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: