Capitalism and democracy are two systems that coexist in various forms throughout the world. Even though they coexist, do they actually need each other? Do they mutually coexist?
In short, capitalism is an economic and political system in which, rather than the state, private parties manage business and trade activities. Whereas, democracy is a system in which anyone has the same, equal rights and freedom to express whatever they want to express.
Although both ideologies do not seem to share similarities, but many people argue that both need each other. Of the arguments, capitalism need the existence of democracy in a country in order to work.
However, that does not appear to accurately answer the question. Accordingly, the capital-oriented ideology already existed and worked long before democracy was widely practiced. China, for instance, implements the so-called state capitalism without democracy.
To dive deeper into the relationship, Harvard Business Review gathered opinions from top economists and political scientists and see what they have in mind.
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Harvard Business Review: Do Capitalism and Democracy Need Each Other?
Reviewing what the experts have in mind, the majority agrees that capitalism does not need democracy in order to exist. Only one out of them believes that both ideologies need each other.
Various reasons assert that both ideologies are completely two different things. From several cases provided, each of them can actually stand on its own.
However, what’s interesting is that most of the experts indicate that capitalism, to some extent, threatens the way democracy runs. Long story short, it is due to the nature of capitalism that actually is not proper to run a society.
Considering the beliefs, it indirectly supports a survey by Pew. The research institution discovered that 51% respondents from 27 countries are dissatisfied with how democracy works nowadays. In addition, the survey also found that approximately a half of US millennials and gen Zs views capitalism negatively.
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