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Political system
System of politics and government

In political science, a political system is the form of political organization recognized by a society or state that defines how official government decisions are made. It typically includes legal, economic, social, and cultural systems, forming a complex framework of authority and influence. Political systems are often classified along a socio-cultural axis in relation to liberal values of the Western world, spanning democracies, authoritarian regimes, and totalitarian regimes. Additionally, hybrid regimes and monarchies occupy unique positions within this spectrum, reflecting diverse governing structures worldwide.

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Definition

According to David Easton, "A political system can be designated as the interactions through which values are authoritatively allocated for a society".6 Political system refers broadly to the process by which laws are made and public resources allocated in society, and to the relationships among those involved in making these decisions.7

Basic classification

Social anthropologists generally recognize several kinds of political systems, often differentiating between ones that they consider uncentralized and ones they consider centralized.8

  • Uncentralized systems
    • Band society
      • Small family group, no larger than an extended family or clan; it has been defined as consisting of no more than 30 to 50 individuals.
      • A band can cease to exist if only a small group walks out.
    • Tribe
      • Generally larger, consisting of many families. Tribes have more social institutions, such as a chief or elders.
      • More permanent than bands. Many tribes are subdivided into bands.
  • Centralized governments
    • Chiefdom
      • More complex than a tribe or a band society, and less complex than a state or a civilization
      • Characterized by pervasive inequality and centralization of authority.
      • A single lineage/family of the elite class becomes the ruling elite of the chiefdom
      • Complex chiefdoms have two or even three tiers of political hierarchy.
      • "An autonomous political unit comprising a number of villages or communities under the permanent control of a paramount chief"9
    • Sovereign state
      • A sovereign state is a state with a permanent population, a defined territory, a government and the capacity to enter into relations with other sovereign states.
  • Supranational political systems
    • Supranational political systems are created by independent nations to reach a common goal or gain strength from forming an alliance.
  • Empires
    • Empires are widespread states consisting of people of different ethnicities under a single rule. Empires - such as the Romans, or British - often made considerable progress in ways of political structures, creating and building city infrastructures, and maintaining civility within the diverse communities. Because of the intricate organization of the empires, they were often able to hold a large majority of power on a universal level.
  • Leagues
    • Leagues are international organizations composed of states coming together for a single common purpose. In this way, leagues are different from empires, as they only seek to fulfil a single goal. Often leagues are formed on the brink of a military or economic downfall. Meetings and hearings are conducted in a neutral location with representatives of all involved nations present.

Western socio-cultural paradigmatic-centric analysis

Further information: List of forms of government

The sociological interest in political systems is figuring out who holds power within the relationship between the government and its people and how the government’s power is used. According to Yale professor Juan José Linz, there are three main types of political systems today: democracies, totalitarian regimes and, sitting between these two, authoritarian regimes (with hybrid regimes).1011 Another modern classification system includes monarchies as a standalone entity or as a hybrid system of the main three.12 Scholars generally refer to a dictatorship as either a form of authoritarianism or totalitarianism.13141516

Democracy

Further information: Types of democracy

Democracy (from Ancient Greek: δημοκρατία, romanized: dēmokratía, dēmos 'people' and kratos 'rule')17 is a form of government in which political power is vested in the people or the population of a state.181920 Under a minimalist definition of democracy, rulers are elected through competitive elections while more expansive or maximalist definitions link democracy to guarantees of civil liberties and human rights in addition to competitive elections.212223

Authoritarianism

Authoritarianism is a political system characterized by the rejection of political plurality, the use of strong central power to preserve the political status quo, and reductions in democracy, separation of powers, civil liberties, and the rule of law.2425 Authoritarian regimes may be either autocratic or oligarchic and may be based upon the rule of a party or the military.2627 States that have a blurred boundary between democracy and authoritarianism have some times been characterized as "hybrid democracies", "hybrid regimes" or "competitive authoritarian" states.282930

