Theories of Political Science

1
Theories of Political Science

• Dr. Sujian Guo
• San Francisco State Unversity
• Email sguo_at_sfsu.edu
• http//bss.sfsu.edu/sguo

2
Comparative Political Systems

• There are many things that can be learned by
  studying and comparing political systems, such as
  how governments are structured and how they
  function, the process through which governments
  interact with their populations in pursing
  community goals, how political leaders and the
  population behave in politics, and how political
  leaders and the public think about and feel about
  politics and how their feelings affect their
  behavior.
• By studying and comparing these different aspects
  of different political systems, we are able to
  learn more about the system in which we live, we
  can also determine which systems are successful
  and which systems are not. Throughout time there
  has always been diversity in political systems
  across the world. We will study them in this
  section.

3
Government, State, Regime, and Political System

• Government government is simply the agency made
  up of offices through which problems are
  formulated, agendas are addressed, and decisions
  are made, which affect the lives of their
  citizens. The collection of offices in a
  political system constitutes the government of
  that system, and these offices are filled by
  particular individuals who are either popularly
  elected or politically appointed, and these
  individuals play various roles in the political
  process and can shift from one role to another.
  (key words offices, bureaucracies, individual
  officials)

4
Government, State, Regime, and Political System

• State the state is a permanent structure of
  domination and coordination, including a coercive
  apparatus and the legitimate use of physical
  force to administer control over the population
  within its territory. Therefore, when large
  numbers of people in a particular territory begin
  to doubt or deny the claim of the state to
  administer control by the legitimate use of
  coercive means or physical force, then the
  existing state is in peril of dissolution.
  However, governments succeed one another, or
  regimes come and go, while the state usually
  endures. (key words coercive apparatus, physical
  force, population, territory)

5
Government, State, Regime, and Political System

• Regime a regime is constituted by principles,
  norms, rules, and decision-making procedures
  which govern the power relationships among
  institutions and determine who has access to
  power, and how those who are in power deal with
  those who are not. A regime is a more permanent
  organization of power than specific governments.
  Governments may come and go, while the regime
  remains in place. (key words norms, rules, or
  constitutions)

6
Why we need to make a distinction between these
three concepts?

• (1) we encounter these concepts most often, but
  usually confuse them without a clear definition.
  We need a common basis for measuring the
  variables or changes, formulating and discussing
  the problems or issues. The three important
  concepts and the clear distinction between these
  concepts will provide us with an analytic tool or
  instrument to categorize and analyze different
  political systems. EX. for a nondemocratic state
  in modern world, there is a fusion of state,
  regime, and government through the ruling party.
  The ruling party is usually identified with the
  government, the regime, the state and even with
  the nation. They construct regimes in their own
  norm, ideology, image and need, mold the
  government and the state itself along lines
  compatible with this particular norm, ideology,
  image, and need. It is for this reason that the
  state/regime/government distinction becomes
  blurred in nondemocratic countries. By doing so,
  the ruling class views attacks on the party as an
  attack on the state or the nation, and interprets
  all proposals to change the government as an
  attempt to overthrow or destroy the state or the
  nation, and provides an legitimate excuse for
  repression or for containing social change.

7
Why we need to make a distinction between these
three concepts?

• (2) we can tell governments succeed one another,
  but how can we identify regime changes? This has
  important theoretical and political implications
  for the political analysis or the comparison of
  different political systems. The first thing to
  do is to identify the defining features of one
  type of regime from which a transition departs or
  a change occurs.
• Principles and norms provide the basic defining
  characteristics of a regime, while rules and
  procedures can be consistent or inconsistent with
  the same principles and norms. Changes in rules
  and procedures are changes within a regime, if
  principles and norms are unaltered. A regime
  change occurs only when those fundamental
  principles and norms change, such as change from
  a nondemocratic regime to a democratic
  regime.
• (3) Furthermore, the nature of one particular
  type of regime can remain in place, even if this
  type of regime incorporate some features of
  another type of regime. Ex. A nondemocratic
  regime can have constitutional provisions for
  elections, but these are meaningless unless an
  opposition is allowed and able to succeed
  legitimately to government in an open, free, and
  fair contest.

