1

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Political Science

Comparative Political Analysis

Lecture – 1
Introduction and Approaches of
Comparative Politics-1
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Introduction and Approaches of Comparative Politics-1

Comparative Politics-
Introduction-
 Comparative Politics is one of the three core components of Political science, the other two being
Political theory and International Relations.
 The modern study of Comparative Politics emerged in the late nineteenth century.
 Evolved largely due to the research in US universities, the role and influence if US Academia research is
high point in the 1970s.
 Jean Blondel noted that prior to 1914 comparative politics took two forms:
✔ First until the middle of eighteenth century – main approach was normative and philosophical.
✔ Second from the middle of 18th century to 1914- legalistic and Constitutional approach.
✔ According the Blondel, Montesquieu was the link between the two phases. Montesquieu took into
account factors like climate, geography and location to explain the different consequence of
constitutional rule.

Meaning of Comparative Politics-

 Gabriel Almond defined Comparative Politics as “the study of the Political system, not as isolated cases
but through generalization and comparisons.”
 Comparative Politics is the only one which carriers a methodological instead of the substantive label.
 The content and Boundaries of comparative Politics are poorly defined, because the field is an ambiguous
compound of methods and subject areas.
 Comparative Politics Involves:
✔ A method of Study
✔ A Subject of Study
 As a method of study, it premises on comparison; as a subject of study, it focuses on understanding and
explaining political phenomenon that takes places within a study, society, country, or political system.

Nature of Comparative Politics-

✔ It is about comparing Political Phenomena, Political Institutions, Political Ideas, and Political Behaviour.
✔ Emphasis is on both the method of enquiry, i.e comparison, and on the substance (subject) i.e Political
Phenomena.
✔ Its study extends to its relationship with other social science which means it is an interdisciplinary
subject.
✔ Its methodology is not confined to analysing political phenomena but extends to examining, enquiring
and enlisting the patterns and trends of what concerns politics.
✔ Its study is both general as well as particular.

Evolution: Comparative Government to Comparative Politics-

 The change is significant, as there are number of differences between the two, which go much beyond
that of nomenclature.
 The former is described the traditional approach while the latter is viewed as the modern approach.
 The traditional approach was much narrower in scope as it was based on legal approach.
 In 1955 Roy Macarids in his book “The study of comparative government” differentiated between
Comparative Government and Comparative Politics. He pointed out that the traditional approach was:
● Non- Comparative
● Descriptive
● Parochial
● Static
● Monographic
 He also claims that the traditional approach is also excessively formalistic, historical and legalistic, and
insensitive to the theory building and theory testing.
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 In 1950s and 1960s, distinguished scholars such as Harold Laswell and Gabriel Almond, took on the task
of carrying out the establishing the field of comparative Politics.
 The criticism of traditionalism prepared the platform for shifting the domain of Comparative Politics
from Institution to process.

Approaches of Comparative Politics-

Institutional Approach-
❖ Emphasises on the formal structures and agencies of Government.
❖ The influence if history, culture, situations, circumstances, are integral components of this approach.
❖ It restricts the role of individuals, however powerful.
❖ It is based on the assumption that institutions have an autonomy and independent behaviour pattern of
their own that subordinate’s individual preference.
❖ Characterised by a preoccupation with Constitutions and Legal-formal institutions of government and
normative values of liberal democracy.

Pioneers of Institutional Approach-

❑ Lord James Bryce
✔ The American Commonwealth (1888)
✔ Modern Democracies (1921)
❑ A. Lawrence Lowell
✔ Government and parties in Continental Europe (1896)
✔ Public Opinion and Popular Government (1913) – Study of France, Germany, and Switzerland.
❑ Moisei Ostrogorski
✔ Democracy and organisation of Political Parties (1902)
❑ Harman Finer
✔ Theory and Practice of Modern Government (1932)
❑ Carl Friedrich
✔ Constitutional Government and Democracy (1968)

Limitations and Criticism of Institutional Approach-

 In the 1950, the approach came under attack from David Easton and Roy Macridis.
 Roy Macridis described the orientation of Institutional approach as non- comparative, Parochial, Static
and monographic.
 Limited in its focus to well- established Western democracies only.
 David Easton call it inadequate as it missed out the real currents of Political and Social Change, which
were often better understood by informal mechanism.

