Political Systems
Kinds Of Political Systems
• Uncentralized systems
– Bands
– Tribes
• Centralized systems
– Chiefdoms
– States
Bands
• Small group of politically
independent, though related,
households.
• The least complicated form of
political organization.
• Found among nomadic societies.
• Small, numbering at most a few
hundred people.
Bands
• No need for formal political systems.
• Decisions are made with the
participation of adult members, with
an emphasis on achieving consensus.
• Those unable to get along with others
of their group move to another group
where kinship ties give them rights of
entry.
Tribes
• Tribes consist of small, autonomous
local communities, which form
alliances for various purposes.
• Economy based on crop cultivation or
herding.
• Population densities generally exceed
1 person per square mile.
• Leadership among tribes is informal.
Tribes
The Big Man
• Big Man from
New Guinea
wearing his
official regalia.
• Has informal
authority, but
“can’t tell
people what to
do”
Question
• Bands and tribes are both
A. centralized.
B. associated with industrialism.
C. dependent on age groups for
political organization.
D. uncentralized and egalitarian.
E. hierarchical in social organization.
Answer: D
• Bands and tribes are both uncentralized
and egalitarian.
Question
• In the band, disputes are settled
informally through
___________
A.
B.
C.
D.
E.
gossip.
ridicule.
direct negotiation.
mediation.
all of these choices
Answer: E
• In the band, disputes are settled
informally through gossip, ridicule, direct
negotiation and mediation.
Question
•
The form of social organization typical of
hunter-gatherers is the _________,
whereas horticulture and pastoralism are
usually associated with the form of social
organization called the _________.
A. tribe/chiefdom
B. tribe/state
C. tribe/band
D. band/chiefdom
E. band/tribe
Answer: E
• The form of social organization
typical of hunter-gatherers is the
band, whereas horticulture and
pastoralism are usually associated
with the form of social organization
called the tribe.
Chiefdoms
• The chief is at the head of a ranked
hierarchy of people.
• The office of the chief is usually for life
and often hereditary.
• The chief’s authority serves to unite his
people in all affairs and at all times.
• Highly unstable as lesser chiefs try to take
power from higher ranking chiefs.
Chiefdoms
• A Kpelle town chief in Liberia, West
Africa, listens to a dispute in his
district.
• Settling disputes is one of several
ongoing traditional tasks that fall to
State
• The most formal of political
organizations.
• Political power is centralized in a
government, which may use force to
regulate the affairs of its citizens and its
relations with other states.
• Since their first appearance 5,000 years
ago, states have shown a tendency
toward instability and transience.
A Nation without a State
 The Kurds, most of whom live in Iran, Iraq, and Turkey, are an
example of a nation without a state.
 Nation (review): A people who share a collective identity
based on a common culture, language, territorial base, and
history
Gender and Politics
• Above Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf
inspects members of the Liberian police after taking
the presidential oath in January 2006.
• The first female president on the African continent,
Sirleaf is a Harvard-educated economist who took the
world by surprise when she won the head office in
her war-torn and poverty-stricken country.