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 Hitlers
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., Platos 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 Orwells 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. Marxs 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

MARXS THEORY OF HISTORY ECONOMIC DETERMINISM

Stages of Environment Societal Territorial Classes Source of Economic

History Relationships Political Units Legitimacy System

Primitive Abundance Harmony None None None None

Communism

Feudalism Scarcity Conflict City-state Noble vs. Religion Agrarian

Peasants

Capitalism Less Conflict Nation-state Bourgeoisie Nationalism Industrial

Scarcity vs.
Proletariat

Socialism Least Conflict Regional Proletariat Working-class Highly

Scarcity Camps vs. Consciousness Industrialized
Bourgeoisie

Communism Sufficiency Harmony Global None Equality Nearly

Society Automated

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 CHART II

WEBERS 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 Dealing with the Pheno- (Dealing with Problems
Power menon of Change I & II)

CHARISMATIC
Deals Poorly Deals Well Less Stable
(Regime accepted by the
People because of the (Cannot Transfer (Can Muster Necessary
personality of its leader) Personality of Leader) Political will

TRADITIONAL Deals Well Deals Poorly Less Stable

(Regime accepted because (e.g., law of primogeniture) (Can not break with
it based on tradition and Tradition
custom)

RATIONAL - LEGAL Deals Well Deals Well Most Stable

(Regime accepted because (Elections, explicit line of (Legislation, Amendments

procedures are perceived succession) and judicial review)
logical and reasonable)

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 CHART III

MAJOR IDEOLOGIES

Class Historical Economic Role of Nature of Source of

Constituency Origins System Government Man Power

Conservatism Nobility 18th Century Mercantilism Paternalistic Anti-Social Land

(Strong
Government)

Liberalism Middle Class 19th Century Capitalism Laissez Faire Social Commerce
(Weak
Government)

Socialism Working 20th Century Centrally Interventionist Malleable Numbers &

Class Owned and (Strong Organizations
Planned Government
Economy

Dr. Charles P. Kelly

http://www.kean.edu/~ckelly/basicconcepts.doc (ms-word/97 )

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