Danziger/Rejai Part II

Danziger & Rejai: Part II Prepared and Presented by Angela Oberbauer ©2005

Danziger, Chapter 5 States and Nations THE STATE:

“The legal concept of State” is following: A State is a territorially bound sovereign entity. (a Concept resulting out of the “Treaty of Westphalia 1648,” which ended the 30 Years War).

A State must exercise basic principles: I.

Sovereignty: a. That a state has complete “authority”. b. That a state is the “ultimate source” of law within its own territory. Sovereignty is the key element in the Legal concept of State.

Principles of State, continued: II.

Territorial Integrity: a. A state must have sufficient power to protect itself militarily; to resist and reject any aggression, invasion, or intervention within its territorial boundaries. b. Protect its “National Interests”.

The Domain of State Action • • •

How extensive should the State’s role in society be? The Domain of State Action is military power as seen by the Conservative view. “res publica” meaning “things of the people”. Different ideologies have different interpretations, with some philosophies stating state has no role, to others believing the state’s role should be overall dominant, or minimal.

The Nation A “Natio” is a human group with a deeply shared fundamental identification in a particular geographic area, that wants to advance the interests and welfare of its own “nation” or “national identity”, such as: Religion, community, ethnicity, culture, territorial heritage, language (Danziger, Chapter 5).

Concept of the Political System (David Easton 1953, 1965) Easton suggests “the political system is a system of behavior, and it is defined by its distinctive activities: the authoritative allocation of values for a society” (Danziger, Chapter 5). Therefore, a system in which individuals and components interact with each other and are often dependent or interdependent upon each other, thereby often influencing policy making

Easton’s Conceptualization of the Political System (D. pp. 124-125) I.

An “Input-Output system”: which has an “external environment” which includes virtually every activity in the world that is external to the territory of the state; and an “ internal environment” which includes all activities within the state’s society and also shares the same spatial area of the political system. Activities can be: political, economic, social, ecological, and other.

Easton describes the interactions between the Inputs of a Political System and its Outputs Demands input Political System INPUTS Conversion into input Policy makingOUTPUTS  Supports input   Policy/Laws 

Danziger, Chapter 6 Political Institutions I: Structures The Legislature is a basic structure of governance within the State: --It may be “unicameral”, one house. --May be “bicameral”, two houses. Roles of the Legislature:  Enactment of legislation  Representation of citizenry  Oversight of the Executive  Public Education I.

II. The Executive Roles of Executives: • Leadership, symbolic, and ceremonial roles. • Supervision of the administration. • Supervision of the military and foreign affairs. Types of Executives: fused (single head) versus dual Executives as within Constitutional Monarchies as Britain: The Queen is symbolic head; The Prime Minister heads the government and all decision making.

III. The Administration The Administration is the machinery and the processes through which rules and policies are applied and implemented. The Bureaucracy is a particular structure and set of processes (departments and agencies) through which the Administration can operate.

Administration continued Functions and Power: 1. Information Management. 2. Provision of Knowledge, advisory. 3. Provision of public goods and services. 4. Regulation and enforcement of public policies. 5. Extraction of resources: collectors of revenues, and operate state owned or directed goods and resources.

III. The Judiciary The Adjudication function attempts to: • Interpret laws. • Apply the relevant rules or laws. • It is utilized as a mechanism of social control ensuring acceptable social behavior. • To Arbitrate over other branches of government in the political system to check that their actions are constitutional and according to law.

The Judiciary, continued Judicial Systems and Structures vary: A.The United States has two judicial systems: 1. The Federal Judicial System with three levels of jurisdiction: • The Supreme Court-- the highest level. • The Appellate Circuit Courts (13)--second level. • The District Courts (94)--lowest level and where most all federal trials take place.

continued 2. The States Court Systems with three levels of jurisdiction: • The State Supreme Court -- highest level. • The District Appellate Courts (in California there are 6) --second highest level. • The County Courts (or Trial Courts) -the lowest level where most all trials take place within the state court system.

Danziger, Chapter 7: Political Institutions II: Institutional Arrangements, & Rejai Chp. 7 I.

Democracy: demos “the people”, and kratia meaning “to rule”. Herodotus, (484-425 B.C.) “…also included equality before the law, popular participation in decision making, and popular control of public officials”(in Rejai p. 151). Cicero (106-43 B.C.) a Roman lawyer, principal designer of “Natural Law Concept”. (p. 151)

Kinds of Democracies Participatory Democracy: is government of and by the people. (Danziger p. 166) Participatory Democracy: 1.) Decentralization of political power and decision making. 2.) Direct popular involvement in political affairs.(Rejai, pp. 162-163) Representative Democracy: citizens elect people to represent them. Then these officials make laws that should reflect the wishes of the citizens. (Danziger p. 166)

Required Principles for a real Representative Democracy (a Republic) I. II. III. IV.

Universal suffrage: all citizens can vote. Political Equality: for all persons interacting within the political system. Electoral democracy: different opposing contenders, periodic elections. Limited Mandate: authority to govern for limited period, limitations on powers. (Danziger, Chapter 7).

Conditions required for Democracy: Rejai Chapter 7, pp 164-166 I.

II.