8
Government, State, Regime, and Political System

• Political system is a pattern of political
  relationships that involves power, authority, or
  ruling, which authoritatively allocates values
  for a society. The key assumption built into this
  definition is that in every society people have
  different values such as interests, objectives,
  desires, resources, and these must be
  authoritatively allocated or distributed in a
  conflict situation (scarcity vs. incompatible
  goals). How is this done or how are values
  distributed, or in Lasswells classic phrase,
  Who gets What, When, and How? becomes the basic
  question of politics and the main task of any
  political system. This question refers to the
  authoritative allocation of values, which could
  take different forms!

9
Classification Schemes for Political Systems

• Schemes for classifying political systems into
  different types are as old as the study of
  politics itself. Aristotles classification can
  serve as a most influential classical example,
  which is based upon two criteria the number of
  citizens entitled to rule whether one, few, or
  many and whether the rulers governed in the
  common interest or in their own selfish
  interests

10
Aristotles classification
11
Three Types of Political System

• Constitutional democracy, authoritarianism, and
  totalitarianism are probably the most common
  typologies that have been used to classify and
  distinguish between different modern political
  systems. In this section, we will define and
  compare those distinctive characteristics of the
  different political systems that distinguish one
  from another.
• In order for us to do that, we need a workable
  classification scheme to identify the essential
  features of a political system and to distinguish
  one political system from another. This
  classification scheme is the distinction between
  core and operative features, in other words,
  core vs. operative levels

12
The Classification Model in Comparative Analysis
13
Constitutional Democracy

• Democracy comes from two ancient Greek words
  demos meaning the people and cratos meaning
  power. So, democracy is defined as a form of
  government for the people by the will of the
  majority of the people. Many countries have
  democratic governments. However, these
  governments can be very different in design and
  function, and democracy mean differently to
  different people. Then, the first question is
• Whats Democracy?

14
Three Ways of Conceptualizing Democracy

• 1. A procedural or minimal conception. Among the
  first group of scholars (such as Joseph
  Schumpeter, Robert A. Dahl, Seymour Martin
  Lipset), the Schumpeterian definition is a
  minimal conception of democracy, which emphasizes
  the single most important defining property of
  democracy the authority of government derives
  from the consent of people or electoral
  participation through free, open and contested
  elections.

15
Three Ways of Conceptualizing Democracy

• 2. A substantive or maximal conception. Some
  other scholars tend to stress conceptual breadth,
  which involves a larger number of defining
  properties intrinsic to democracy. Under this
  definition, the conception of democracy embraces
  effective and responsible government, informed
  and rational deliberation, honest and openness in
  politics, economic equality, equal participation
  and power, social justice, and various other
  civic virtues.

16
Three Ways of Conceptualizing Democracy

• 3. A middle-ground position. Still others,
  such as Terry Lynn Karl, choose a middle ground
  for defining democracy in order to avoid either
  an overly narrow or overly broad definition, with
  the concept being defined with reference to a
  small number of characteristics that distinguish
  it from other political systems.
• allow the contestation over power in free and
  fair elections
• accountability of the ruler to the ruled
• checks and balances in the exercise of government
• the neutrality of the armed forces
• protection of civil and political liberty and
  rights of every citizen.

17
Types of Democracy

• Direct Democracy rule by the manyThe word
  "democracy" is used all the time today. Strictly
  speaking, a democracy is a system where the
  people rule. Each decision that needs to be made
  is made by the people as a whole. Such systems
  can only really happen in a small population
  because everyone cannot participate actively in
  government. Democracy has its roots in Ancient
  Greece.

18
Types of Democracy

• Representative democracy rule by the many. As
  pure or direct democracy is impossible for a
  country, a workable form quickly evolved. In a
  representative or indirect democracy,
  representatives of large groups of people are
  selected and these representatives meet to
  conduct the government for the people. The
  selection of representatives is done by election,
  where a selection of candidates is chosen
  according to rules adopted by the people. An
  election takes place and by majority vote, one of
  the candidates is chosen. A key to representative
  government is that the representatives are, in
  some way, accountable to the electorate.
• Many if not most countries in the world claim
  they are indirect or representative democracies.
  If the people have no say in who gets to be a
  candidate or did not adopt the rules for choosing
  a candidate, then it is not a democracy. Just
  being able to vote does not make a country
  democratic. If rulers are not accountable to the
  electorate, there will be no real meaning of
  representation. Communist countries often hold
  elections but candidates are chosen by the
  communist party and no one else can run. Cuba and
  China are examples though China has changed a
  lot.

