Question

Choose a foreign country. Research and discuss the triumvirate of political, economic, and legal systems in the country that you chose. Discuss how these factors can affect economic progress.

Answer 1

A triumvirate refers to a systems of ruling or governance whereby the power to govern rests with three authorities or with an authority controlling or is controlled by all the nodes of power. In case of a triumvirate of economic political and legal systems, the nodes of governance or power are economic, political and legal/ judicial systems. Using these three nodes the governance is exercised. However it can be seen that usually the triumvirate of political economic and legal systems when used to govern is controlled by a centralized authority supervising the use of the nodes of the triumvirate. Decentralized or dispersed local system of governance influencing economy, politics and judiciary is not usual for centralized triumvirate governance. A triumvirate is often formal or sometimes informal in nature and formation.

Interestingly, triumvirate is generally used to indicate three individuals wielding the power to govern. In case of erstwhile Soviet Union and Russia, triumvirate or the Troika in Russian was formed by Lev Kamenev, Joseph Stalin, and Grigory Zinoviev during the early 1900’s.   Nevertheless, the concept of triumvirate can also be deciphered as the powerful tri-nodal coordination of economy, politics and judicial system.

If we consider China to be a representative country, we see that the power is centralized in form and controlled by selected few. And the entire economy, politics and judicial system is controlled by a single authority controlling the three nodes of power. Thus, be it a central authority controlling economy, politics and legal system, or be it three individuals, organization or any other form of association regulating the country, triumvirate is essentially a centralized system of governance. The power is invariable concentrated in few hands. In China, during the 1990s, a triumvirate of individuals can be seen, who by the virtue of centralized planning and governance ruled the Republic of China. The individual knobs of power in the communist party of China were Jiang Zemin, Premier Li Peng and Deputy Premier Zhu Rongji. The centralized policies were to (a) control the economy; (b) control the army and military (use of political node); (c) remove domestic oppositions (use of legal and political node) (d) followed with a tough international and trade relations. Following this line of argument, often, triumvirate rule inches close toward a dictatorship regime, however with a consortium of totalitarians. Also a simultaneous control over all, the aspects of a country usually leads to reduced specialized attention to problems and often neglects non-military, non-economic and non-political aspects like human rights and health-education issues.

Finally, in case of a triumvirate governance, controlling the economy, politics and legal systems, following might be seen, which are in many ways true in case of the example from China,

1. Centralized planning neglecting local needs
2. Control over legal and political system suppress the possibility of functioning democracy
3. Authoritarian control over judicial and legal system would entail a distorted or often despotic legal system
4. The use of economy, politics and legal system that is intended towards general and societal development is hampered due to differing objectives of the ruler and the country in general
5. Political opposition is like the valve of pressure cooker in a democracy; inability of the valve to properly function would lead to an explosion of the pressure cooker metaphorically, or the entire country. Triumvirate resists the functioning of opposition
6. Due to strict international relations and trade policies in the triumvirate ruled nations, the economy almost moves towards an autarkic situation directed by the authority to prevent international players from entering the national arena and might pose a threat to the triumvirates sovereign power
7. This leads to not only continuous international brawl but also economically cause significant trade losses
8. Finally all the above leads to loss of welfare in general
1. And also loss of human rights for the citizens of a triumvirate governed country.

Economic growth would be hampered in case the triumvirate insists on only military expansion and control of political power. Lack of human capital, human welfare and also sound financial system would lead to a decreasing growth in such a country. This is because the prerogative is not the development of the general, but to serve some pre-determined notions of governance towards a teleological goal.

However, it should also be noted that triumvirates can also serve as beneficial to a system, depending on the characteristics of the triumvirate, the objectives of the said and the methods that is followed by the authority to reach the objectives. Economic, political and judicial systems control should not be the prime concern for triumvirate that should move over personal objectives towards greater development. And finally, a triumvirate if is capable of entertaining local issues and yet forming a totalitarian plan based on the local needs might resolve the concerns with triumvirate governance.