Socioeconomic Conditions: existence of material affluence, urbanization and industrialization, a middle class, literacy and participation, media of communication, and pluralism. Political Conditions: a. Effectiveness--the ability of democracy to perform the basic functions of government. To respond to popular demands, provide necessary services. b. Legitimacy-- refers to the capacity of the political

system to promote and retain popular support of the society.

Conditions for Democracy, continued III.

Psychocultural Conditions: A political culture/political personality evolves over time with: ---openness to change, ---a sense of security ---a democratic behavior exists with a variety of interests, values, and goals. ---empathy, the ability to feel for others. ---tolerance for the opinions of others. ---flexibility to modern ideas/wishes. ---non-rigidity and non-callousness by the political system over its society.

Nondemocracies, Danziger, Chapter 7 Dictatorship: 1. has a ruler with absolute power and authority. 2. Absence of limited mandate. 3. Society does not have political opportunity to replace dictator. 4. Society may have social and economic freedoms.

Authoritarian Regime 1. 2.

3.

4.

Absence of a limited mandate. Political actions and decisions of the society are significantly limited: few rights and liberties. Citizens are not permitted to question the political institutions, procedures, or value allocatons of the regime. (p. 172) Citizens may be allowed social, occupational, and religious freedoms.

Totalitarian Regimes: 1. 2. 3.

4.

5. 6.

Absence of limited mandate. Every aspect of individuals is controlled. The political system demands complete obedience to its extensive rules regarding all aspects of life within the society, laws, and political structures determined by the system. Organizations are regulated. Communications are state controlled. The State exercises extensive coercion.

Constitutional Regimes 1.

2. 3. 4. 5.

Have a set of statements describing the fundamental rules of the political system, and the existence of State. Government institutions are defined, as are their powers and limitations. Government officials are defined, as are their powers and limitations. Ultimately, the force of the constitution depends on the will those in political power to enforce it. Democratic processes are incorporated.

Nonconstitutional Regimes: 1.

2.

3.

The Political System does not have a constitution or persistent nonenforcement of one. The rule of law often collapses because of the regime leaders’ disregard for its limits. Revolution, by authoritarian or totalitarian minded leadership.

3 Political Systems and their Distribution of Powers The Unitary Political System: The central government holds all legitimate power and makes all decisions. The regional governments only implement the decisions made by the central government.

A Federation, or Federalism Has a constitutional division of power and functions between a central government and the set of regional governments. “There is an explicit sharing of powers, and no level has legal power to dominate any other level in all policy domains”

A Confederation Is an association of states, which hold powers and make policy. The central government is more symbolic, and implements decisions agreed upon by the states.

Executive--Legislative Relations Presidential Government: is a separation of executive and legislative structures 1. Eligible citizens elect the Legislature separately from electing the President. 2. Only the President selects the Cabinet. 3. A system of checks and balances. 4. Considerable interdependence and blurring of functions between the executive and legislative structures. 5. The Legislature cannot remove the Executive through a vote of no-confidence.

Parliamentary (Cabinet) Government Is the fusion of executive and legislative functions and structures. The People elect the legislature (the parliament), whose majority (party) empowers a creation of a cabinet. From the cabinet, one person will become prime minister, therefore the prime minister (or chancellor) is not directed elected by the people to that post. The cabinet consists of 6-to-30 members. If the cabinet majority does not support the leader (prime minister), then he/she may resign or attempt to reconstruct the cabinet with new members. The cabinet is responsible to the legislature. The cabinet can be maintained only as long as it maintains the “confidence votes” by the legislature.

Hybrid Systems: Have a prime minister and an elected legislature that can both enact and implement policies, but they also have a president.

Political Party Systems A political party is a group of political activists that want to win elections, run government, and make policy. • Two-Party Systems: two major political parties alternating in governmental power. • Have a “winner-take-all” electoral system. • Usually maintain stability within the State. --Third Parties can exist, but do not gain enough voter support to become significant opponents to the two-parties.

Multiparty Systems Have more than two parties that win elections and have seats in the legislature. Proportional electoral systems: a candidate only needs a required percentage of votes in a district (designated territory) to have a seat in parliament. Can cause instabilities: in cabinet, maintaining votes of confidence, stability for the State (look at examples in Danziger.

Party Systems, continued Dominant-Party Systems: one party repeatedly receives enough votes and seats to form the government. Other parties may compete. • One-Party Systems: a single party is the only only party allowed by the State. • No-Party Systems: Political systems have no organized parties, or do not allow political parties. •

Danziger, Chp. 8: Political Economy Political-Economic Framework: there are three kinds of important productive resources---called the three major factors of production: 1. Land, means the ground plus any raw materials (coal, fossil fuel, fruits). 2. Labor is human productive input (work). 3. Capital, is nonhuman productive input from other resources (especially financial resources, machinery, and technology) • A system of payment is developed, each actor tries to increase his/her “utility” (overall happiness), goods and services have a worth, sometimes paid good-for-good, barter, or with money. A firm tries to attain a “profit”, and if “demand” is high but goods/services scarce, prices are high, therefore the system of exchanges relies on “supply and demand” (p. 202) •

Types of Economies • • • • • •

The Market Economy: The Command Economy: Key Problems for each ideal-type political economy The Mixed Economy: Politics Plus Political Economy: The Other “ISMS”, The Real World: