Chapter 3: The State and Political Systems

The Emergence of Modern State

The City States

The emergence of nation states began from what was called the city-states. The first well documented city-state appeared in southern Mesopotamia in Sumer around 5000 BCE. Nation states differed from city-states in the sense that even though city states and nation states may have shared commonalities such as a mutual history, language, and traditions, nation states often consisted of several citystates and lacked some of the homogeneous features of the city state. City-states arose at different times in different parts of the world. Important city-states encompassed Venice, Genoa, Florence, Siena, and Lucca. These were well known city-states and were thought of as significant Italian city-states

Citizen and Citizenship

Citizenship is the privilege of membership of a political community. The political community in this context means a community to which one owes certain duties. The city-states in Greece are alleged to have given rise to the concept of citizenship.

Characteristics which defines citizenship include:

• Membership of the democratic political community,
• Having access to the collective benefits and rights associated with membership
• Participating in your community’s political, social and economic process

Theories of Citizenship

Theories of citizenship can be categorized into two groups- Normative and Empirical theories.

Normative -theories set the rights and duties that should ideally be performed by a citizen. They examine the attributes and advantages of a good citizen. The arguments that support this view are based on historical facts.

Empirical -theories , on their part, explains how citizens came about having those rights and duties associated with citizenship. Empirical theories explore the social, economic, and political processes that have fashioned the emergence of citizenship in different times and places. They also explore the different ways through which different groups of people have been able to access such citizenship.

Politicians and the Exploitation of the Common Citizen

Politicians were not thought of as salaried workers and were not to be allowed to exploit their communities for personal gain. Society held that it was inappropriate to compensate politicians for rendering a public service. This belief existed right up to the 19th century.

Government and Its Systems

Government is defined as a system through which a state or an entity is controlled. In the same way, government may be considered as the group of people exercising executive authority over a state. The components of a government include legislators, administrators, and arbitrators. Government’s function is to enforce state authority. The form of government indicates the way the government is organized. For example, most nation states have three branches of government: the executive, legislative, and judiciary. In theory, these branches of government are expected to be independent of one another. In this wise, the different divisions create a system imbued with checks and balances.

The Executive Branch of Government

A president or a prime minister may head the Executive branch of government, and this will depend on whether the country is practicing a parliamentary or a presidential system of governance.

The Legislative Branch of Government

The legislative branch of government makes the laws. In the United States, the legislative branch of government is the Congress and it is bicameral, or divided into two parts. e “Senate” is made up of 100 senators and the “House of Representatives” is made up of 435 members. In other countries such as China, the legislature is unicameral- made up of only one house. Unicameral systems may be found in countries such as Turkey, China, New Zealand, Norway, and Hungary.

The Judiciary Branch of Government

The judicial part of government may constitute the court system with the Supreme Court (the constitutional court) at the helm. If this is the case, the Supreme Court is the highest court in that country. Judges in this court system interpret laws according to the constitution and only hear cases that apply to issues related to the constitution.

Systems of Government

A unitary system of government is a political arrangement where a large proportion of power resides with the central government. The central administration arrives at decisions and channels them to sub-national units for implementation.

Federalism is a political system that brings together separate states within a larger political set-up, but allows for each entity to maintain its own fundamental political integrity.

There are some characteristics that distinguish a federal system:

• A federal system is established through a convenient union, where power is divided between a strong national government and smaller local states (governments) with powers delineated in a constitution.
• The authority of exercising political power cannot be taken away from the general government or the state governments without common consent.
• A third element is what is called areal division that safeguards neutrality and equality in the process of representing the political interests of different groups. The divisions are used to secure local autonomy and the representation of different groups within the civil society. This is called territorial neutrality in the United States.

Factors Protecting Federalism

• Federations allow for direct lines of communication between citizens and their government.
• Geography has sometimes played a major role in maintaining federalism.
• When constituent polities are equal in population and wealth, it is possible to maintain the noncentralization of power.
• Other circumstances that have promoted the noncentralization of power include constitutionally guaranteed differences in the laws of the constituent polities.

The Distinction between Unitary States and Federal States

The distribution of power between the central government and the sub-national government determines if a country is a federal or unitary system of governance. In a unitary system, apart from the central government, the other governments include the local or municipal government. While the latter may enjoy some degree of autonomy, the trend is that the central government has the responsibility to decide how much power to allocate to the local government. However, it should be noted that whatever autonomy the local governments have, such autonomy does not have constitutional protection and may be abolished if the central government so desires. However, in a federal system there is an intermediate level of authority that may consist of states, provinces, cantons, or republics with constitutionally protected sovereignty.

Confederations and Federations

Confederations constitute an association of independent states that have voluntarily come together. They try to secure a common objective and sometimes to agree to limiting their freedom and establishing a system of consultation. Confederations do not have an executive, or a central government. A federation, on the other hand, is a group of states that establish a central executive supervising the activities of the constituent states. Sometimes a federation may be preceded by a confederation. For example, modern Switzerland was once a confederation, and so was Germany before the current federal arrangement.