Totalitarian

Totalitarianism is a political system and a form of government that prohibits opposition from political parties, disregards and outlaws the political claims of individual and group opposition to the state, and completely controls the public sphere and the private sphere of society. In the field of political science, totalitarianism is the extreme form of authoritarianism, wherein all socio-political power is held by a dictator. This figure controls the national politics and peoples of the nation with continual propaganda campaigns that are broadcast by state-controlled and state-aligned private mass communications media.31

Monarchy

A monarchy is a form of government in which a person, the monarch, reigns as head of state for rest of the life or until abdication. The extent of the authority of the monarch may vary from restricted and largely symbolic (constitutional monarchy), to fully autocratic (absolute monarchy), and may have representational, executive, legislative, and judicial functions.32

The succession of monarchs has mostly been hereditary, often building dynasties; however, monarchies can also be elective and self-proclaimed.33 Aristocrats, though not inherent to monarchies, often function as the pool of persons from which the monarch is chosen, and to fill the constituting institutions (e.g. diet and court), giving many monarchies oligarchic elements. The political legitimacy of the inherited, elected or proclaimed monarchy has most often been based on claims of representation of people and land through some form of relation (e.g. kinship) and divine right or other achieved status.

Hybrid

Further information: Democratization and Democratic backsliding

A hybrid regime34 is a type of political system often created as a result of an incomplete democratic transition from an authoritarian regime to a democratic one (or vice versa).35 Hybrid regimes are categorized as having a combination of autocratic features with democratic ones and can simultaneously hold political repressions and regular elections.36 Hybrid regimes are commonly found in developing countries with abundant natural resources such as petro-states.373839 Although these regimes experience civil unrest, they may be relatively stable and tenacious for decades at a time.40 There has been a rise in hybrid regimes since the end of the Cold War.4142

The term hybrid regime arises from a polymorphic view of political regimes that oppose the dichotomy of autocracy or democracy.43 Modern scholarly analysis of hybrid regimes focuses attention on the decorative nature of democratic institutions (elections do not lead to a change of power, different media broadcast the government point of view and the opposition in parliament votes the same way as the ruling party, among others),44 from which it is concluded that democratic backsliding, a transition to authoritarianism is the most prevalent basis of hybrid regimes.4546 Some scholars also contend that hybrid regimes may imitate a full dictatorship.4748

Marxist/Dialectical materialistic analysis

See also: Dialectical materialism

19th-century German-born philosopher Karl Marx analysed that the political systems of "all" state societies are the dictatorship of one social class, vying for its interests against that of another one; with which class oppressing which other class being, in essence, determined by the developmental level of that society, and its repercussions implicated thereof, as the society progresses through the passage of time. In capitalist societies, this characterises as the dictatorship of the bourgeoisie or capitalist class, in which the economic and political system is designed to work in their interests collectively as a class, over those of the proletariat or working class.

Marx devised this theory by adapting his forerunner-contemporary Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel's notion of dialectics into the framework of materialism.

See also

Notes

Further reading

  • Douglas V. Verney (15 April 2013). The Analysis of Political Systems. Routledge. ISBN 978-1-135-03477-1.
  • Almond, Gabriel A., et al. Comparative Politics Today: A World View (Seventh Edition). 2000. ISBN 0-316-03497-5.
  • Ferris, Kerry, and Jill Stein. The Real World An Introduction to Sociology. 3rd ed. New York City: W W Norton & Co, 2012. Print.
  • "political system". Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica Online. Encyclopædia Britannica Inc., 2012. Web. 02 Dec. 2012.

