ipl-logo

Edward Snowden's Ideal Democracy

966 Words4 Pages

For the past decade, democracies have been idealized as the superior political system, especially by the Western world and therefore lack ambition to improve. Since the tensions between non-democratic and democratic states have disappeared after the fall of most communist countries, the “West” and democracy was perceived as the superior, “winning” ideology. In my opinion, this perception has led to an irrational respect as well as blind obedience to political leaders. Therefore free hand is given to democratic states and their leaders as they find world-wide support. Whistle-blowers, leaking secret information about unethical actions of governments and organizations, are modern “institutions” setting necessary limits to the actions of political actors in the western world. In order to reinstall democratic means, such as the right to self-determination and the power of the people, it is necessary for nation and every individual to be a part of the reinstallation of transparency (Cogen, 49). Measurements have …show more content…

Snowden is called a whistle-blower which is defined by the Oxford Dictionary as “a person who informs on a person or organization regarded as engaging in an unlawful or immoral activity”. Although this definition highlights the fact that he revealed the potentially unlawful and immoral activity conducted by the National Security Agency, some critics perceive Snowden to be a traitor and therefore thoroughly un-American. These recent events, such as the revealing of Mrs. Merkel 's phone tapping, have torn the world and started a never ending discussion: was Edward Snowden 's release of secret and/or classified information to the general public a betrayal on the state or a blessing to

Open Document