DAVID EASTON: GENERAL SYSTEMS THEORY-

The Search for a systematic interpretation of society and Polity was persuaded by David Easton in his General
System Theory.
❖ His conceptual framework was based on four assumptions:
✔ The empirical search for knowledge requires the construction of systematic theory the highest order
of generalisation.
✔ Political scientists must view the political system as a whole rather than concentrate on solutions for
particular problems. They must combine factual knowledge and empirical data.
✔ Research on the political system draws from psychological data and situational data both by
personalities and motivations of the participants and the influences emanating from the natural and
social environment.
✔ Political life is generally in a condition of disequilibrium, a counter-tendency to equilibrium, which
is never realised in practice.
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David Easton identified following attributes of political system:

1) Units and boundaries
2) Inputs and outputs
3) Differentiations within a system
4) Integration within a system

Easton’s Diagram of Political System-

❖ The units of the political system are 'political actions'.

❖ Inputs in the form of demands and supports feed the political system.
❖ Demands come from the environment or arise within the system itself.
❖ Demands become issues which are dealt through the recognised channels in the system.
❖ Outputs emerge from the political system in the form of binding decisions and policy actions.
❖ These decisions and actions are fed back into the environment by satisfying the demands of some members
of the system.
❖ They in turn, generate support for the system.
❖ Dissatisfaction may have negative results in the form of new demands on the system.

Easton, elaborated that the political system is "a set of interactions abstracted from the totality of social
behaviour, through which values are authoritatively allocated for a society.
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DAILY
CLASS NOTES
Political Science

Comparative Political Analysis

Lecture – 2
Introduction and Approaches of
Comparative Politics-2
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Introduction and Approaches of Comparative Politics-2

Political Culture Approach-
 Popular for conducting comparative studies and making empirical analysis of transitional societies.
 Investigation of Political Behavior and Processes by Political Cultures.
 It borrows its concept from Sociology and Antropology.
 It Include the study of legal- institutions, family- relation, mass behaviour, electoral system, power,
influences etc.

Advocates of Political Culture Approach-

❑ Gabriel Almond
✔ Politics of developing Area (1960)
✔ Comparative Politics – A development approach (1966)
✔ The Civic Culture: Political Attitudes and Democracy in Five Nations (1963)
✔ Comparative Politics Today: A World View (1974)
❑ Lucian Pye
✔ Political Culture and Political Development (1965)
❑ Sidney Verba
✔ Small Groups and Political Behavior: A Study of Leadership (1961)
✔ Elites and the Idea of Equality: A Comparison of Japan, Sweden, and the United States (1987)

Almonds ideas-
❑ He believed that all Political Cultures can be empirically observed and understood scientifically.
❑ Political system is a system of roles which can be empirically observed and understood scientifically.
❑ The basis of his classification and analysis of the political system is their structures and cultures.
❑ He discovered models of Political Systems, which reflect attitudes of individuals towards systems.
✔ Homogeneous culture – Britain
✔ Elite Mass Culture – India
✔ Subject Political Culture – China
✔ Parochial Culture – Uganda

Political Economy-
❖ The major idea of this approach is that the Political system functions within the economy.
❖ Weingast and Wittman say that “Political Economy is the methodology of economics applied to the
analysis of Political Behaviour and Institutions.”
❖ The framework within which state deals with economic questions and the interdependence of Politics and
economics is called Political Economy.
❑ Evolution of Political Economy
 According to Ernest Mandel – the Transformation of Europe from Feudalism to a Profit – Oriented
Economy of Buyers and Sellers led to the school of Political Economy.
 Adam smith consolidated the idea that private property should be protected and it‘s the primary
function of state. He introduced Classical Political Economy in his book “Inquiry into the Nature and
causes of the Wealth of Nation.”
 Ricardo came up with an advance theory and advocated the accumulation of capital as the basis for
economic expansion.
 Then comes the Marxist interpretation of Means of production and relation of Production.
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New Institutional Approach-

