Political Concepts
Chapter – 1
Table of Contents
- Book focuses on politics in nation-states, addressing how different countries solve the core political problem of resource allocation.
- Prioritizes understanding political organization before delving into specific political issues.
- Likens political interpretation to astronomers’ perspectives through telescopes; emphasizes the influence of concepts on political analysis.
- Acknowledges the diversity of political perspectives, highlighting the subjective nature of studying politics.
- Asserts that political study is uncertain, and observer perspective impacts results; encourages confronting and acknowledging differences.
- Chapter aims to establish the authors’ interpretation of central political concepts, providing a foundation for later discussions.
- Recognizes the ongoing discussion and variability in political approaches, contrasting with more rigid disciplines like astronomy.
- Emphasizes the importance of explicit recognition of differing political approaches for enlightenment in the study of politics.
Politics and government
- Politics defined as the process of making collective decisions in groups, ranging from families to the international community.
- Political decisions can be reached through various means: violence, discussion, custom, bargaining, and voting.
- Politics aims to understand conditions for peaceful and effective goal achievement in groups.
- Disagreements arise from scarcity, differing opinions, and conflicting priorities in resource distribution within a group.
- Political content involves setting goals, making decisions, and distributing resources collectively for a group.
- Larger groups may face challenges in achieving collective solutions, illustrated by the difficulty in addressing global environmental issues.
- Definition of politics as a neutral process of making collective decisions; other definitions may be more evaluative.
- Crick’s perspective defines politics positively as reconciling differing interests within a community, aiming at an ideal rather than describing reality.
- Political activity becomes recurrent and stable patterns of collective decision-making form government.
- Government, in its broadest sense, indicates orderly rule and regular procedures for decision-making in social groups and organizations.
- Focus of the book is on government in the public sphere at the national level, addressing the political direction of government.
- Introduction of the term “state” to cover all offices making and enforcing collective decisions, forming a network known as “the state.”
- Distinction between government and the state; government is the core of the state.
- Introduction of the term “political system” to encompass forces impacting and being influenced by the state, including parties, voters, and interest groups.
The state
- The state is an abstract yet powerful concept, simultaneously benefiting and threatening individuals.
- The majority of the Earth’s surface is divided among governments, claiming exclusive rights to rule their territories.
- Uninhabited areas like the Antarctic and nomadic tribes pose challenges to the state system.
- In theory, every state, regardless of size, is considered a sovereign body with authoritative decision-making institutions.
- The state is the ultimate regulator of the legitimate use of force within its territory.
- The state’s authority is legally supreme, and in the last resort, its control is compulsory.
- The state must successfully uphold its claim to regulate the use of force by other institutions, both public and private.
- The state’s monopoly on the legitimate use of force is crucial for its continued existence.
- Civil wars often revolve around disputes about which government should control the state in a given territory.
- Threats to the state’s monopoly on force jeopardize its existence, and civil wars may result in the absence of legitimate authority or a functional state.
Sovereignty
- The state has two faces: a hard side willing to use force and a softer side relying on convincing citizens of its rightful power.
- Sovereignty is linked to the softer face and refers to the fount of authority in society, a legal concept.
- Internal sovereignty involves the right to make laws within a territory, illustrated by the example of the British Parliament.
- External sovereignty is the recognition in international law that a state has jurisdiction over a territory and is answerable for it.
- External sovereignty is crucial in international relations as states claim the right to regulate relationships with other countries.
- Traditional theory emphasizes a single, sovereign body with untrammelled power within a defined territory.
- Jean Bodin’s interpretation of sovereignty as absolute and undivided power influenced the development of absolute monarchy in France.
- In today’s democratic and interdependent world, identifying the location of sovereignty is complex.
- In the United States, sovereignty is shared among Congress, the President, the Supreme Court, and the states, diffusing authority.
- Interdependence between countries and international commitments challenge traditional ideas of sovereignty.
- The emergence of international organizations, like the European Community, threatens traditional notions of sovereignty.
- Changes in the global landscape slowly dilute the notion of sovereignty, highlighting the gap between fiction and reality in the modern world.
Power
- Power is fundamental to politics and compared to the concept of money in economics.
- Different perspectives on power exist among political scientists regarding its conception, definition, and measurement.
- Power is broadly defined as the production of intended effects, the ability to get what one wants.
- The “power to” approach emphasizes the capacity to achieve shared objectives, associated with Talcott Parsons.
- The “power over” approach sees power as winning in conflicts over pursued goals, focusing on whose vision prevails.
- Both “power to” and “power over” are important; the former relates to the quantity of power, the latter to its distribution.
- The quantity of power parallels the economist’s question of the quantity of goods produced, while distribution is akin to assessing wealth disparity.
- Power can be exercised through force, making deals, or creating obligations.
- Forms of power include the stick (force), the deal (exchange), and the kiss (creating obligations).
- The stick involves coercive institutions like the military, the deal relies on positive sanctions, and the kiss inspires loyalty and commitment.
- Political power typically involves a combination of force, exchange, and obligation.
