Transcript CHAPTER 1 Shandyn & Mitchell 2B POLITICAL SYSTEMS 2. Any system must have two properties: 1.

CHAPTER 1
Shandyn & Mitchell
2B
POLITICAL SYSTEMS
2.
Any system must have two properties:
1. A set of interdependent parts, and
Boundaries towards the outside environment.
All systems, such as ecosystems and automobiles, have interdependent parts,
and political systems are no different.
Usually they are a set of institutions, such as parliaments, bureaucracies, and
courts that formulate and implement the collective goals of a society.
POLITICAL SYSTEMS(CONT.)
Political systems feature governments at their core, while encompassing
important parts of the environment in which governments operate.
Political systems have a lot to do with legitimacy, which is how we tell whether
the “rulers” have the right to command a government.
STATES
A state is a political system that has sovereignty over a population in a
particular territory based on the recognized right to self-determination.
We mostly distinguish between internal and external sovereignty.
Internal – the right without external intervention to determine matters having
to do with oneself.
External – the right to conclude binding agreements, or treaties, with other
states.
STATES(CONT.)
We often think of the world as a patchwork quilt of states with sizable
terrtiories and a common national identity.
These are called nation-states.
(In which national identification and the scope of legal authority coincide)
Even though this may seem like the most natural way to organize states, it was
not always so. Until about 500 years ago Europe was comprised of many small
states and few large ones. Rarely were the stable, and few people knew
anything about the political system the state ran on. The 19 th century was the
main era that the concentration of power in the nation-states occurred.
STATES(CONT.)
States give people a sense of community and a common cause.
Most nation-states share a common language, religion, and a common
educational system.
The big challenge that states come with is the weakness of national identity.
Africa is one great example of this, because of the colonization and the fairly
recent independence from France and Britain, the country has been left with
huge nation-building tasks.
STATES(CONT.)
After World War II, power began shifting downward to local governments,
and upward to supranational organizations.
The European Union (EU) and the North American Free Trade Agreement
(NAFTA) are examples of the later development.
THE UNITED NATIONS
The UN was formed at the end of World War II, and is the most important
organization that encompasses almost all of the world’s states.
In 2002 the UN reached a membership of 191 states.
The UN acts as a peacekeeper in countries stricken by civil war and
lawlessness. It has acquired increased authority over world security,
constraining, supporting, and replacing the unilateral actions of individual
states.
While the sovereignty of stats may be thus slipping away, they are still the
most important political systems around.
OLD AND NEW STATES
Just about the entire surface of the world today is covered by close to 200
independent states, and there are some secessionary movements that, if
successful, would make our figures obsolete.
When the US declared it’s independence in 1776, most independent states
were European. But in the early twentieth century, the number of states
increased, prnicipally in Latin America.
FIRST, SECOND, AND THIRD
WORLD
From the 1950’s on, its has become customary to divide the states of the
world into three categories: first, second, and third world.
First: advanced capitalism democracies
Second: communist bloc of countries, that at that time, led the Soviet Union
Third: the remaining states of the world that are neither rich, nor communist.
With the collapse of the communist countries, and the increasing differences
between developing societies, these categories are no longer as useful as they
once were.
NATIONS
Nation – a group of people with a common identity.
The common identity may be language, religion, ethnicity, culture, or simply
upon the territory in which they reside.
The relationship between nations and states is not always so neat. Many times
states are multinational, which causes a problem any time the nations disagree
on an issue.
States often cause Nations to break into different parts because of political
differences.
NATIONALITY AND ETHNICITY
Ethnic groups – people with common physics traits, languages, cultures, or
history.
Ethnicity is important to a government because, throughout history, it has
been the source of many political conflicts around the world.
Suppression of religion is usually the biggest disagreement, but it also one of
the biggest motivations for political involvement.
(abortion, abolition of slavery, freedom of religion, and even world peace)
SOCIAL DIVISION
Language can be a large source of social division the is not directly associated
with ethnicity.
There are approx. 5,000 languages in the world today, and as you can imagine,
that sparks a great barrier between states and nations.
Linguistic conflicts usually shop up in controversies over educational policies
or over language use in the government.
RELIGIOUS BELIEFS AND
FUNDAMENTALISM
States vary in their religious characteristics. In some such as Israel, the Irish
Republic, and Pakistan, a common faith can be the basis of national identity
for the population. In other societies such as Poland under communism,
religious authorities can serve as rallying points for opponents or authoritarian
regimes.