POLSCI 11. Third exam reviewer.

CHAPTER 15. Constitution, the Law and Judiciaries.

1. What is a constitution and what forms can it take?

o Constitutes the highest law of the land
o Late 18th Century

 Classifications:
o In the form and status of its rules:
1.) Written or unwritten
 Written – based on laws; sacred rules found in documents; ‘created’
 Unwritten – based on unwritten laws; embodied in custom and tradition;
organic entities that evolved through history.
2.) Codified or uncodified
 Codified – all the highest laws of the land can be found in a single document
called ‘the constitution’.
- Document itself is authoritative.
- Existence of which establishes hierarchy of laws.
- Certain provisions are entrenched, it’s difficult to amend or abolish
them.
- Strengths and weaknesses (p.319)
 Uncodified – can be found in different sources; decentralized sources.
- Legislature has the right to make or unmake any law.
- Constitution means what they say it means.
o The case with which it can be changed:
- Rigid or flexible
o Rigid – entrenched/institutionalized
o Flexible – can be changed
- The set of laws should be entrenched to provide a sense of regularity; else it won’t
be any different to monarch decrees.
o The degree to which the constitution is observed in practice:
 Effective – fulfills two criteria:
- Practical affairs of government correspond to the provisions of the
constitution.
- Occurs because the constitution has the capacity to limit governmental
behavior.
 Nominal – doesn’t perform its real functions in the society; only exists in theory;
it fails to limit what should be limited.
 Façade – provides a semblance of order/legitimacy but it’s actually propaganda.
 Dictatorship is a façade because rather than protecting rights of citizens, it
protects the leaders; defeats the purpose.
o The content:
1.) Monarchical or republican
 Monarchical – passed to an heir; constitutional supremacy in a dynastic ruler.
 Republican – appointed or elected; political authority is derived from the
people.
2.) Federal or unitary
  Federal – states and local government.
 Unitary – sovereignty possessed alone by a central government.
3.) Presidential or parliamentary
 Presidential – separation of 3 powers.
 Parliament – fusion of executive and legislative; executive is derived from and
accountable to the assembly.
4.) Pluralist or Monopolistic
 Pluralist – characteristic of liberal democracies; ensures political power is
dispersed through participatory rights and party competition.
 Monopolistic – more common in communist or authoritarian states;
unquestionable power of a ‘ruling party’ or supreme leader is formally
entrenched.

 Functions:
o To empower states – P
 P – a constitution should contain a power structure/power map.
o To establish unifying values and goals – Constitutions aren’t neutral
 Any constitution has bias ideological values that are held innate – not neutral.
 Invest their regime with a set of unifying values, a sense of ideological purpose
and a vocabulary used in the conduct of politics.
o To provide government stability
 Formalize and regulate the relationships between political bodies and provide a
mechanism through which conflicts can be adjudicated and resolved.
 Introduce a measure of stability, order and predictability of the government.
o To protect freedom
 Limit the power state to protect individual freedom/liberty.
 Negative rights – mark out a realm of unconstrained action; check the
responsibilities of government.
 Positive rights – make demands of government in terms of provision of
resources and support.
o To legitimate regimes
 It provides the legitimacy of regimes because the rights of leaders and
responsibilities are drawn from this.

2. Law – a distinct form of social control backed up by the means of enforcement: it defines what
can and cannot be done.
- (Morality – difference between ‘right’ and ‘wrong’; what should and should not)
o HLA Hart: law stemmed from union of primary and secondary rules.
 Primary rules – regulate social behavior; ‘content’ of the legal system.
 Secondary rules – confer powers upon the institutions of government; lay down
how primary rules are made, enforced and adjudicated.
o Enabling acts – implementing rules and regulations to determine how laws are to be
implemented.
o Law exists to institute order.
 Human rights – rights to which people are entitled by virtue of being human.
 Rule of law?
o No one is above the law; law should be applied to everyone equally, even to those in
power.
 o Law above ‘politics’.