19
Types of Democracy

• Liberal Democracy a from of representative
  government in which majority rule based on
  competing parties, free elections and universal
  franchise is balanced by regard for individual
  and minority rights. The powers of the government
  are limited by institutional checks and balances,
  a legitimate political opposition, a free media,
  a pluralistic tolerance of a wide range of groups
  and interests and an individualistic political
  culture. 
• Central to a liberal democracy is the protection
  of civil liberties - for example, freedom of
  speech, freedom of assembly and freedom to
  dissent. These civil liberties are safeguarded by
  the rule of law and the separation of the
  powers.
• A second key element in liberal democracy is a
  belief in limited government, the idea that the
  individual should enjoy protection from arbitrary
  government.

20
Types of Democracy

• How can representatives know what the majority of
  their constituents think about a particular
  issue? And even if they do know, adhering only to
  the wishes of the majority can, on occasion, lead
  to tyranny for the minority (something which
  democracy is supposed to prevent). In other
  words, representative democracy raises a whole
  range of problems which do not arise in a direct
  democracy. 
• Also democracy is dependent upon voters making an
  informed choice and playing an active part in the
  political process. It has been argued that
  representative democracy allows people to simply
  vote every five years and forget about politics
  in-between. Such political apathy can result in
  very low election turnout.

21
Types of Democracy

• Participatory democracy In order to overcome
  the problems described above, another model of
  democracy participatory democracy- has been
  suggested as a compromise between direct
  democracy and representative democracy.
• Participatory democracy combines the pragmatic
  advantages of representative democracy with the
  theoretical attractions of direct democracy. It
  allows all citizens a greater say in policy
  issues through such mechanisms as public
  inquiries, advisory referendums, and consultative
  bodies. Therefore, consultative democracy or
  deliberative democracy is viewed as a form of
  it.

22
Types of Democracy

• Deliberative or Consultative Democracy a from
  of participatory democracy that emphasizes
  consultative and deliberative participation of
  citizens as key contributions to modern democracy
  and allows individual citizens equal access to
  decision-making irrespective of their standing in
  a local community.
• Deliberative democracy, also sometimes called
  consultative democracy or discursive
  democracy, is a term used by some political
  theorists, to refer to any system of political
  decisions based on some tradeoff of consensus
  decision making and representative democracy. In
  contrast to the traditional theory of democracy,
  which emphasizes voting as the central
  institution in democracy, deliberative democracy
  theorists argue that legitimate lawmaking can
  only arise from the public deliberation of the
  citizenry. However, critics have pointed out the
  failure of most theories of deliberative
  democracy they do not address the problems of
  voting.

23
Types of Democracy

• Socialist Democracy
• Socialist democracy includes two variants
  social democracy and democratic socialism.
• Both believe in a form of participatory
  democracy and workplace democracy combined with a
  representative democracy. Within Marxist
  tradition there is a general suspicion against
  what is commonly called liberal democracy,
  which they simply refer to as parliamentary
  democracy. Because of their desire to eliminate
  the political elitism they see in capitalism,
  Marxists, Leninists and Trotskyists believe in
  direct democracy implemented through a system of
  communes (which are sometimes called soviets).
  This system ultimately manifests itself as
  council democracy and begins with workplace
  democracy.

24
Types of Democracy

• Social democracy is a political ideology that
  emerged in the late 19th century out of the
  socialist movement. Modern social democracy
  advocates the formation of a democratic welfare
  state that incorporates both capitalist and
  socialist practices. This is unlike socialism in
  the traditional sense, which aims to end the
  predominance of the capitalist system, or in the
  Marxist sense which aims to replace it entirely.
  Instead, social democrats aim to reform
  capitalism democratically through state
  regulation and the creation of programs and
  organizations which work to ameliorate or remove
  injustices they see in the capitalist market
  system. Social democracy is also used to refer
  to the particular kind of society that social
  democrats advocate. While some consider social
  democracy a moderate type of socialism, others,
  defining socialism in the traditional or Marxist
  sense, reject that designation.