In a parliamentary system of government, the executive branch of government derives democratic legitimacy from, and it is accountable to, the legislature. This means that the executive branch and the legislature work closely together. In this system, the head of state is usually different from the head of government.

The advantages of parliamentary systems , in parliamentary systems, it is easier and faster to pass legislation. This is true because the executive branch of government is formed through the direct or indirect support of the legislature. It is an attractive governmental system for countries that are racially, ethnically, or ideologically diverse. Power is also evenly spread out in a parliamentary system in such a way that no one person can monopolize state power.

Presidential Systems

In a presidential system, the president acts as both the head of government and the head of state. As such the president is fully responsible for the executive branch of government. An example is the United States.

Characteristics,

• The executive branch can veto legislature acts and similarly a supermajority of lawmakers can override such a veto.
• Presidential systems have fixed terms of office.
• In a presidential system, the executive branch is one individual. Members of cabinet are answerable to the president.
• Presidents can often pardon or commute sentences of convicted criminals.

Advantages of presidential systems,

• In these systems elections are direct.
• There is also separation of powers in a presidential system.
• A president is also thought to have strong powers and can enact change quickly if needed, provided that the separation of powers does not become an obstacle
• Since presidential systems have fixed terms, they may be more stable than the parliamentary system, where a prime minister can be dismissed at any time.

Criticism of presidential systems,

• Presidential systems may lead to authoritarianism since they raise the stakes in elections and promote polarization.
• The separation of powers can lead to a gridlock, especially if the president and the legislative majority are from different political parties.
• In a presidential system, even if the president becomes unpopular, it remains difficult to remove him/her from office.

Pluralism, Its Features and Relationship to Power and the Masses

Pluralism is a system whereby there exists no single source of authority within a state. Pluralism is viewed as the opposite of a monistic theory of state, which is usually thought to be endowed with supreme and unlimited power. In a pluralistic system, sovereignty is considered as resting not only with the state, but also with many other institutions. The state is only one of the institutions among social, political, cultural, and economic institutions within the society. Pluralists argue that sovereignty is not the private property of the state.

Pluralistic Systems

The idea of pluralism emanated from ancient Greece. Pluralism was championed by philosophers such as Democritus and Epicurus who believed in a plurality of worlds. According to the Greeks, the interaction of diverse populations (whether ethnic, religious, linguistic or cultural) is an example of what may be described as “pluralism”.

Characteristics of pluralism,

• Pluralism is a system dominated by a multiplicity of small groups.
• The different groups in a pluralistic system are politically autonomous and have the right and freedom to conduct business in the political marketplace.
• The exercise of power by one group is often cancelled out by the powers of another.
• The pluralistic system is open in the logic that it is continuously recruiting new membership from different segments in society.
• In pluralistic systems groups and office seekers work hard to find public support.

Types of Government

There are different forms of government, many of which are described based on its attributes. These include attributes such as: who holds decision-making power, who elects those who are empowered to rule, and how power distribution is structured.

Monarchy

A monarchy is a form of government where the sovereignty of the state is embodied in one or a few individuals who are expected to remain in power until death or until they decide to abdicate power. A monarch is the head of a monarchy. The level of legal autonomy exercised by a monarch, the method used in selecting the monarch, and the predetermined length of stay in power determine the form of monarchy.

There are several forms of monarchy. These include an absolute monarchy, a constitutional monarchy, an elective monarchy, and a hereditary monarchy. An absolute monarchy has few or no legal restraints on political matters. It can be described as a form of autocracy. In a constitutional monarchy, the monarch may exercise limited discretion. This may also be called a crown republic, a limited monarchy, or a parliamentary monarchy. In this form of monarchy, the monarch acts as a non-party head of state. In an elective monarchy, the monarch is elected. This type of monarchy differs from a hereditary monarchy where choice is automatically conferred to a family member based on inheritance.

Dictatorship

Dictatorship describes a form of government where political power is concentrated in the hands of a single entity and exercised through a diversity of mechanisms which ensure that the entity’s power remains absolute. Dictatorships are authoritarian in the sense that politicians attempt to regulate every aspect of the public life and private life of normal people. These forms of government utilize political propaganda to subdue alternative governing systems.

Democracy

Democracy is a system of government in which citizens of a state partake in decision making processes of state affairs. This is done through electing representatives to a parliament or an assembly. Democracy is a system where there are free elections and where the people are vested with supreme power exercised directly or indirectly in a system of representation. According to Larry Diamond, democracy has four key elements:

• The choosing of and replacement of governments through free and fair elections,
• Active participation of people as citizens in the political and civic life of the state.
• Protecting the human rights of all citizens
• A legal system which ensures that each and every citizen is equal before the law.

In a democracy, the people who control their leaders hold the power. There are several variations of democracy. The two main ones include direct democracy and representative democracy. In direct democracies, citizens actively participate in political decision-making. In representative democracy, sovereignty remains with the people. Political power is exercised indirectly through elected representatives.

