Dr. M Jashim Uddin
NSU
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What feature distinguishes Political Science from the other social
science?
Definition of Power: Power is the ability of one person to get
another to do something.
Views of Political Thinkers concerning Power:
According to Hobbes – basic human urge is to seek ‘power after
power’.
Machiavelli emphasized ultimately politics is about power; Prince
(1513)
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Some denounce the concept of power and suggested Governance
without power; Is it a realistic idea?
A vital question is: Why do some people hold political power over
others?
There is no just right explanations of political power.
However, There are 5 Power theories put forwarded by scholars: i)
Biological, ii) Psychological, iii) Cultural,
iv) Rational, and v) Irrational theories
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Aristotle declared that “Man is by nature a political animal.”
Human live naturally in groups.
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Biologically, they need each other for survival. It is also natural that
they show themselves into ranks of leaders and followers.
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Modern biologist claim that forming a political system and obeying
its leaders are innate, passed on which one’s genetic material.
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But questions remained: If we grant that humans are naturally
political, how do we explain the instances when political groups fall
apart and people disobey authority?
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Roskin’s argument in this regard: “Humans are imperfectly political
animals.”
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Most of the time people form groups and obey authority, but
sometimes, under certain circumstances, they do not.
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Psychologists have refined their views with empirical research.
The famous Psychological (Milgram) Study: Some unaware
subjects instructed by a “Professor” of a Lab to administer larger
electric shocks to a “Victim.” But the Victim was actually an actor.
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Findings of the Study: most of the subjects were willing to
implement the order of the Professor although they disliked hurting
the victim.
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The subjects surrender their actions to an authority figure.
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The Psychological theory also explains that most people are
naturally follower and see things the group’s way. Inherently,
humans have deep-seated needs to fit into groups.
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Perhaps this is what makes human society possible, but it also
makes possible horrors such as Nazi Holocaust and more recent
massacres.
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How much of human behavior is learned as opposed to biologically
inherited?
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The cultural theorists believe that behavior is learned.
Anthropologists argued that all differences in behavior were
cultural; cooperative and peaceful societies raise their children that
way, e.g., Scandinavian countries, Japan.
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Significance of Cultural values: Cultural values transmitted by
parents, schools, mosques, churches, temples, and the mass media,
contribute to form political communities.
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Researchers argued that a country’s political culture was formed by
many factors religion, child rearing, and economic development.
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Cultural theorists argue that if the political system of a country
collides with the cultural system, trouble comes; e.g., Islamic
revolution in Iran 1979.
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The cultural approach to political life holds some optimism. If all
human behavior is learned, bad behavior can be unlearned and
society improved.
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However, changing culture is difficult, e.g., American experience in
Iraq and Afghanistan. But exceptions are there; changing culture in
Japan after World War II; Religion matters.
Culture contribute a lot to political behavior, e.g., comparison
between Japan and Bangladesh.
The criticism the cultural theory: In the realm of politics, we see
similar political attitudes and patterns in lands with very different
cultures. Politicians everywhere tend to become corrupt, regardless
of culture.
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Another school of thought argued politics as a rational thing; people
have good reasons for doing what they do. Why do people form
governments?
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Hobbes and Locke argued that humans form “civil society” because
of their rational that it is much better than “anarchy”. If the
governments become abusive, the people have the legitimate right
to dissolve them and start anew.
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The psychological and cultural school of thoughts claimed that
people are either born or conditioned to certain behavior and that
individuals seldom think rationally.
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But rational theorist raise questions such as why people break away
from group conformity and argue independently? How can we
explain a change of mind?
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If political leaders believe that people obey out of biological
inheritance or cultural conditioning, they will think they can get
away with all manner of deception and misrule.
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In contrast, if rulers fear that people are rational, they will respect
the public’s ability to discern wrongdoing.
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According to some political thinkers, People are basically irrational,
especially when it comes to politics. They are emotional, dominated
by myths and stereotypes.
A crowed is like wild beast that can be whipped up by charismatic
leaders to do their bidding. What people regard as rational is really
myth; just keep feeding the people myths to control them.
The first practitioner of this school was Mussolini. Founder of
fascism in Italy, followed by Hitlar in Germany. A soft-spoken
Muslim Fundamentalist, Osama bin Laden feeding his fanatic
followers the myth that America was the enemy of Islam.
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Roskin argued, there are elements of truth in all theories of political
power and provided the example of American separation from
Britain;
Thomas Paine’s pamphlet Common Sense rationally explained why
America should separate from Britain; The declaration of American
Independence and the American Constitution.
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But how truly rational were they? By the late 18th century, people
of the 13 American colonies thought of themselves as American
rather than as English colonists; Perhaps the separation was more
cultural then rational.
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Nor can we ignore the psychological or irrational factors contributed
to American independence; Thomas Jefferson was a powerful writer
and George Washington was a charismatic general.