References

  1. "Political system | Types, Components, Functions, & Facts | Britannica". https://www.britannica.com/topic/political-system ↩

  2. Dobratz, B.A. (2015). Power, Politics, and Society: An Introduction to Political Sociology. Taylor & Francis. p. 47. ISBN 978-1-317-34529-9. Retrieved Apr 30, 2023. 978-1-317-34529-9 ↩

  3. Juan José Linz (2000). Totalitarian and Authoritarian Regimes. Lynne Rienner Publisher. p. 143. ISBN 978-1-55587-890-0. OCLC 1172052725. 978-1-55587-890-0 ↩

  4. Ginny Garcia-Alexander; Hyeyoung Woo; Matthew J. Carlson (3 November 2017). Social Foundations of Behavior for the Health Sciences. Springer. pp. 137–. ISBN 978-3-319-64950-4. OCLC 1013825392. 978-3-319-64950-4 ↩

  5. "14.2 Types of Political Systems". 8 April 2016. Archived from the original on 22 October 2022. Retrieved 19 October 2022. https://web.archive.org/web/20221022061920/https://opentextbooks.uregina.ca/sociology/chapter/14-2-types-of-political-systems/#:~:text=The%20major%20types%20of%20political,and%20instead%20rule%20through%20fear ↩

  6. Easton, David. (1971). The political system: an inquiry into the state of political science. Knopf. OCLC 470276419. http://worldcat.org/oclc/470276419 ↩

  7. https://www.encyclopedia.com/social-sciences-and-law/sociology-and-social-reform/sociology-general-terms-and-concepts/political-system [bare URL] https://www.encyclopedia.com/social-sciences-and-law/sociology-and-social-reform/sociology-general-terms-and-concepts/political-system ↩

  8. Haviland, W.A. (2003). Anthropology: Tenth Edition. Wadsworth:Belmont, CA. ↩

  9. Carneiro, Robert L. (2011). "The Chiefdom: Precursor of the State". In Jones, Grant D.; Kautz, Robert R. (eds.). The Transition to Statehood in the New World. New Directions in Archaeology. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press. pp. 37–79. ISBN 978-0-521-17269-1. 978-0-521-17269-1 ↩

  10. Juan José Linz (2000). Totalitarian and Authoritarian Regimes. Lynne Rienner Publisher. p. 143. ISBN 978-1-55587-890-0. OCLC 1172052725. 978-1-55587-890-0 ↩

  11. Jonathan Michie, ed. (3 February 2014). Reader's Guide to the Social Sciences. Routledge. p. 95. ISBN 978-1-135-93226-8. 978-1-135-93226-8 ↩

  12. Ginny Garcia-Alexander; Hyeyoung Woo; Matthew J. Carlson (3 November 2017). Social Foundations of Behavior for the Health Sciences. Springer. pp. 137–. ISBN 978-3-319-64950-4. OCLC 1013825392. 978-3-319-64950-4 ↩

  13. Allan Todd; Sally Waller (10 September 2015). Allan Todd; Sally Waller (eds.). History for the IB Diploma Paper 2 Authoritarian States (20th Century). Cambridge University Press. pp. 10–. ISBN 978-1-107-55889-2. 978-1-107-55889-2 ↩

  14. Ezrow & Frantz 2011, pp. 14–17. sfn error: no target: CITEREFEzrowFrantz2011 (help) - Ezrow, Natasha M.; Frantz, Erica (2011). Dictators and Dictatorships: Understanding Authoritarian Regimes and Their Leaders. Continuum. p. 17. ↩

  15. Juan José Linz (2000). Totalitarian and Authoritarian Regimes. Lynne Rienner Publisher. p. 143. ISBN 978-1-55587-890-0. OCLC 1172052725. 978-1-55587-890-0 ↩

  16. Sondrol, P. C. (2009). "Totalitarian and Authoritarian Dictators: A Comparison of Fidel Castro and Alfredo Stroessner". Journal of Latin American Studies. 23 (3): 599–620. doi:10.1017/S0022216X00015868. JSTOR 157386. S2CID 144333167. https://www.jstor.org/stable/157386 ↩

  17. "Democracy". Oxford University Press. Retrieved 24 February 2021. https://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/acref/9780195148909.001.0001/acref-9780195148909-e-241 ↩

  18. Schwartzberg, Melissa (2014). "Democracy". The Encyclopedia of Political Thought: 851–862. doi:10.1002/9781118474396.wbept0248. ISBN 978-1-4051-9129-6. 978-1-4051-9129-6 ↩

  19. "Democracy | Definition, History, Meaning, Types, Examples, & Facts". Encyclopædia Britannica. 2023-08-16. Retrieved 2023-08-17. https://www.britannica.com/topic/democracy ↩

  20. Przeworski, Adam (2024). "Who Decides What Is Democratic?". Journal of Democracy. 35 (3): 5–16. doi:10.1353/jod.2024.a930423. ISSN 1086-3214. https://muse.jhu.edu/pub/1/article/930423 ↩

  21. Dahl, Robert A.; Shapiro, Ian; Cheibub, Jose Antonio (2003). The Democracy Sourcebook. MIT Press. p. 31. ISBN 978-0-262-54147-3. 978-0-262-54147-3 ↩

  22. Møller, Jørgen; Skaaning, Svend-Erik (Jan 2013). "Regime Types and Democratic Sequencing". Journal of Democracy. 24 (1): 142–155. doi:10.1353/jod.2013.0010. ISSN 1045-5736. Archived from the original on 22 February 2024. https://www.journalofdemocracy.org/articles/regime-types-and-democratic-sequencing/ ↩

  23. Przeworski, Adam (2024). "Who Decides What Is Democratic?". Journal of Democracy. 35 (3): 5–16. doi:10.1353/jod.2024.a930423. ISSN 1086-3214. https://muse.jhu.edu/pub/1/article/930423 ↩

  24. Kalu, Kalu N. (2019). A Functional Theory of Government, Law, and Institutions. Rowman & Littlefield. pp. 161–. ISBN 978-1-4985-8703-7. OCLC 1105988740. 978-1-4985-8703-7 ↩

  25. Cerutti, Furio (2017). Conceptualizing Politics: An Introduction to Political Philosophy. Routledge. p. 17. Political scientists have outlined elaborated typologies of authoritarianism, from which it is not easy to draw a generally accepted definition; it seems that its main features are the non-acceptance of conflict and plurality as normal elements of politics, the will to preserve the status quo and prevent change by keeping all political dynamics under close control by a strong central power, and lastly, the erosion of the rule of law, the division of powers, and democratic voting procedures. ↩

  26. Ezrow, Natasha M.; Frantz, Erica (2011). Dictators and Dictatorships: Understanding Authoritarian Regimes and Their Leaders. Continuum. p. 17. /wiki/Continuum_International_Publishing_Group ↩

  27. Lai, Brian; Slater, Dan (2006). "Institutions of the Offensive: Domestic Sources of Dispute Initiation in Authoritarian Regimes, 1950–1992". American Journal of Political Science. 50 (1): 113–126. doi:10.1111/j.1540-5907.2006.00173.x. JSTOR 3694260. /wiki/Doi_(identifier) ↩

  28. Levitsky, Steven; Way, Lucan A. (2010). Competitive Authoritarianism: Hybrid Regimes after the Cold War. Problems of International Politics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. doi:10.1017/cbo9780511781353. ISBN 978-0-521-88252-1. Archived from the original on 18 October 2022. Retrieved 2 September 2022. 978-0-521-88252-1 ↩

  29. Diamond, Larry (2002). "Elections Without Democracy: Thinking About Hybrid Regimes". Journal of Democracy. 13 (2): 21–35. doi:10.1353/jod.2002.0025. ISSN 1086-3214. S2CID 154815836. Archived from the original on 7 October 2022. Retrieved 2 September 2022. https://muse.jhu.edu/article/17195 ↩

  30. Gunitsky, Seva (2015). "Lost in the Gray Zone: Competing Measures of Democracy in the Former Soviet Republics". Ranking the World: Grading States as a Tool of Global Governance. Cambridge University Press: 112–150. doi:10.1017/CBO9781316161555.006. ISBN 978-1-107-09813-8. SSRN 2506195. 978-1-107-09813-8 ↩

