Political

Systems
Similarities

Some highly important political

systems have not been studied much
by political scientists
such as

Organizations within which people spend

much of their daily lives
and

Very small political systems within which

people spend most of the rest of their daily
lives.

Political scientists have focused on

small subset of political systems
of truly extraordinary importance :

The relations of influence that

occur in governing states, or what
we call national political
systems.

Two Extreme Views

(but common views about political systems)

1. Political Systems never vary in

their important aspects.
2. Political Systems can be molded
to suit the hearts desire.

Political Systems never vary in their

important aspects.
Gaetano Mosca, Vilfredo Pareto & Roberto
Michels assert that political systems that govern
the states have many similaraties and always have.

All political systems are dominated

by a ruling class.

class
that rules and a class that is ruled.

that only two classes would appear- a

Political Systems can be molded to suit the

hearts desire.

Opposite to the three mens view were the

naive enthusiasts who firmly believe on Utopias
arrival and when it comes, politics will
disappear.
attempts to introduce new politics may
produce discernible and important differences
in how political systems function.

Similarities of Political
Systems

1. Uneven Access to Political Resources

2. Quest for Influence over Government
3. Uneven Distribution of Influence over
Government
4. Pursuit and Resolution of Conflicting Aims
5. Acquisition of Legitimacy
6. Development of an Ideology
7. Impact of other Political Systems
8. Inevitability of Change

Uneven Access to Political

Resources

Political resources are means

by which a person(s) can exert
influence over another person(s).
There are four reasons why the
control over political resources is
distributed unevenly.

1.Some specialization of
function exists in every
society.
-advanced societies have extensive
specialization of function (division of
labor).

2.Inherited Differences
-Not all people start life with the same
access to resources. These endowments
are either biological or social.

3.Different experiences
-Together with different inheritance lead to
different motivations in turn lead to
differences in skills and resources

4.Encouraged difference in
incentives and goals
-to equip individuals for different specialties

Quest for Influence over

Government
Some members of a political system seek
to gain influence over the policies, rules and
decisions enforced by the government, while
others do not.

The seek for influence is not

necessarily for ones own sake, but
because control over government
helps in achieving one or more
other goals or values.

Uneven Distribution of Influence over

Government
The greater the resources, the easier one
can influence the government if and when
they wish to do.
The greater the influence, the greater the
control over more political resources.
oAristotles Politics,
oRousseaus A Discourse on the Origins of
Inequality
oMarx and Engels Communist Manifesto
POLITICAL LEADERS refer to those individuals
who have the greatest influence over the
government in the political system of a state.

Pursuit and Resolution of

Conflicting Aims
People living in state pursue
conflicting aims, which are dealt
with among other means, by the
government of the state.

-Conflict & Consensus

-Hobbes: the propensity of people to conflict with
one another

-Aristotle & Rousseau: propensity for

agreement & cooperation

Acquisition of Legitimacy
A government is said to be legitimate if
PEOPL
E
believe that
structure, procedures, acts,
decisions, policies, officials,
or leaders of government
possess
rightness,
propriety, or
moral goodness

Leaders
Influence

LEGITIMA
CY

AUTHOR
ITY

the form of influence when B follows A

enables a leader to govern while
minimizing expenditures of other political
resources

Development of an
Ideology
Ideology is a set of doctrines that
purport to explain to explain and justify their
leadership in the system.
oTo endow their leadership with authority and
legitimacy
oTo enable them to exert the most economical form
of influence on a regular and sustained basis.
oTo indicate moral, religious, factual, and other
assumptions that are assumed to justify the system.

However, a reigning ideology

cannot be completely explained by the
desires of the leaders to obtain legitimacy
and authority
is not usually a unified, consistent body of
beliefs accepted by everyone in a political
system
is probably never uniformly accepted by all
members of a system
may be rejected
at times, is the revolutionary ideology before

Impact of other Political

Systems
The functioning of a political system
is affected by existence of other
political systems.
-Political systems do not exist in isolation.
-It engages in foreign relations.

Inevitability of Change
All political systems undergo
change.
-peaceful or violent, evolutionary or
revolutionary
PLATO:Perfect
Seeing that everything has a
Timocracy
Aristocracy
beginning has also an end.

Democracy

Oligarchy

Tyranny

1) No matter how permanent a political

system is, significant changes are
bound to take place.
2) Because change is so difficult to
measure, a very large measure of
uncertainty is an inescapable feature
of political life.
3) Political Utopias exclude the idea of
change.