3. The Judiciary – guardian of the constitution; appointed by the President.

- Status depends on the form.
- APPLY clear law.
- INTERPRET  vague ones  judicial legislation
- Most passive; it is not supposed to be political.
- Shielded from external threats.
o Judicial legislation – judges compose meaning on law through a process of construction
that forces them to choose among a number of possible meanings or interpretation.
 Are judges political?
o Judges may be subject to external bias or internal bias:
 External bias – influence that political bodies (parties, the assembly,
government) exert on the judiciary.
 Internal bias – prejudices and sympathies of judges themselves.
 Judicial independence – strict separation between the judiciary and other branches of
government.
 Judicial activism – the willingness of judiciary to arbitrate in political disputes as opposed to
merely saying what the law means.
o Internal B
o External B

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CHAPTER 16. Assemblies

- What is an assembly?
 Collection or gathering of people associated with representation and popular government.
 Assemblies – “assemble”
 Legislatures – “legislate”
 Parliaments – “talk”
 The branches of government whose chief functions is to make laws.

Institutional Designs:

1. Presidential System – separation of powers; network of checks and balances to protect

individual rights and liberties.

2. Parliamentary System – no separation of powers (power merging); fusion of legislative and

executive power: government is drawn from and accountable to the assembly or parliament.
3. Semi-Presidential

 Functions of Assemblies:

1. Legislation (function of integration)

o Legislative power in hope that the laws will be authoritative and binding.
o Assembly as a forum: proposed laws can be openly discussed or debated.
o People make the laws themselves.
2. Representation
o Provide a link between government and the people.
o Doctrine of mandate – views parties, not assemblies, as the central mechanism through
which representation takes place.
o Mechanisms of interest representation – when interest groups exert policy influence.
3. Scrutiny and Oversight (principle of checks and balances)
o Deliver responsible or accountable government.
o Ability of assembly to extract information from the executive.
o Make sure representatives be well resourced and have access to research services and
expert advice.
4. Recruitment and Training
o Pool of talent from which leading decision-makers emerge.
o Recruit and train to give them experience of political debate and policy analysis.
5. Legitimacy
o Encourage public to see the system of rule as ‘rightful’.
o Propaganda/educational role

 Structure of Assemblies

1. Unicameralism or Bicameralism
o Unicameralism – more streamlined and effective.
o Bicameralism – strengthen checks and balances; fragmenting legislative power and as a
safeguard against executive domination.
 Strengths and weaknesses (p. 345)

2. Committee Systems – power houses of assemblies.

o Standing – have enduring responsibilities.
o Ad hoc – set up for a particular purpose and disbanded when task is complete.
o Select
o Bicameral
o Functions:
 Carry out detailed consideration of legislative measures and financial proposals.
 Scrutinize government administration and oversee the exercise of executive
power.
 Ad hoc committees may investigate matters of public concern.

 Three categories of assemblies:

 o Policy-making assemblies – enjoy significant autonomy and have an active impact on
policy.
 Must command significant constitutional authority and respect.
 Must enjoy meaningful political independence from executive.
 Must possess sufficient organizational coherence to undertake concerted
action.
o Policy-influencing assemblies – can transform policy but only by reacting to executive
initiatives.
o Executive-dominated assemblies – exert marginal influence or merely rubber-stamp
executive decisions.

 Issues
o Decline in assemblies?
 Changes in the power and status brought about by:
- Emergence of disciplined political parties
o Parties operating through doctrine of the mandate (more
disciplined than loose factions)
- The growth of ‘big’ government
o Redistribution of powers from assemblies to executives.
o Increase in the size and status of bureaucracies.
o Emphasis on process of policy initiation and formulation.
- The organizational weakness of assemblies
o Egalitarian and fragmented character weakened capacity to
provide leadership and take concerted action.
- The rise of interest-group and media power
o Groups provide public alternative mechanism of representation.
o Mass media helped make assemblies appear redundant.

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CHAPTER 17. Political Executives

 The Executive Branch – is the branch responsible for execution and implementation of laws and
policies made by legislators. (broadest)
o (narrow sense) – refers to the smaller body of decision-makers who take the overall
responsibility for the direction and coordination of government policy.
o Senior figures – “political executive”
 Role of Executive
o Political executive – elected politicians, ministers from and accountable to the assembly;
make policy in accordance with the political and ideological priorities of their party and
oversee its implementation.
o Bureaucratic executive – or official posts; appointed and professional civil servants; offer
advice and administer policy, subject to the requirements of political neutrality and
loyalty to their ministers.
  Head of the State and Head of Government roles
o Head of State – authority figure to represent state; perform symbolic and ceremonial
role (i.e., awarding honors)
o Head of Government – perform political decision-making roles; make decisions that will
change certain matters.

 “This branch of government having need of dispatch is better administered by one than by
many.” – Montesquieu

 Functions of political executives – leadership; commanding heights of the state apparatus; the
core of government.
o Covers:
 Ceremonial duties
- Head of state; ‘stand for’ the state.
- Represent the larger society and symbolize its unity.
- State occasions, foreign visits, etc.
 Control of policy making
- Develop coherent economic and social programmes that meet the
needs of more complex and politically sophisticated societies.
- Control state’s various external relationships in an increasingly
independent world.
- Exercise law-making powers using decrees, orders and other
instruments.
 Popular political leadership
- Ability of the executive to mobilize support that ensures the compliance
and cooperation of the general public.
- Without support from the public, policy implementation becomes
difficult, perhaps impossible.
 Bureaucratic management
- Overseeing the implementation of policy; constitute ‘top management’
charged with running the machinery of the government.
 Crisis response
- Ability to take swift and decisive action; seize ‘emergency powers’.
o Bureaucratic government – in-charge of handling public problems with the help of
cabinet members.

 Who leads?
o 3 dimensions of power:
1. Formal dimension – constitutional provisions; analyzing the powers structurally and
functionally.
2. Informal dimension – focus on specific leaders; individual behaviors of
president/leader; role of personality.
3. External – from outside factors; broader pressures that affect the executive branch
(political, economic and diplomatic, etc)

 Political Systems (Institutional Designs)

1. Presidential Government (S.O.P.)
o President as HOS and HOG
o No overlapping of functions
o Legislature can’t dissolve Executive but can impeach the President; fixed term for
Executive.

2. Semi-Presidential Systems
o Hybrid systems
o Separately elected president presides over a government (with a prime minister) drawn
from, and accountable to, the assembly.
o President – foreign affairs and broader constitutional issues; prime minister and cabinet
– domestic policy.

3. Parliamentary:
o Executive is derived from the assembly
o Separate head of state (constitutional monarch/nonexecutive president) required to
fulfill ceremonial duties and act as focus of patriotic loyalty.
o Fusion of E and L
o Executive is responsible to the assembly
 Survives as long as it retains the confidence of the Assembly; prime minister can
be constituted if no confidence; no tenureship.
o Prime ministerial Government
 Prime minister – heads of government whose power is derived from their
leadership of the majority party, or coalition of parties, in the assembly.
- Spatial leadership: tendency to develop their own ideological stance.
- Populist outreach: attempt to engage directly with the public by
claiming to articulate their deepest hopes and fears.
- Personalized election campaigns: leaders as ‘brand image’ of their
parties or governments.
- Personal mandates: claim electoral authority and to view themselves as
the ideological consciences of their parties/governments.
- Special advisors: rely on hand-picked political advisors than cabinets, etc
 Features:
1.) Central link between the legislative and executive branches of government,
its holder being drawn from and accountable to the assembly.
2.) Reflects centralization of executive power in the hands of the prime
minister and the effective subordination of both the cabinet and
departmental ministers.
o Cabinet government
 Cabinet – committee of senior ministers who represent the various government
departments and ministries; ensure coordination of government policy.
  Central features:
- Constitutes the principal link between the legislative and executive
branches of government; its members drawn from and accountable to
the parliament but also serve as the political heads of the various
government departments.
- Cabinet is the senior executive organ, and policy-making responsibility is
shared within it; PM being first only in name.

 Leadership Theories:
o L as a personal gift (born leaders)
o L as a sociological phenomenon – leaders are ‘created’ by particular sociohistorical
forces.
o L as an organizational necessity – arises from need for coherence, unity and direction
within any complex institution; goes hand in hand with bureaucracy (hierarchy).
o L as a political skill (ca be learned and practiced)

o Leadership – influence exerted by an individual or group over a larger body to organize

or direct its efforts towards the achievement of desired goals; character traits that
enable leader to exert influence over others; charisma.

 Styles:
1. Laissez-faire Leadership
o “Hands off” presidency
o Reluctance of leader to interfere with cabinet and departmental management.
2. Transactional Leadership
o Wants to know everything that happens; “hands on” style; dictate what to do.
o Managerial style.
3. Transformational Leadership
o Leader inspires.
o Linked to ‘populism’
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CHAPTER 18. Bureaucracies

 7 modern concepts of Bureaucracy:

1.) Bureaucracy as rational organization
2.) As organizational inefficiency
3.) As rule by officials
4.) As public administration
 5.) Administration by officials
6.) As organization
7.) As modern society

Theories of Bureaucracy:

 Bureaucracy as Rational-administrative model

o Max Weber: ‘Ideal type’ of rule based on a system of rational rules, than either tradition
or charisma; modern organizational form.
o Set of principles:
 Jurisdictional areas are fixed and official, and ordered by laws or rules.
 Firmly ordered hierarchy; ensures lower offices are supervised by higher ones
within a chain of command.
 Business is managed on the basis of written documents and a filing system.
 Authority of officials is impersonal and stems entirely from the post they hold,
not from personal status.
 Bureaucratic rules are strict enough to minimize the scope of personal
discretion.
 Appointment and advancement within a bureaucracy are based on professional
criteria (training, expertise and administrative competence).
o Bureaucratic expansion – consequence of significant economic, political and cultural
developments; further stimulated by pressures of democratization.
 (Conservative) Power Bloc Model
o Stems from socialist analysis, particularly from Marxism.
o Bureaucracy as a mechanism through which bourgeois interests are upheld and the
capitalist system defended.
o Ralph Miliband: Top civil servants are conservative in the sense that they are, within
their allotted sphere, the conscious or unconscious allies of existing economic and social
elites.
o Reflects the degree to which the bureaucracy reflects broader class interests and can
resist political control.
 Bureaucratic Oversupply Model
o The bureaucracy has a power inner dynamic that seeks the expansion of the agency and
the growth of government together with its public responsibilities.
o Growth of bureaucracies
o Emphasizes a tendency towards ‘big’ government caused by the pursuit of career self-
interest on the part of civil servants.
o Rational choice theory – individuals are rationally self-seeking creatures or utility
maximizers.

 Role of Bureaucracies
o Carrying out administration (specific administration and implementation of tasks)
 Implement or execute law and policy.
o Offering policy advice
 Chief source of the policy information and advice available to government;
policy are supposedly made by politicians, bureaucrats simply offer advice.
 Outline policy options available to ministers and review policy proposals in
terms of their likely impact and consequences.
  Policy advisers – temporary; after the problem has been solved, another set of
advisers for a new problem.
 Political appointees – co-terminus; after the term ended.
 Permanent administrators
o Articulating and aggregating interests
o Maintaining political stability
 Provide a focus of stability and continuity within political systems.
 Permanence may breed arrogance and insularity among civil servants.v
 Organization of bureaucracies
o Bureaucracies can be organized in various ways
o Functional differentiation – all state bureaucracies are organized on the basis of purpose
or function (i.e., departments, ministries and agencies)
o Centralized or decentralized
 Source of Bureaucratic Power
o The strategic position of bureaucracies in the policy process
o The logistical relationship between bureaucracies and ministers
o The status and expertise of bureaucrats
 How can bureaucrats be controlled?
o The creation of mechanisms of political accountability
o The politicization of the bureaucracy
o The construction of counter bureaucracies