 It is a methodological approach in the study of political science, started in the United States that explores
how institutional structures, rules, norms, and cultures constrain the choices and actions of individuals
when they are part of a political institution.
 This Approach became dominant around 1980s in US.
 New institutionalism tries to combine the interests of traditionalist scholars, who focused on studying
formal institutional rules and structures, with behaviouralist scholars, who examined the actions of
individual political actors.
 It believes that studying individual political behaviour without examining institutional constraints on that
behaviour gives a skewed understanding of political reality.
 New-Institutionalism is a Post- Behavioural Approach.
 American political scientist James G. March and Norwegian political scientist Johan P. Olsen Often
considered as the two leading founders of the new institutionalism.
✔ ―The New Institutionalism: Organizational Factors in Political Life‖ (1984)
✔ Rediscovering Institutions: The Organizational Basis of Politics (1989).
✔ Democratic Governance (1995).
 There are at least three branches of neo-institutionalism:
✔ Rational choice institutionalism
✔ Sociological institutionalism
✔ Historical institutionalism.
 All strands of new institutionalism share a common critique of atomistic accounts of social Processes.
 In political science, the critical difference between behaviourism and new institutionalism is that the
focus on atomistic actors in the former is replaced (or at least modified) by a focus on institutionally
‗situated‘ actors in the latter.
 Institutions ‗are the social glue missing from the behaviourist‘s more atomistic account‘.

GABRIEL ALMOND’S STRUCTURAL FUNCTIONAL APPROACH-

 Gabriel Almond wrote an article in 1956 in which he said that system is an "inclusive concept which
covers all of the patterned actions relevant to the making of Political decisions."
 For him, system was more important than process because system implied totality,
 Interactions among units within the totality and stability in these interactions, which he described as
"changing equilibrium".
 Almond‘s work like, ―Politics of Developing Area‖ (1959) and ―Comparative Politics- a Developmental
Approach (1966) combinedly present his concept of Structure Functionalism.

Characteristics of Political System-

i) All political systems have structures.
ii) The same political functions are performed in all political systems.
iii) All political structures are multifunctional.
iv) All political systems are mixed in the cultural sense.

Evolution of Political System-

 Political systems may be represented as modern and traditional, developed and underdeveloped, industrial
and agrarian.
 Political systems have evolved through stages of development.
 Structures become more differentiated as political systems reach higher stages of growth.
 Almond divided them into primitive, traditional, transitional and modem systems.
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Diagram of Almond’s Model-

Political socialization and recruitment:

It is the process by which members are provided information about the political system. They inculcate the
values, beliefs, norms of their community towards the system. Primary socialization at home, locality and
educational institutions indoctrinate and inculcate the members with attitudes, opinions, and orientations towards
the political phenomenon.
Such political education and mobilization enable the acclimatization and eventual recruitment of new members.

Interest articulation:
As there are limited resources, there is a perpetual competition for attention. Coherent demands are placed by
various structures such as peer groups, pressure groups, interest groups, associations, etc to preserve and further
their interest.

Interest aggregation:
It is the process by which demands are translated into policies and decisions which could be acted upon.

Political communication:
It is a process by which the components of a political system such as individuals, groups, and institutions transmit
and receive information regarding the functions of the political system. Mass media and lately social media are
most suited to perform this action.

These input variables are translated into three output variables–

❖ Rule-making is done primary by legislature (may be performed by different structure depending upon
the polity)
❖ Rule application is done by executive. Executive function is to implement the laws and rules.
❖ Rule adjudication is performed by judiciary.

Behaviouralism and Related Approaches-

 Emergence of behavioural studies reflects the determination of new scholars to derive their findings on
the basis of direct or indirect observation of human behaviour.
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 It is to be regarded as a first real attempt to make political studies as a ‗science of polities‘.

 ‗Behaviour‘ is a neutral phenomenon which can be dispassionately observed by all human beings. It can
be measured and analysed empirically.
 Widely acclaimed as a great ‗revolution‘ which has transformed the goals, nature, scope, methodology,
and theoretical formulations of Political Science.

Assumptions and objectives of behaviouralism-

 Easton in his famous work A Framework for Political Analysis (1965) has said that the assumptions and
objectives of behaviouralism lay the intellectual foundation- stones for political analysis.
 Behaviouralism as a protest movement revolutionised the thought system of political science in the
nineteen forties and fifties.

