WEEK IV.

Political systems
Authors:
1.Davis EASTON wrote intensively and extensively on this issue
-> The system analysis in the political life
-> The political system (1953)
DEF: => pol. sys. are a set of interactions abstracted from the totality of social behavior through
which valuable objects (political resources, political power, money, time, prestige) are assigned
in an authoritative way of and in a society.
=>definition dominant in the 1950s and 1960s

2.Gabriel ALMOND called the functionalist
DEF: => pol. sys. are a set of interactions that enables the functions on the functioning of the
global system and global social system, based on role differentiations as well as on their
specialization.

->the main difference: Easton sees political systems as a simple element whilst Almond sees it as
a part of a larger element, a more vast one.

Input -----------> Political system (black box) ---------> Output

= a network of communications and flaws, from and towards society, a complex control system
regarding the internal traditions and tensions and vice versa from society towards the black box.

-a political system can accumulate a lot of tensions, pressure, although we dont know what the
reaction from the black box might be
-the political system has to adapt, to interact
-the political system should regulate its internal behavior, transform its internal structure,
motivated of goals.

The political system=the political arrangement of a society embracing all factors that influence
collective decision -including processes of recruitment- and of socialization, parties, voters and
social movements which are NOT a formal part of the government.
The political regime=transitory inside the same political system (pol.sys. being much wider than
the regime).
= the totality of political institutions, of norms, officially adapted or not, that
can be found in a country at a certain moment. (look in the fundamental institutions:Parliament)
The tipology=the history of a political system


A. Auguste COMPTE / Herbert SPENCER
-looked in the notion of the power
-5 types:
1) the primitive society= no distinctive or permanent political structure or system, in appearance
2) the antique citadel in the city state= associated with the nation state
3) the modern democratic state
4) the totalitarian state
5) the empire based on the nation state.

B. Samuel H. EISENSTADT
- 7 types of political system
1) the primitive system
-the differentiation of empires: 2) the patrimonial empire(empires from the Middle Ages:
Charlemagne)
3) the nomad or the conquistadoric type of empire: The Mongols
4) the bureaucratic and centralized empires: Spain, Portugal,
Netherlands
5) the city state
6) the Middle Ages system, feudal system
7) the modern system

C. Max WEBER / Louis BINDER
-political authority according to them:
1) the traditional political system (legitimizing by authority of the monarchy)
2) the legal political system (bureaucratic mechanism, clear not charismatic, clear hierarchy,
good, achieve democracy)
3) the conventional political system -> consists in democracy based on large consensus,
describing of power, at the local level.

D. Gabriel ALMOND
-4 types that speaks about the degree of democratization:
1) the oligarchic system: a) the modernization oligarchy (elites)
b) the totalitarian oligarchy
-> elites affirmation: - bureaucracy used as instrument (the populist system,
institutions, but no authority)
-> the overlapping between the party and the state( legitimacy through an ideology
based on propaganda => small groups, no public opposition, public life opposed)
2) the modern democratic system:
a) trusteeship (Burkes dilemma), in which the legislative body through direct, universal
voting representative focused not on politics, but on market oriented plan. The accent falls on
politics and on the separation of powers and on the will of law, the legitimacy is given by the
majority of voters.

Government
State
Political system
Society
b) political democracy

E. Talcott PARSONS:
-he speaks about the socialization system and also puts an emphasis on the social community
->its importance: for each and every system needs to accept, to import, to integrate, to maintain
the pattern, to establish certain goals
-7 functions of the political system:
1) maintenance, acceptation and adaptation (creation of a new political role and the replacement
of older ones), actors should be recreuted and socialized according to the script.
2) the political conversion: -> the political supports can be of a wide variety, they must be
somehow reduced
-> political resources should be transformed into legislative issues
and should be metamorphosed into valuable means that are going to
feed the system.
=>all about political communication
3) the extraction: -> the capacity to analyze material and human resources, both as a mental level
and on a physical level.
4) distribution: -> optimum distribution of resources
-> optimal functioning of the system
5) mobilizing the political resources
6) determining the social aims and tasks -> the demands must be covered into authoritative
policy making process.
7) policy implementation -> integrating the elements of society in social and political structures.

The identity crisis= all about the disagreement between the elites and counter elites regarding the
establishment values of the system (or on the educational institutions, religious issues, medical
issues)
> educational crisis => effect apparently on the political actors and the institutions.
-> a legitimacy crisis => the founding principles of a system are or should be able to mobilize
common towards the political system and the state
-> the participation crisis => the agreement or disagreement regarding the granting or taking
away of some political rights.( ex: voting rights)
-> the distribution crisis => how does the state decide how the goods should be distributed
=> distribution crisis could appear due to this fact
-> centralization versus decentralization => how centralized or decentralized should the society
be in order not to create a crisis.