  31. Conquest, Robert (1999). Reflections on a Ravaged Century. Norton. pp. 73–74. ISBN 0393048187. 0393048187 ↩

  32. "Monarchy | Definition, Examples, & Facts | Britannica". Britannica.com. Retrieved 2023-02-28. https://www.britannica.com/topic/monarchy ↩

  33. "The Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth". In Our Time. 14 October 2021. BBC Radio 4. Retrieved 29 March 2023. https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0010f8z ↩

  34. Scholars use a variety of terms to encompass the "grey zones" between full autocracies and full democracies.[30] Such terms include: competitive authoritarianism, semi-authoritarianism, hybrid authoritarianism, electoral authoritarianism, liberal autocracy, delegative democracy, illiberal democracy, guided democracy, semi-democracy, deficient democracy, defective democracy, and hybrid democracy.[31][32][33][34][35][36][37][38] /wiki/Autocracies ↩

  35. Debates over what can be called "hybrid" still exist, see #Definition section for details. ↩

  36. Debates over what can be called "hybrid" still exist, see #Definition section for details. ↩

  37. Croissant, A.; Kailitz, S.; Koellner, P.; Wurster, S. (2015). Comparing autocracies in the early Twenty-first Century: Volume 1: Unpacking Autocracies - Explaining Similarity and Difference. Taylor & Francis. p. 212. ISBN 978-1-317-70018-0. Archived from the original on December 9, 2022. Retrieved Nov 27, 2022. 978-1-317-70018-0 ↩

  38. Zinecker, Heidrun (2009). "Regime-Hybridity in Developing Countries: Achievements and Limitations of New Research on Transitions". International Studies Review. 11 (2). [Oxford University Press, Wiley, The International Studies Association]: 302–331. doi:10.1111/j.1468-2486.2009.00850.x. ISSN 1521-9488. JSTOR 40389063. Archived from the original on 2022-11-16. Retrieved 2022-11-18. http://www.jstor.org/stable/40389063 ↩

  39. Carothers, Christopher (2018). "The Surprising Instability of Competitive Authoritarianism". Journal of Democracy. 29 (4): 129–135. doi:10.1353/jod.2018.0068. ISSN 1086-3214. S2CID 158234306. https://muse.jhu.edu/article/705723/summary ↩

  40. Debates over what can be called "hybrid" still exist, see #Definition section for details. ↩

  41. Levitsky, Steven; Way, Lucan (2002). "The Rise of Competitive Authoritarianism". Journal of Democracy. 13 (2). Project Muse: 51–65. doi:10.1353/jod.2002.0026. ISSN 1086-3214. S2CID 6711009. /wiki/Doi_(identifier) ↩

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  43. "Hybrid Regimes". obo. Archived from the original on 2019-07-29. Retrieved 2019-08-13. https://www.oxfordbibliographies.com/view/document/obo-9780199756223/obo-9780199756223-0167.xml ↩

  44. Mufti, Mariam (Jun 22, 2018). "What Do We Know about Hybrid Regimes after Two Decades of Scholarship?". Politics and Governance. 6 (2). Cogitatio: 112–119. doi:10.17645/pag.v6i2.1400. ISSN 2183-2463. S2CID 158943827. https://doi.org/10.17645%2Fpag.v6i2.1400 ↩

  45. Debates over what can be called "hybrid" still exist, see #Definition section for details. ↩

  46. "Home - IDEA Global State of Democracy Report". International IDEA. Archived from the original on April 4, 2023. Retrieved Nov 26, 2022. https://www.idea.int/gsod/ ↩

  47. Schedler, Andreas (Aug 1, 2013). "Shaping the Authoritarian Arena". The Politics of Uncertainty. Oxford University Press. pp. 54–75. doi:10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199680320.003.0003. ISBN 978-0-19-968032-0. 978-0-19-968032-0 ↩

  48. Brooker, P. (2013). Non-Democratic Regimes. Comparative Government and Politics. Bloomsbury Publishing. p. 222. ISBN 978-1-137-38253-5. Archived from the original on December 9, 2022. Retrieved Nov 27, 2022. 978-1-137-38253-5 ↩