Types of democracy , the basic forms of democracy include representative democracy, direct democracy, parliamentary democracy, and presidential democracy. In representative democracy, people vote for their representatives who, in turn, vote policy initiatives. If the head of state is democratically elected, it is called a democratic republic. The main approach in representative democracy involves the election of candidates who carry the majority or plurality of votes. This system is common in Western countries. In direct democracy, people vote on policy initiatives directly. Citizens, therefore, participate directly in decision making without relying on intermediaries. The population has the right to change constitutional laws and advanced initiatives, to make changes through referendum, and to suggest new laws.

Oligarchy

In an oligarchy (rule by a few), power effectively remains in the hands of small number of individuals. These could be individuals of the same royalty, class, wealth, family ties, education, corporate, religious or military class who control state affairs.

Autocracy

An autocracy is a system of government in which one person controls supreme power over the citizens with little legal restraints on how much power that an individual can exercise. Absolute monarchy and dictatorship are clear examples of autocracy

Authoritarianism

Authoritarianism as a form of government has four qualities: a) it has constraints on political institutions and groups (the legislature, political parties, and interest groups), b) its basis for legitimacy is based on emotion, c) the regime is viewed as a necessary evil that must solve an existing social problem, d) it does not have an extensive system of political mobilization.

Totalitarianism

Totalitarianism is a system of government where the state has total control of the society and all aspects of both public and private life. It is believed that this concept was first developed in the 1920s by the Weimar German jurists and subsequently by Nazi academics.

Differences between Authoritarianism and Totalitarianism

Authoritarianism is a government where a single power holder is an individual, a committee, a junta, or a small group of political elites that has monopolized power. However, social institutions exist, but these are not under the control of the state. Authoritarians are contented in controlling and maintaining the status quo. Authoritarian regimes are interested in aggrandizing political power. On the other hand, a totalitarian regime is one that attempts to control almost everything about social life including the economy, education, art, private life, and morals of the citizens. The government attempts to control the thoughts of every citizen. The totalitarian leader uses charismatic mysticism where the population is manipulated into believing in the indispensability of the leader.

Theocracy

In a theocracy god or a deity is recognized as the immediate ruler of the state. The priests in such a state are required to implement God’s law drawn from the statute book of the kingdom. A king in some religions was considered a son of God, and the messages in the holy book are considered to have come directly from God.

Anarchy

Anarchy is described as a situation in society where a group of people or a single person does not recognize authority. It originally means “no leader.” Anarchy comes from an Ancient Greek word meaning “not, without” and “ruler, leader, authority.” Therefore, anarchy means “a person or society without rulers or leaders.”

Republic

A republic is a form of government in which power rests with an elected group of individuals who act on behalf of the citizens. e exercise of power is determined by the rule of law. In the modern sense of the word, a republic does not constitute a monarchy. There are about 206 sovereign states in the world; out of these, 147 utilize the word republic in their names even though not all of them are elected governments.

Examples of Contemporary Systems of Governments

Federal Parliamentary Republic: The Federal Republic of Germany

The Federal Republic of Germany is a federal parliamentary republic with 16 states. The federal capital is in Berlin. The German legal system is the civil law system. Citizenship is by descent only. It is required that one of the parents must be a German citizen or resident alien who must have lived in Germany for at least 8 years. Dual citizenship is accepted in Germany, but this can be achieved only after prior approval from the government. Naturalization requires 8 years of residency. Universal suffrage is 18 years of age. However, some states allow 16 years of age for both state and municipal elections. The legal system is the common law system and has nonbinding judicial review of Acts of Parliament under the Human Rights Act of 1998. The executive branch is made up of the chief of state who is a monarch (and this position is hereditary). The judicial branch is made up of the highest court (which is the supreme court) and subordinate courts. In terms of political participation, there are about 12 political parties in the United Kingdom, with several pressure groups.

Parliamentary Constitutional Monarchy: The United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain (England, Scotland, Wales, and the Northern Ireland) is a parliamentary constitutional monarchy. Its capital is London. Dependent areas include; Anguilla, Bermuda, British Indian Ocean Territory, British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, Falkland Islands, Gibraltar, Montserrat, Pitcairn Islands, Saint Helena, Ascension, and Tristan da Cunha, South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands, Turks and Caicos Islands (CIA, n.d). The Legal system at the federal level is based on English common law. The executive branch is made up of the chief of state who is the president. The legislative branch is bicameral. The judicial branch consists of the US Supreme Court (which comprises 9 justices - the chief justice and 8 associate justices).

Semi-Presidential Republic: France

France is a semi-presidential republic. It is made up of 18 regions. Its capital is Paris. Dependent areas include: Clipperton Island, French Polynesia, French Southern and Antarctic Lands, New Caledonia, Saint Barthelemy, Saint Martin, Saint Pierre and Miquelon, Wallis and Futuna. France has a legal system of civil law. The executive branch of government is made up of the chief of state (who is the president) and the prime minister (who is the head of government). The legislative branch is bicameral and consists of the Senate and the National Assembly. The judicial system is made up of the highest court that is called the Court of Cassation (Cour de Cassation).