According to David Easton, there are seven assumptions:

1. Regularities:
It means that observable uniformities have been found in behaviour of individuals. Though individuals
behave differently under different circumstances, uniformities can be discovered in their political behaviour.
2. Verification:
Second assumption or credo is that generalisations can be verified in reference to the behaviour. Political
behaviouralists collect data and facts about individuals‘ political behaviour and then test the conclusion drawn
by them or other Behaviouralists.
3. Techniques:
The behaviouralists collect and interpret data not in a haphazard way or indiscriminately but in a
methodological and scientific way that is by adopting improved techniques borrowing from other sciences. In
other words, the behaviouralists do not take any data or fact as granted. They adopt cautious steps so that any
mistake or misconceptions cannot crop up.
4. Quantification:
Data and facts are processed in a scientific way. But in the entire process everything is measured and
quantified.
5. Values:
In analysing political behaviour and collecting data behaviouralists cautiously proceed. They observe that
empirical judgment and value judgment are not mixed together. In earlier days, political behaviour was
associated with normative judgment—that is, everything was judged in the perspective of values and norms.
6. Systematisation:
The researcher of political behaviour must proceed in his analysis quite systematically which means that the
purpose of research is to arrive at truth or to build up general principles. All these will, in turn, supply
materials for building up a structure of theory.
Collection of data and facts, research, analysis, building up conclusions and everything else are closely
related. This is systematisation.
7. Pure Science:
The behaviouralists claim that their approach as well as conclusions is based on the principles of pure science.
Even their research conforms to the basic principles of pure science.
The behaviouralists claim that their dependence on pure science has enhanced the acceptability and prestige
of their conclusions.

Post-Behavioural Revolution-
 Post-behaviouralism is the next step or reform movement of behavioural revolution.
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 Like behaviouralism, it was again propounded by David Easton in his presidential address to the
American Political Science Association in 1969.
 It has two slogans ‗action‘ and ‗relevance‘.
 It asked behavioural political scientists to study urgent and emergent problems, attend to crises and
challenges of the contemporary society, and commit themselves to find out proper solutions.
 Behaviouralists should give up value-neutralism.
 Behaviouralist has neglected, in the name of developing a ‗pure science of polities‘, their responsibility
towards society.
 Post-behaviouralism accepted the main principles of behaviouralism but wanted to take Political Science
towards new directions – making it more responsible and more utilitarian.
 Leo Strauss and Hannah Arendt (1906-1975) are two great political thinkers of post-behavioural period.
 Post-behavioural revolution chalks out a scheme for the ‗future and in that sense it is future-oriented. The
chief objective of this approach is to provide a new direction for political science.
 Easton said: ―Post- behaviouralism seeks to propel political science in new directions…. This new
development is then a genuine revolution, not a reaction, a becoming, not a preservation, a reform and not
a counter-reformation‖
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UGC NET

DAILY
CLASS NOTES
Political Science

Comparative Political Analysis

Lecture – 3
State Theory
 2

State Theory
What is State?
 The state comprises the various institutions of government, the bureaucracy, the military, Police, Courts,
Social Security System and so forth; it can be identified with the entire “Body Politic”.
 State is an institutional representation of Common Authority.
 The State in its modern form did not emerge until about the fifteenth century.
 State has been the core area of study in political Science. Political science Begins and ends with State.
 Four Element of Nation-State:
✔ Territory
✔ Population
✔ Government
✔ Sovereignty
 Territory is a vital component of State. Territory is the geographical in which authority of a State is
confined.
 Sovereignty is the feature that distinguishes the modern State from earlier forms of Political Association.
In Medieval times, Church, nobility, and feudal guilds also exercised power and are not subordinate to
state authority.

Conflicts and Debates over the Theories of State-

❖ Debate about the nature of the state has largely focused on the model of the state found in modern
western Societies.
❖ There is a Broad agreement about the characteristics of liberal-democratic state, but there is far less
agreement about the nature of state, Power and interests that it represents.
❖ Controversy about the “Nature of the State” has, in fact, increasingly dominated modern political
theory and goes to the very heart of ideological disagreement.
❖ State is an “essentially contested concept”. There are number of rival theories of the state, each
offering a different account of its origin, development and impact.

State in Capitalist Society-

 Liberal- Capitalist Ideology is the product of the demand of private system of accumulation.
 John Locke and Adam Smith is the key proponent of Capitalist State.
Central Ideas – State is originated to serve the interest of all. It is created by a voluntary agreement among
citizens. State represents “Common good” or “Public Interest”.

Key Characteristics:
✔ State is created to Wipeout the problem, chaos, and disorder of state of nature.
✔ State is a necessary evil and hence should have limited role to play.
✔ State exists for the welfare and for facilitation of Individual. The state is a means to the end of the
Individual.
✔ A state of the capitalists promotes Trade and Commerce, advocating free trade, removing tariff walls and
encouraging competition.
✔ Subject relating to the development of human personality such as morals, culture, economy, religion,
ethos, literature etc are out of bound for the state.

Changing Nature of State Capitalist State-

 The state in the liberal- individualistic perspective, is moved from its negative characters to positive and
from its positive institutions to the welfare one, it is a reform-oriented institution.
 The liberals are not traditionalist to the point of conservatives, but they are also not rational to find the
State Fresh.
 They do realise the need of reform to be made effective as and when required, they in this sense, they
favour changes, incremental changes as suit the changing times.
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State in Socialist Society-

 State cannot be understood separate from the economic structure of society.
 State emerges out of the class system.
 State emerges for the exploitation of lower class by upper and dominant class.
 State is an instrument of Oppression.
 State is formed for the facilitation of Capitalist.

Characteristics of Socialist State-

 The socialist economies are those economies where there is the social ownership of the means of
production.
 Production is done through planning, resources are owned by the society, social production is distributed
equitably.
 Such society either replaces the capitalist societies through social ownership of all enterprises or come up
through revolutionary overthrow of the capitalist‟s mode of production.
 The official communist ideology is the political ideology that operates in the state.
 Democratic Centralism is followed in the party and in the government, at all units, the officials are
elected periodically (so democratic) but each lower unit follows the dictates from the higher unit (so
centralized)
 Bureaucratisation is evident – both that of the party and that of the government.
 The party elite and state elite exist side by side, though the state elite are eclipsed by the party elite.

Changing Nature of Socialist State-

The Socialist State of the Marxism type did make massive economic and technological developments in their
respective society. But such system had to yield to pressures of liberalization as time passed on.
1. State Planning to Liberalization-
✔ Socialist State diluted their key principle of state controlled and planned production to liberalization.
✔ Mikhail Gorbachev with his policies of glasnost (openness/ transparency).
✔ The communist regime either in former USSR or china introduced market norms to liberalize the
economy.
2. State Abolition to Powerful State-
✔ According to Marx, the socialist state will create the condition for classless society and then finally
result into a stateless society.
✔ But in Socialist countries, the proletariat class became elite and converted into socialist bourgeois.
✔ So, the new socialist state does not abolish class antagonism.

POST COLONIAL THEORY OF STATE-

Post Colonial States-
● During Seventeenth Century the Western European nations achieve modernization through
Industrialization, Urbanization, scientific discoveries and inventions. In search of cheap raw materials,
labour and areas of operation they found countries of Africa Asia and Latin America as prey and took
advantage of their resources and Labour force. They exploited it through establishing their political
domination and project their culture as superior to the native country as they propagated the idea that
Europe was Centre of all Progress and Modernity.
● Therefore, the States that gained their independence from colonial domination and emerged out from the
process of decolonization and aspire to develop themselves into strong nations are termed as Post
Colonial States.
● In Post Colonial States, the political system range from an established democracy in India to a semi
democracy in Mexico, to a party State in China.
● The idea of Secularism prevails in countries like India and South Africa while Theocracy prevails in
Saudi Arabia, Iran, Israel, Pakistan and Bangladesh.
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Post Colonial Theory-

● It focuses on the reading and writing of literature written in colonialized countries and this literature is
composed of colonizing countries that deals with colonialization and colonized peoples.
● It refers to the theoretical and critical observations of former colonies of the western powers and how they
relate to and interact with, the rest of the world.
● It is greatly interested in cultures of the colonialized and seeks to critically investigate what happens
when two cultures clash and one of them ideologically fashions itself as superior and assumes domination
and control over the other.
● Basically, this theory held that decolonialized people develop a post colonial identity that is based on
cultural interactions between different identities such as cultural, national and ethnic which are assigned
varying degrees of social power by the Colonial Society.
● It deals with the effects of colonialization on Cultures and Societies and those societies‟ responses. It is
concerned with both how European nations captured and controlled the third world cultures and how
these countries have resisted.
● Post Colonialism as a theory and as a study of Political and Cultural change go through three broad stages
which are as follows-
1. An initial awareness of the Social, Psychological and Cultural inferiority enforced by being in a
Colonialized State.
2. The struggle for ethnic, cultural and political autonomy.
3. Agonizing awareness of cultural overall and hybridity.
● The Study of Post Colonial theory about the controlling power of representation in colonialized societies
began in the 1950 with the work of Frantz Fanon and reached a climax in the late 1970‟s with Edward
Said's Orientalism which led to the development of the colonialist discourse theory in the work of critics
such as Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak and Homi Bhabha.
● The term “post colonial” was first used in the literary work by The Empire Writes Back in 1989 to refer to
cultural interactions within a Colonial Society.
● This theory also accompanies the rise of Globalization theory in 1990‟s which used the language of Post
Colonial Theory in studies of Cultural Globalization in Particular.

Major Thinkers and their Concepts-

FRANTZ FANON-
● He analysed and medically described Colonialism as essentially destructive in nature.
● He held that the societal effects of the imposition of a subjugating colonial identity are very harmful to
the mental health of the native people who were subjugated in colonies.
● He wrote that essence of Colonialism is the “denial of all attributes of humanity” of the colonialized
people by physical and mental violence.
● Therefore, he held that natives must resist colonial Subjugation violently if required as it will restore their
self respect.
● Hence, he actively participated in Algerian Revolution for Independence from France.

Major Book–
● The Wretched of the Earth published in 1961.

EDWARD SAID-
● He is considered as “the originator and inspiring patron saint of post colonial theory and discourse", due
his interpretation of the theory of Orientalism.
● His theory of Orientalism held that the Cultural representation generated with us – and - they are socially
constructed.
● They are mutually constitutive and cannot exist independent of each other because each exists on account
of and for the other.
● He held that „the West‟ created the cultural concept of „the East‟ and allowed the Europeans to suppress
the people of the Middle East, Indian Subcontinent and Asia from expressing and representing themselves
as discrete peoples and cultures.
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● Orientalism, thus, reduced the Non- Western world into the homogeneous cultural identity known as the
East which was inferior, backward, irrational and wild as opposed to a Western Europe that was superior,
progressive, rational and civil.

Major Books-
● Orientalism published in 1978
● The Question Of Palestine published in 1979
● Culture and Imperialism published in 1993
● Representation of the Intellectuals published in 1994

GAYATRI CHAKRAVORTY SPIVAK-

● She cautioned against assigning an over broad connotation to the term Subaltern and held that everything
that has limited or no access to the cultural imperialism is Subaltern in post colonial terms.
● She also introduced the terms Essentialism and Strategic Essentialism to describe social functions of Post
Colonialism.
● The difference between the two is that Strategic Essentialism does not ignore the diversity of culture and
ethnic identity in a social group and practically it minimizes inter – group diversity to support the
essential group identity.

Major Books-
● Three Women’s Texts and A critique of Imperialism.
● Can the Subaltern Speak? Published in 1980‟a.
● Critique of Post Colonial Reason: Towards a History of the Vanishing Present published in 1999.

HOMI K. BHABHA-
● He argued that viewing the human world as composed of separate and unequal cultures, rather than as an
integral human world perpetuates the belief in the existence of imaginary peoples and places like the First
World, the Second World and the Third World.

Major Books-
● Nation and Nationalization published in 1990
● The location of Culture published in 1994.

R. SIVA KUMAR-
● He introduction the term Contextual Modernism which emerged as a post colonial critical tool in the
understanding of Indian Art.
● This was marked as the departure from Eurocentric Unilateral idea of Modernism to alternative context of
sensitive modernism as Contextual Modernism is more suited than Colonial Modernity.

WELFARE STATE-
● A Welfare State is State whose government protects and promotes the economic and social well being of
the citizens, based upon the principles of equal opportunity, equitable distribution of wealth for citizens
who are unable to avail themselves of the minimal provisions for a good life.
● The Social policies of a Welfare State aim to provide basic services and social security to the
disadvantaged or the weaker sections of Society.
● It maintains essential services and reconciles the different interests in society and reduces the gap
between the rich and the poor.
● A Welfare State safeguards the liberty of its citizens, regulates a free market economy, mobilizes
necessary resources to provide for the supply of essential goods and services (like food, clothing, shelter,
healthcare, elementary education, etc).
● Basically, a welfare State is concerned with all aspects of welfare of its citizens apart from the
maintenance of law and order.
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● The idea of Welfare State is promoted through the concept of Positive Liberalism which advocates for the
positive role of the State in securing welfare of its citizens, particularly of the vulnerable sections of
Society.
● A Welfare State seeks to advocate the interests of the individual with that of the Society.

