Chapter 2

Chapter 2 Government, Systems and Regimes

1

Key Issues •

• •

What is the difference between governments, political systems and regimes? What is the purpose of classifying systems of government? What are the major regimes of the modern world?

2

•

•

Government is any mechanism through which ordered rule is maintained, its central feature being, its ability to make collective decisions and enforce them. A political system or regime, however, encompasses not only the mechanisms of government and institutions of the state, but also the structures and processes through which these interact with the larger society. 3

Why classify political systems? 1.

2.

Classification is an essential aid to the understanding of politics and government. As in most social sciences, understanding in politics is acquired largely through a process of comparison, particularly as experimental methods are generally inapplicable. The attempt to classify systems of rule is therefore merely a device for making the process of comparison more methodical and systematic. It is to facilitate evaluation rather than analysis. 4

All systems of classification have their drawbacks. • In the first place, as with all analytical devices, there is a danger of simplification. • Second, value biases tend to intrude into the classification process.

5

Classical typologies Who rules? One Person

Rulers

Who benefits? All

Tyranny 專制/暴政 Monarchy 君主政體

The Few

The Many

Oligarchy Democracy 寡頭政治 Aristocracy Polity 貴族政治

Aristotle’s six forms of government 6

•

•

Aristotole’s purpose was to evaluate forms of government on normative grounds in the hope of identifying the ‘ideal’ constitution. In his view, tyranny, oligarchy and democracy were all debased perverted forms of rile in which a single person, a small group and the masses, respectively, governed in their own interests and therefore at the expense of others. 7

•

•

In contrast, monarchy, aristocracy and polity were to be preferred, because in these forms of government the individual, small group and the masses, respectively, governed in the interests of all. Aristotle declared tyranny to be the worst of all possible constitutions, as it reduced citizens to the status of slaves. 8

•

•

Monarchy and aristocracy, on the other hand, impractical, because they were based on a Godlike willingness to place the good of the community before the rulers’ own interests. Polity (rule by the many in the interests of all) was accepted as the most practicable of constitutions.

9

The ‘three worlds’ typology •

•

•

A capitalist ‘first world’ (in 1983, these countries generated 63% of the world’s GDP while only having 15% of the world’s population) A communist ‘second world’ (the countries produced 19% of the world’s GDP with 33% of the world’s population. A developing ‘third world’ (they produced 18% of the world’s GDP with 52% of the world’s population) 10

Regimes of the modern world Western polyarchies  New democracies  East Asian regimes  Islamic regimes  Military regimes 

11

Polyarchy (多元政體) Its central features are as follows:  Government is in the hands of elected officials.  Elections are free and fair.  Practically all adults have the right to vote.  The right to run for office is unrestricted.  There is free expression and a right to criticised and protest.  Citizens have access to alternative sources of information.  Groups and associations enjoy at least relative independence from government. 12

Western polyarchies (多元政體) Western polyarchies are broadly equivalent to regimes categorised as ‘liberal democracies’ or even simply ‘democracies’. Their heartlands are therefore North America, western Europe and Australasia.  Polyarchical regimes are distinguished by the combination of two general features. First, there is a relatively high tolerance of opposition that is sufficient at least to check the arbitrary inclinations of government. This is guaranteed in practice by a competitive party system, by institutionally guaranteed and protected civil liberties, and by a vigorous and healthy civil society. 

13

 Second,

the opportunities for participating in politics should be sufficiently widespread to guarantee a reliable level of popular responsiveness. The crucial factor here is the existence of regular and competitive elections operating as a device through which the people can control and, if necessary, displace their rulers. 14

New democracies •

•

A third wave of democracies began, according to Huntington(1991), in 1974. it witnessed the overthrow of right-wing dictatorships in Greece, Portugal and Spain, the retreat of the generals in Latin America, and most significantly, the collapse of communism. The collapse of communism in the eastern European revolutions of 1989-91 unleashed a process of democratisation that drew heavily on the western liberal model. 15

•

The central features of this process were the adoption of multiparty elections and the introduction of market-based economic reforms. In that sense, it can be argued that most former communist regimes are undergoing a transition that will eventually make them indistinguishable from western polyarchies. 16

East Asian regimes 



The rise of East Asia in the late twentieth century may ultimately prove to be a more important world-historical event than the collapse of communism. Certainly, the balance of the world’s economy shifted markedly from the West to the East in this period. In the final two decades of the twentieth century, economic growth rates on the western rim of the Pacific Basin were between two or four times higher than those in the ‘developed’ economies for Europe and North America. 17

Asian values Values that supposedly reflect the history, culture and religious backgrounds of Asian societies; examples include social harmony, respect for authority and a belief in the family.  Confucianism: twin themes– human relations and the cultivation of the self. 

18

East Asian regimes tend to have similar characteristics.  First, they are orientated more around economic goals than around political ones. Their overriding priority is to boost growth and deliver prosperity, rather than to enlarge individual freedom in the western sense of civil liberty. This essentially practical concern is evident in the ‘tiger’ economies of East and South East Asia, but it has also been demonstrated in the construction of a thriving market economy in China since the late 1970s, despite the survival there of monopolistic communist rule. 19

Cont.



Second, there is broad support for ‘strong’ government. Powerful ‘ruling’ parties tend to be tolerated, and there is general respect for the state. Although, with low taxes and relatively low public spending, there is little room for the western model of the welfare state, there is nevertheless general acceptance that the state as a ‘father figure’ should guide the decisions of private as well as public bodies, and draw up strategies for national development. 20

Cont.

Third, this characteristic is accompanied by a general disposition to respect leaders because of the Confucian stress on loyalty, discipline and duty. From a western viewpoint, this invests East Asian regimes with an implicit, and sometimes explicit, authoritarianism.  Finally, great emphasis is placed on community and social cohesion, embodied in the central role accorded to the family. ‘group think’ tends to restrict the scope for the assimilation of ideas such as individualism and human rights, at least as these are understood in the West. 

21

•

Theocracy (神權統治): literally ‘rule by God’ is the principle that religious authority should prevail over political authority. A theocracy is therefore a regime in which government posts are filled on the basis of the person’s position in the religious hierarchy. This contrasts with a secular state, in which political and religious positions are kept strictly separate. 22

Islamic regimes  The

rise of Islam as a political force has had a profound effect on politics in North Africa, the Middle East, and parts of Asia.  Islam is not and never has been simply a religion. Rather, it is a complete way of life, defining correct moral, political and economic behaviour for individuals and nations alike.  The ‘way of Islam’ is based on the teachings of the Prophet Muhammad as revealed in the Koran, regarded by all Moslems as the revealed word of God. 23

Military regimes 

Whereas most regimes are shaped by a combination of political, economic, cultural and ideological factors, some survive through the exercise, above all, of military power and systematic repression. In this sense, military regimes belong to a broader category of authoritarianism. Military authoritarianism has been most common in Latin America, the Middle East, Africa and South East Asia, but it also emerged in the post-1945 period in Spain, Portugal and Greece. 24