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So, the American separation from Britain was a complex mixtures
of all these factors. We cannot exactly determine the weight to give
any one factor.
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Is power identical to politics?
Power is a kind of enabling device to implement policies and
decisions.
You can have praiseworthy goals, but without power to make them
real, they remain wishful thoughts.
From another perspective, the core of politics is the struggle of
power, e.g., elections.
But if power becomes the goal of politics, it becomes brutal and
self-destructive, e.g., the Hitlar and President Nixon.
“Power tends to corrupt; absolute power corrupts absolutely”,
British historian and Philosopher Lord Acton
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What is legitimacy? How legitimacy can be gained?
Legitimacy is the mass feeling that the government’s rule is rightful
and should be obeyed
Legitimacy originally meant that “the rightful king or queen was on
the throne by reason of “legitimate” birth.
Legitimate now refers to an attitude in people’s minds that the
government’s rule is rightful. For example, legitimacy in the United
States is fairly high.
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Low Legitimacy
High Coercion
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High Legitimacy
Low Coercion
High
Legitimacy
Little
Force
A Stable Democracy
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The legitimacy in Scandinavian countries, such as, Sweden, Norway
is very high; little forces is needed.
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In contrast, In North Korea or Iraq, much coercion is needed
because of the lack of legitimacy of the authority.
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Where legitimacy is weak, the government is perceived as dirty and
dishonest. Hence, few people feel no obligation to pay their taxes or
follow the rules and regulations.
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Due to the lack of a legitimate government, massive disobedience
break out in different countries; e.g., fall of Ershad regime in
Bangladesh in 1990 and President Milsevic regime in Serbia in
2000; law enforcing agencies and electoral rigging could not
prevent them from falling down.
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Without legitimacy, governments are ineffective, e.g., the Iraqi
government council of 2003-2004 was composed of highly educated
Iraqis representing all Iraqi groups, but it had little legitimacy
because it had been installed by the US occupiers.
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How does a government achieve legitimacy?
By providing security and safety
At the most basic level, security of the citizens must be ensured, so
that people feel safe. For instances, many Iraqis claimed that “bad
Saddam Hussain was, but under him they could walk down the
street.”
Concerning legitimacy, the classic political thinker Hobbes said,
“No Security no legitimacy.” If a government can not provide
security for its citizen, the government is not legitimate.
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what does the “security” mean here? Security means ‘rule of law’
which means just, fair and reasonable laws that all must obey.
“Rule of Law” should not be confused with “Law of the Ruler”.
Rule of Law
Democracy
Law of Ruler
Autocracy
2. Legitimacy by governing well
➢ A government gains legitimacy by governing well. Ensuring
economic growth and job builds legitimacy. West Germany after the
WWII can be referred.
3. By ensuring people’s representation in the Government
➢ The structure of the Government contributes to its legitimacy. If
people think they are fairly represented and have a say in selecting
their officials, they are more likely to obey.
4. Role of national symbols
➢ governments shore up their legitimacy with national symbols. The
flag, historic moments, patriotic parades and ringing speeches try to
convince people that government is legitimate and should be
obeyed.
➢ For instances, the Communist government in Laos showed respect
to a new bronze statue of the funder of Lao’s monarchy to prop up
their disputed legitimacy.
5. By taking Anti-corruption measures
➢ Corruption undermines legitimacy. Citizens do not respect a
government if it is involved in corruption. Corruption is difficult to
clean up. Crooked officials keep their ill gotten gains out of the
media and courts, which they control. But they cannot stem the flow
of rumors and gossip, especially in the social media.
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Stopping corruption is difficult because the sums involved are so big
and so many top officials are involved. many countries have known
for years that their regimes are corrupt.
How corruption can be uprooted or reduced in Bangladesh?
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Authority is the psychological ability of leaders to get others to obey
them, e.g., a police official obeys his superior, a student obeys a
professor. Roskin argued that it refers to leader’s ability to gain
loyalty.
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Some authority comes with office, e.g., Ford, but it has to be
cultivated. E.g., an American president gets much authority just
because he is president. Gerald Ford was respected and obeyed
though he was not elected President. Ford became president when
Nixon resigned in August 1974 for the Watergate scandal.
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Max Weber divided the legitimate Authority into 3 types:
1. Rational-legal authority: It depends for its legitimacy on formal
rules of the country, which are usually written down, e.g.,
constitution.
2. Traditional Authority: It derives from long-established customs,
habits and social structures. When power passes from one
generation to another, then it is known as traditional authority, e.g.,
monarchy; Brunei Sultanate (the eldest will be the ruler)
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3. Charismatic Authority: The charisma of the individual or the
leader plays an important role.
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Charismatic authority is that authority which is derived from "the
gift of grace" or when the leader claims that his authority is derived
from a "higher power” that is superior to both the validity of
traditional and rational-legal authority, e.g., the religious leaders in
Iran; Mao Zedong in China