- The capacity to manipulate knowledge, values, and preferences is a powerful way to control others.
- Different views on power include its capacity to achieve collective goals, imposing one’s will against opposition, and affecting people contrary to their interests.
- Power relationships are often based on a combination of coercive and less coercive factors.
Elitist theories
- Elitists, including Vilfredo Pareto, Gaetano Mosca, and Robert Michels, argue that a ruling elite is inevitable in all societies, regardless of the form of government.
- Pareto proposed three groups in society: a small governing elite, a non-governing elite (e.g., the wealthy and aristocracy), and the mass population or non-elite.
- Mosca emphasized the rule of a governing elite ensured by its superior organization and calibre, with the dominance of an organized minority over the unorganized majority being inevitable.
- Michels formulated the “iron law of oligarchy,” stating, “Who says organization, says oligarchy,” asserting that organizations tend to be ruled by a few.
- Michels’ study applied the iron law of oligarchy even to supposedly democratic socialist parties, suggesting that this law likely applies to most parties and organizations.
- The elitist view of power leads to skepticism about the feasibility of real democracy and led some, like Pareto and Michels, to sympathize with fascism.
- Elite theorists reject the idea of a ruling class based on economic factors and emphasize the political organization of the elite over economic considerations.
- Empirical investigations in the United States from the 1920s onwards, studying the distribution of power in local communities, suggested that a small number of people, often from upper or upper-middle-class backgrounds, dominated.
- Wright Mills applied these findings nationally in his study “The Power Elite,” arguing that three interlocking groups – political leaders, corporate leaders, and military leaders – dominated the command posts of American society.
- Mills’ theory can be seen as a version of corporatism, suggesting that elected representatives have been losing power to big institutional interests, particularly business and the military.
Pluralist theories
- Pluralism is a reaction against the “ultra-realism” of elitists, presenting a doctrine of diversity that claims modern democracies are open and competitive arenas where many interests and groups compete for influence.
- Unlike elitism, pluralism rejects the idea of a single, dominant elite but also disagrees with a “majority rule” view of democracy, asserting that the majority does not govern.
- Pluralists criticize the reputational method used in community studies and propose a decision-making method to study power, examining concrete decisions where the preferences of a ruling elite counter other groups.
- Dahl’s study of New Haven, Connecticut, found no cohesive ruling elite prevailing across all policy areas, leading to the development of a general theory of political pluralism.
- Pluralism is characterized by different minorities influencing decisions in different areas, with each group having a say in its specific area without impinging greatly on others’ territories.
- Pluralists argue that the fragmented nature of pluralism allows intense and well-informed views to receive special weight, improving on the strict democratic principle of “one man, one vote.”
- Pluralists accept that only a small minority of the population determines policy in most areas but argue that the opportunity for ordinary people to join the political process is sufficient.
- Pluralists have been on the defensive since the 1970s, criticized for ignoring “non-decisions,” issues kept off the agenda by decision-makers, and for understating the role of politicians in shaping policy.
- Critics argue that pluralists underestimate the independent role of politicians in decision-making, emphasizing that the state is an active participant in political struggles.
Authority
- Coercive power is inefficient and unstable; rulers seek to legitimize their position by converting power into authority.
- Authority is the right to rule, acknowledged when subordinates accept the right of superiors to give orders, even if they disagree with the decisions.
- Relationships of authority are hierarchical, often involving a combination of both power and authority.
- Max Weber identified three bases of authority: traditional, charismatic, and legal-rational.
- Traditional authority is based on the sanctity of tradition, often associated with hereditary rulers and divine right.
- Charismatic authority arises from leaders inspiring followers with exceptional qualities, common in times of crisis; can be short-lived without routinization.
- Legal-rational authority is based on principles, obedience to a set of laws, prevailing in modern bureaucracies and emphasizing the office over the individual.
- Legal-rational authority limits abuse of power by establishing the authority of the office, not just the person, providing a framework for legitimate refusal to obey.
- Weber’s classification doesn’t explain how power is converted to authority; building authority involves political tasks and transforming coerced obedience into genuine allegiance.
- Conquerors become stable rulers by creating a basis of support, considering the mass population’s satisfaction to prevent challenges to their rule.
Legitimacy
- Legitimacy is a concept related to rightful power, often used in discussing an entire system of government.
- Authority, in contrast, typically refers to specific positions within a government.
- In political theory, legitimacy is evaluated based on moral principles, such as fair elections, while political scientists focus on whether citizens perceive a government as legitimate.
- Legitimacy can come from sources other than democracy; for example, the Islamic principles that gave Ayatollah Khomeini’s regime legitimacy.
- Legitimacy should be distinguished from legality; legality is about whether a law was made in accordance with procedures, while legitimacy is about whether people accept the validity of a law.
- Regulations can be legal but considered illegitimate if not accepted by the population; apartheid laws in South Africa are an example.
- Conversely, illegal actions, like peaceful protests or civil disobedience, can be seen as legitimate by some sections of the population, contributing to political change worldwide.
- Legitimacy is often more fundamental than legality and plays a crucial role in political movements for equal voting rights and national independence.