Political Science, Kean University
DR. CHARLES KELLY
Basic Concepts / Theories
The Political System is made of three (3) important parts:
a) The Political Regime
b) The Political Personnel
c) The Political Community
The Regime - is the structure of the institutional configuration of government e.g., in U. S. we have three
branches of government and different levels of government e.g., federal, state, and local.
The Political Personnel - are the people in government at any particular time or place e.g., Richard
Nixon was the political personnel in the office of the Presidency during 1969 - 1974.
The distinction between the regime and personnel can be seen in the change that occurred with the
following:
President Richard Nixon in USA
Adolph Hitler in Pre WWII Germany
In the U. S. Nixon resigned as President but the office of the Presidency continued,
we changed personnel but not regime.
In Germany there was no change in personnel but there was an important change in regime. Germany
went from a democracy to an authoritarian and then a totalitarian regime under Adolph Hitler’s
leadership.
The Political Community are all those affected by government.
There are three (3) models of how the political process works within the political regime.
1) Elitism
2) Participatory Democracy
3) Pluralism
http://www.kean.edu/~ckelly/basicconcepts.doc
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Elitism maintains society is hierarchically organized with a few deciding and the many following.
Elitism makes no claim of being democratic.
There are two (2) variations of elitism:
1) One school of thought maintains that elitism is natural and can be beneficial for society
e.g., Plato’s Republic wise philosopher-kings will rule for the betterment of society.
2) Another school of thought maintains that elitism is inevitable to do human nature,
bureaucracy, or the economic system. This school maintains that elitism is an exploitative type
of system, where the rulers exploit the ruled e.g., Marx maintain that in Feudalism and
Capitalism the rulers ruled in their own interest at the expense of the many. (See Chart I)
Participatory Democracy maintains that in order for the political system to be truly democratic, society
has to be democratized, i.e., all structure in society, family, job, church, etc. have to abandon their
hierarchical structure and become democratic.
In order to appreciate what the proponents of participatory democracy are saying it is useful to view
democracy on a continuum ranging from pure totalitarianism to pure democracy.
ABSOLUTE
Reality
ABSOLUTE
Totalitarianism------------------------------------------------------------Pure Democracy
e.g. George Orwell’s
Somewhere in between
Equal Influence
1984
for all
Proponents of Participatory Democracy wants to break down the hierarchical structure and move toward
collective decision-making where the many are deciding their own fate. Some proponents of
Participatory Democracy concede that it is impractical to achieve absolute equality of influence but
nonetheless that should be the goal of society e.g. Marx’s Communist Utopia.
Pluralism maintains that the political system is hierarchically structured, i.e., there are a few deciding
and many follows. Despite this fact, pluralism maintains democracy is possible, i.e., the many can make
the few responsive, accountable and accessible. The way this is done is as follows:
1) No one group in society has a monopoly of power.
2) In order to make governmental policy coalitions of groups have to be formed and
groups in society are pragmatic enough to work out compromises.
3) There is a basic consensus w/n society that rules out violence as a legitimate
way to resolve group conflict.
a) this consensus also involves a widespread agreement on a mechanism for
making decisions.,
b) this mechanism is considered legitimate i.e., the losers are willing to comply
with the decision of the winners.
c) another requirement is that the winners permit the losers to criticize and
challenge the winners’ decision. See figure-1, Pluralism.gif
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A Pluralist democracy is characterized by competition by power by organized groups. The unorganized
have little or no power in the political system.
Political Regime - regardless of the type of regime all regimes seek legitimacy. Legitimacy is the tacit or
explicit support of the regime by its people. Usually it is an emotional identification with the regime.
The regime is legitimate when the people believe that institutional structures of the government are the
most appropriate for society.
There are various sources of legitimacy. Max Weber speaks of three (3) ideal types of legitimacy:
1) Traditional - people support the regime out of habit and custom.
2) Rational legal - people support the regime because the explicit rules and procedures of
government make sense to the people--the people prefer on rational grounds the rule
of law over other types of rule.
3) Charismatic - people support the regime because of an emotional identification with the
personality of the leader of the regime.
According to Weber we find mixes of the three (3) types of legitimacy in every society but it is possible
to categorize regime by the dominant source of legitimacy. (See Chart II)
Political Culture - In order to understand legitimacy it is important to comprehend the political culture of
society.
Political culture is the values, beliefs, attitudes and aspirations of the people in society which orient them
politically. In order for a regime to be legitimate there has to be widespread agreement in society on
certain sets of values i.e., some sort of a consensus.
Ideology is an explicit set of values that orients people in society in terms of what they can expect from
government and what government should do for them and society. It speaks to human nature, the role of
government in society and the relationship of politics and economics. It also advances the economic
interests of a social class in society.
The three (3) main ideologies of politics are Conservatism, Liberalism and socialism. There are many
variations of the ideologies i.e., fascism, Nazism, communism, populism, etc., but they all can be traced
back to one or more of three. (See Chart III)
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POLITICAL SCIENCE
LECTURE NOTES
DR. CHARLES KELLY
CHART I
MARX’S THEORY OF HISTORY – ECONOMIC DETERMINISM
Stages of
History
Environment
Societal
Relationships
Territorial
Political Units
Classes
Source of
Legitimacy
Economic
System
Primitive
Communism
Abundance
Harmony
None
None
None
None
Feudalism
Scarcity
Conflict
City-state
Noble vs.
Peasants
Religion
Agrarian
Capitalism
Less
Scarcity
Conflict
Nation-state
Bourgeoisie
vs.
Proletariat
Nationalism
Industrial
Socialism
Least
Scarcity
Conflict
Regional
Camps
Proletariat
vs.
Bourgeoisie
Working-class
Consciousness
Highly
Industrialized
Communism
Sufficiency
Harmony
Global
Society
None
Equality
Nearly
Automated
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CHART II
WEBER’S TYPOLOGY OF DIFFERENT POLITICAL REGIMES
(THE TYPE OF REGIME LEGITIMACY INFLUENCES POLITICAL STABILITY)
TYPES OF LEGITIMACY
PROBLEM I
PROBLEM II
POLITICAL STABILITY
Dealing with Transfer of
Power
Dealing with the Phenomenon of Change
(Dealing with Problems
I & II)
Less Stable
CHARISMATIC
Deals Poorly
Deals Well
(Regime accepted by the
People because of the
personality of its leader)
(Cannot Transfer
Personality of Leader)
(Can Muster Necessary
Political will
TRADITIONAL
Deals Well
Deals Poorly
(Regime accepted because
it based on tradition and
custom)
(e.g., law of primogeniture)
(Can not break with
Tradition
RATIONAL - LEGAL
Deals Well
Deals Well
(Regime accepted because
procedures are perceived
logical and reasonable)
(Elections, explicit line of
succession)
(Legislation, Amendments
and judicial review)
Less Stable
Most Stable
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CHART III
MAJOR IDEOLOGIES
Class
Constituency
Historical
Origins
Conservatism
Nobility
18th Century
Mercantilism
Paternalistic
(Strong
Government)
Liberalism
Middle Class
19th Century
Capitalism
Laissez Faire
(Weak
Government)
Socialism
Working Class
20th Century
Centrally
Owned and
Planned
Economy
Interventionist
(Strong
Government
Economic
System
Role of
Government
Nature of
Man
Anti-Social
Social
Malleable
Source of
Power
Land
Commerce
Numbers &
Organizations
Dr. Charles P. Kelly
http://www.kean.edu/~ckelly/basicconcepts.doc (ms-word/97 )
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