Political Organizations

Involves issues like allocation of political

roles, levels of political integration,
concentrations of power and authority,
mechanisms of social control and
resolving conflict.
Functions of Political
Organization
1. Create Formal Norms – it will guide
our behavior.
a. Constitutional Laws - these are
formalized norms that emerge in the
constitution, the written plan of any
government.
b. Statutory Laws – these are laws that
are enacted by a legislative body of the
government and city council.
c. Common Law – these are unwritten
laws built over centuries on local custom
and further developed by judicial
decisions.
2. Apply Sanctions
It is the responsibility of political institution
to apply sanctions to those who fail to
follow certain norms.
3. Setting disputes among
individuals
• Inheritances
• Divorce
• Property rights
• Personal liability
4. Setting Disputes among
Nations
Political institutions try to resolve disputes
to nations to evade war.
Centralized Political System &
Uncentralized Political System
Political Structures
1. Bands
2. Tribes
3. Chiefdoms
4. State
Bands
-least complex form of political
arrangement
-small, nomadic population of food
collectors.
-made up of hunters and gatherers.
-Highly egalitarian.
Characteristics of Band Societies
- There is a high value placed on getting
along with one another.
- Independent of one another and are not
part of a political structure.
- Political decisions are embedded in the
wider social structure.
- Leadership roles in in band societies
tend to be informal.
Tribes
- A tribe is somewhat more complex than
a band.
- Found most often among food
producers.
- Tend to have populations that are larger,
denser, and somewhat more sedentary.
- Leadership is informal and not vested in
a centralized authority.
Chiefdoms
-Political authority is likely to reside with single
individual, acting alone or in conjunction with
the advisory council.
- Integrate a number of local communities in a
formal and permanent way.
- Made up of local communities that differ from
one another in terms of rank and status.
- Chief ships are hereditary and the chief and
the immediate kin are social and political
elite.
State
-they began as chiefdoms and then
evolved into more centralized,
authoritarian kingdom when the
population grew into ten thousand people.
Authority is characterized
by:T,R,C and even Non State
Actors

What is Power? Legitimacy

Rule? & Authority
Types:Traditional, Rational,
Charismatic & Non-State Actors