Old Bailey London

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collectivity.

Moreover, the simulation confirmed me and proved that big cuts are never a good decision to make and people would never fully accept them. In particular, people would never be willing to approve cuts on education or health care.

Even if not being a dictatorship, Italy has experience riots and protests by many students due to the big cuts the government decided to do on the education. Back in 2014, the government led by Renzi proposed a cut of over €100.000 on education. Students of all ages organized protests while occupying the streets of major Italian cities such as Rome, Milan and Palermo. Students from high schools protested against the poor conditions of the facilities in which they were forced to go, risking their lives every day. In fact, news showed gyms with decaying roofs, classrooms falling to pieces and security plans never updated. Similarly, university students protested against the high costs of public universities that, as such, should provide a low cost or even a no­cost service to students who cannot afford private universities.

From a more general point of view, students were concerned about how these large cuts on the education sector could compromise their future by not getting a proper education, necessary to deal with the world of work.

That’s why, from both the simulation and what happened in Italy, I realized that a president should never decide to make cuts of critical sectors of society such as education or health. The solution would be rather to redistribute funds in order to finance each sectors with the right amount of money.

Finally, thinking about the readings related to this topic, I think that the simulation perfectly illustrated an authoritarian regime in which military choose to intervene in the political sphere seen the difficulties of both government and state to deal with legitimacy and stability.

As Patrick O’Neil stated in his work, “[o]ften, under military rule, political parties and most civil liberties are restricted, and civilian political leaders or opponents of military rule are arrested and may be killed or disappear.” (2004) As said by the author, in the military dictatorship simulation we have seen how the military, once they took over the government by force, they exiled the president and get rid off the far left because they could be a real threat for them. In fact, any kind of “current government or regime [that could threaten] the military’s or a country’s interests [,] ... should be removed.” (O’Neil 2004)

­ O’Neil, Patrick. “Authoritarianism.” E ssentials of Comparative Politics. 2 004. Print