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CHAPTER 19. Militaries and Political Forces

“Instead of asking why the military engage in politics, we ought surely ask why they ever do
otherwise…” – S.E. Finer

 All systems of rule are underpinned by the exercise of coercive power through the will of the
police.

 The Military and Politics

o Role/Functions of the Military
 As an instrument of war
- Monopoly of weapons/fired arms.
- Defense in order to protect state from internal or external threats.
 Guarantee of domestic order
- Help people during disasters/calamities; rescue
 As an interest group
- Force comes from inside
 As an alternative to civilian rule
- There are circumstances that push them to be political even though
they are supposed to be neutral or apolitical/serve state than leader.
- When military becomes more powerful than civil power.
- If there’s a disconnection between civil and government, they
intervene.
 o Controlling the Military
 Limiting political power; define supremacy over military power.
1.) Liberal/Objective Methods – (Democratic)
- Exclude from politics/policy-making; exclusive.
2.) Penetration/Subjective Methods – (Authoritarian)
- Try to win them over and make them participate in policy-making.

o When does the military seize power?

 Economic backwardness
 Loss of legitimacy by civilian rulers
 A favorable international context
 Conflict between military and government

 The Police and Politics

o The Police
 Maintains domestic order
 Has a routine and everyday involvement in public life

o Roles of the Police

1.) Liberal Approach – neutral; rule of law; protect individual freedom.
2.) Conservative Approach – mechanism of political control; make sure state functions
is served.
3.) Radical – critical view of police power; police as tools of oppression; serve the
interest of elites over masses.

 Roles can be shaped by the nature of political systems:

1.) Civil policing – fights crime
2.) Political policing
- Bias towards a political group/internal
- Bias on events/external
3.) Police State – instrument to instill fear and intimidation

o Political Control and stability

 Accountability and politicization
 Centralization and decentralization

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CHAPTER 20. Policy Process and System Process

 Policy – is a process and a product of that process; is a plan of action adopted by an individual,
group, business or government.
 Decision – an act of choice; a selection from a range of options.
 Policy-making process – is a process of making bundles of decisions.
 Theory of Decision-making
1.) Rational Actor Models
o Human rationality
o Rational (goal-oriented) Procedures
o Gains and losses are weighed; decision-making in a systematic way.
o Idea that the decision come up with is the best decision.
2.) Incrementalism
o “muddling through”
o Conservative
o Not reinventing/starting from scratch because problem has been identified/defined
already.
o “recycle” old decisions and improve on them.
3.) Bureaucratic Organization Model
o What happens in the “black box”
o Decisions are products of organizational culture, processes, structure, dynamics, etc.
o Decision-making comes from inside.
4.) Belief Systems Model
o Perception poses as filters for decisions; value as filter
o Perception  Behavior

 Stages in the Policy Process (either liner process or cycle)

1.) Policy Initiation
o Identification problem; realizing the need to come up with a decision.
o Advantages of Interest Groups influencing decision-making: more funds, interest groups
get to suggest their solution.
o Everyone is involved.
2.) Formulation
o Less people participate (who suggested the policy)
3.) Implementation
o Administration execution.
4.) Evaluation
o Examine if policy is to be continued, terminated or revised.
o Everyone participates again.
 Standards used in System Performance
1.) Stability and Order – core purpose: to govern or rule; basic
2.) Material prosperity – to deliver goods; how it should be generated and distributed
3.) Citizenship performance – end of gov’t: citizenship
4.) Democratic rule – how decisions are made