love).

The suspension of legal restraints on Auror powers by Crouch (GoF 
passim).  This smacks of totalitarianism.  It has it's parrallels in 
1930's Germany and Russia where ruling was done centrally and by 
emergency decree rather than through any democratic structure.

The show trials of captured death eaters - I refer to the pensieve 
scenes.  These are not trials in any accepted western judicial system 
sense: there seems to be no defense lawyers, no case prepared (though 
I will concede that we only see part of the trials - there may well 
be more).  They looked a lot like the 1930 Russian party purges to me.

The blatant use of propaganda by Crouch to distort the truth that 
only Harry and Dumbledore will utter.  (Shades of Alastair Campbell!)

Anyway, to get back to my point:  I think this is perhaps a good way 
of introducing a younger audience to some very important truths.  A 
young child enters a world which looks gorgeous and glamourous 
compared to his own, and yet there are disturbing similarities with 
some very bad aspects of ours.  In short, not all fantasy worlds are 
a solution to intolerable aspects of real life.  

June

"Lasciate ogni speranza, voi ch'intrate"

At work and sick of it.