25
Types of Democracy

• Democratic socialism is a description used by
  various socialist movements, tendencies, and
  organizations, to emphasize the democratic
  character of their political orientation. The
  term is sometimes used synonymously with social
  democracy, and also frequently, this definition
  is invoked to distinguish democratic socialism
  from communism or Stalinist model. Democratic
  socialism is difficult to define, and groups of
  scholars have radically different definitions for
  the term. Some definitions of democratic
  socialism simply refer to all forms of socialism
  that follow an electoral, reformist or
  evolutionary path to socialism, rather than a
  revolutionary one. A variant of this set of
  definitions is Joseph Schumpeters argument, set
  out in Capitalism, Socialism and Democracy (1941)
  that liberal democracies were evolving from
  liberal capitalism into democratic socialism,
  with the growth of workers self-management,
  industrial democracy and regulatory institutions.

26
Authoritarianism

• 1. An authoritarian regime is an elitist rule
  governed by a single ruler (autocracy, tyranny,
  or dictator) or an elite ruling group (oligarchy,
  or a military junta). An authoritarian regime
  rules in its self-interest and places its
  self-interest above the interests of people.

27
Authoritarianism

• 2. Authoritarian rulers justify their
  self-serving rule on a combination of myth
  (e.g. religious divine right, personal charisma,
  heredity/royal birth) and might (e.g. brutal
  force, police terror). In contrast to
  totalitarian regimes, they do not claim to hold a
  universal truth or have utopian goals or an
  integrated official ideology. They do not require
  their subjects to believe, act and live in the
  same way. They do not attempt to transform human
  nature and society, leaving private life and
  personal beliefs untouched. What they want is
  simply to stay in power and make the society
  obedient to their rule.

28
Authoritarianism

• 3. Authoritarian rulers in the modern world
  usually come to power by force and rule by brutal
  force. Therefore, they must control the means by
  which they can maintain their monopolistic power,
  in particular, control the military and the
  police. This differs from a totalitarian rule
  totalism in which party ideology and
  organizations dominate every sector of the state
  and penetrate almost every corner of the society
  in order to bring about conformity of the entire
  society to the party ideology and goals.

29
Authoritarianism

• 4. Authoritarian regimes also have other typical
  nondemocratic features impose strict press
  censorship, outlaw political opposition, control
  the courts, suppress civil and political liberty
  and rights, no meaningful election, and no checks
  and balances in the exercise of government. All
  these measures are undertaken in the name of
  order and stability, primacy of economic
  development, or defending the nation from its
  enemies.

30
Type of Authoritarianism

• Dictatorship rule by one.In this government
  system, one person controls all branches of
  government. In a dictatorship, one person has
  absolute power. Though there is typically a
  military and even a bureaucracy (like an
  administration) in such a government. Usually
  there are laws which people have to obey but
  often the dictator and people high in the
  bureaucracy or military do whatever they want.
  The dictator often becomes or tries to act like a
  god or a cult of personality so that people
  will fear him or worship him and do whatever he
  wants. Dissent (disagreement with authority) is
  not allowed. Examples include those countries
  before they made a transition to democracy.
  Dictatorial systems are often based on military
  power, and the term "military dictatorship" is
  used, like with Myanmar (Burma).

31
Type of Authoritarianism

• Autocracy - rule by one.In this government
  system, one person controls all branches of
  government. An autocracy is the same as a
  dictatorship - but the term is often used to
  describe a government not quite as bad as a
  "dictatorship" An autocrat may have less a cult
  of personality than a dictator and in some
  cases, such a government system may be necessary
  to keep peace in a country. Dissent is still not
  allowed but the government is not widely feared
  and is often praised. Such an Autocrat can be
  called a benevolent dictator by some. Cuba is
  considered an autocracy by some, though many in
  the United States consider it a dictatorship.

32
Type of Authoritarianism

• Monarchy - rule by one.In this government
  system, one person controls all branches of
  government. A monarchy is best described in the
  same way as a dictatorship rule by one person
  who has absolute power but there are two key
  differences dictatorship is used as a bad term,
  and monarchy is seen as much more benign (not so
  bad). Historically, however, kings and queens
  have been as brutal as many modern dictators. The
  second major difference is the transfer of power
  and acceptance by the people. In a dictatorship,
  power is often not transferred at all - the death
  of the dictator means the end of the
  dictatorship or it is transferred to a
  hand-picked successor. People only accept
  dictatorship out of fear. Monarchies usually have
  hereditary systems of succession (the next
  ruler), such that a monarch's first-born son
  becomes king upon the monarch's death. (The
  British used to say The king is dead, long live
  the king) Past and present examples include
  Saudi Arabia, England, and Thailand.

33
Type of Authoritarianism

• Oligarchy - Rule by the few.An oligarchy is,
  literally, rule by a few. Oligarchies are often
  the evolution of dictatorships from rule by a
  single person to rule by a small group of people.
  There are several different types of oligarchies
  
• Aristocracy - Rule by the few. In an aristocracy,
  the upper class of citizens holds the power.
  Heredity, or rule by right of birth, plays a
  large role in continuing power and who is an
  aristocrat. Usually only those born into the
  aristocratic class can hold power and wealth.
• Plutocracy - Rule by the few. A plutocracy is
  rule by a few, wealthy, elite group. It is like
  an aristocracy but there is no right of birth
  you just have to be rich.
• Theocracy - Rule by the few. A theocracy is rule
  of a few based on religion - the group is ruled
  by the group's spiritual leaders. Religion is a
  powerful human phenomenon, and religious leaders
  can often exert great influence over the group's
  actions. Examples include many modern Islamic
  states, such as Iran or Afghanistan under the
  Taliban.

34
Totalitarianism

• The Origin of the Concept of TotalitarianismGi
  ovanni Gentile, Italys most prominent
  philosopher and leading theorist of fascism used
  the term totalitario to refer to the structure
  and goals of the new state. The new state was to
  refer to total representation of the nation and
  total guidance of national goals. Thus was born
  of the original concept of totalitarianism.
• Stanley G. Payne
• Fascism Comparison and Definition (UW Press,
  1980), p. 73

35
Totalitarianism

• Definition Totalitarianism is not simply the
  reality of total control which means a complete
  control of everything in detail or every single
  aspect of social life, but refers to the
  totalistic nature or totalism of all major
  aspects of a totalitarian regime which are
  dominated and penetrated by the party ideology,
  organization, and party-state establishment.

36
Characteristics of Totalitarianism

• 1. Philosophical absolutism and utopian goal are
  the first distinctive features of Communist
  totalitarianism. It claims to be the possessor of
  absolute and universal truth, in command of
  historical destiny of human society, and
  therefore to be in the position of completing its
  course. Unlike totalitarian regimes,
  authoritarian regimes are rarely inspired by a
  utopian goal or barely have a pervasive and
  exclusive ideology, without having to base their
  legitimacy upon a strong ideological commitment.

37
Characteristics of Totalitarianism

• 2. An official, pervasive, and exclusive
  ideology, which is the second core feature of
  communist totalitarianism, serves as the
  legitimate source of the regime and the basis for
  a new political and social system and a new
  socialist man. Unlike totalitarian regimes,
  authoritarian regimes seek only to control human
  behavior mainly through denying individuals civil
  and political rights such as participation in
  political life or the exercise of free speech,
  whereas totalitarian regimes aim not only to
  remold behavior but also to do so through the
  transformation of human nature, the exercise of
  extensive thought control, and the interference
  into personal beliefs.

38
Characteristics of Totalitarianism

• 3. A highly hierarchical and centralized single
  elitist party is completely intertwined with the
  state, with an array of party organizational
  structures that supplement state institutions
  from top right down to the bottom, forming a set
  of party-state apparatus and replacing to a large
  extent the governmental functions. While a single
  official party may also exist in some
  authoritarian regimes, the party in authoritarian
  regimes generally does not have the political and
  ideological vanguard status reserved only for
  totalitarian parties and the authoritarian single
  party may have to compete with the state,
  military and private organizations rather than
  penetrating and dominating them.

39
Characteristics of Totalitarianism

• 4. The fourth features are operational features
  or action means and methods by which
  totalitarianism uses to achieve and maintain the
  former three fundamental and core features. These
  actions means and methods include repeated,
  massive use of state terror, mass mobilization,
  mass violence, control over the state, the
  information and media, education, culture,
  economy, means of production, military forces and
  weapons. Unlike totalitarian regimes,
  authoritarian regimes not only depend to a
  considerable extent on a variety of social forces
  such as monarchy, church, the army, or business,
  but also leave whole areas of life untouched by
  official influence and control, and leave in
  place existing allocations of wealth, status,
  social values, and other resources, in
  particular, with a relatively strong private
  property as their socioeconomic basis.