The main principles of the Welfare State are as follows-

1. Recognizing Human Being as a member of community who is entitled to a minimum standard of living.
2. Its policy of economic stability and progress seeks to eliminate the cycles of economic instability and
decline.
3. It is committed to provide full employment and keep it as the top priorities of the public policy.
4. It provides a minimum standard of living guaranteed by Social Security.
5. Therefore, A Welfare State provides the means so that its members can reach minimum standard of
health, economy and civilized living.
6. In a Welfare State a progressive pattern of Society is generally envisioned which encompasses various
stages like a Laissez Faire State, Totalitarian State, Police State, Social Service State, Social State and a
Communist State.
7. Hence, it functions range from the maintenance of law and order to the protection from Foreign Invasion,
Liberty of individuals to be secured, nationalization and nation building programmes, etc.
8. A Welfare State is committed to the ideals of Justice, Liberty, Fraternity, Equality of Law and Equal
protection of law.

A Welfare State possess all or some of the following characteristics as mentioned below-
1. It embraces schemes of social security against normal risks and hazards of life such as accidents,
sickness, unemployment, old age, etc.
2. It has provisions for free services by the State such as free primary education, free medical aid, etc.
3. It maintains employment for the working force of the country.
4. It provides a fair degree of equality of income and opportunity for all citizens based on redistribution of
taxes and beneficence of public expenditure.
5. It opts for the public ownership utility services and basic industries.

● Therefore, A Welfare State is identified with the improvement of the conditions of life physically,
mentally, emotionally, economically, politically and socially of the individuals in a Society.

Origin of the Concept of Welfare State -

● The German “Welfare budget of 1909”.
● In Unite States by the Americans conservatives in Roosevelt Regimes used the welfare measures in „New
Deal‟, such as National Assurance, National Insurance, National Health Services, etc.
● The ideas of Liberty, Equality and Fraternity from the French Revolution.
● The idea of the greatest happiness of the greatest number by Utilitarianism.
● The ideas of Social insurance and social security by Bismarck.
● The idea of public ownership by Fabian Socialists.
● However, the Great Britain became the foremost pioneer of welfare State measures in its efforts to solve
its practical problems.

A Welfare State comprises of the Unique Features which are as follows-

1. A Welfare State is a Positive State
● A Welfare State is not a necessary evil but a desirable institution promoting positive good.
● It held that the State could best promote the general welfare by a positive exercise of its powers by
serving the common interests of the people.
2. A Welfare State is Democratic
● A Welfare State possesses a certain formal institutional mechanism which is considered essential in a
liberal democratic society.
● A Welfare State must provide a democratic institutional framework for political and civil liberties.
 7

● Therefore, countries like the former Soviet Union, China, Erstwhile East European Countries, and
Fascist Germany were excluded from the category of a Welfare State.
3. A Welfare State believes in a Mixed Economy-
● It believes that unrestricted operation of the market (the laissez faire Capitalist economy) is not
suitable for the individual as it led to poverty, ignorance, illiteracy, etc as well as for the economy
because it leads to depression, crises, inefficiency.
● Therefore, A Welfare State believes that economic insecurities that are caused by inadequate
compensation and disability due to physical or mental health and unemployment can be overcome by
combining planning with the market economy popularly known Managed Economy or Mixed
Economy.
4. A Welfare State is a Permanent Institution of Society and a Neutral Agency-
● Positive liberalism held that a Welfare State is an eternal and a permanent institution of Society
which is democratic in form.
● It seeks to provide welfare of the citizens, evolved from the Laissez Faire State by a process of
increased interference in various levels of the market economy and gradually regulating the power of
capital.
● It used its Political power to assure a certain standard of welfare to the citizens without discrimination
to the society as a whole.
● T.H. Marshall, a British Sociologist identified a modern welfare State as a distinctive combination of
democracy, welfare and capitalism which encompasses access to social, political and civil rights.

Examples of Welfare State-

● Germany
● Netherlands
● France
● Uruguay
● New Zealand
● United Kingdom
● Norway
● Finland
● Denmark
● Sweden

The concept of Welfare State in India-

● The Indian Constitution upheld the concept of a welfare State as depicted in the form of Fundamental
Rights and Directive Principles of State Policy.
● The Fundamental rights guarantee political equality while the Directive Principles of State Policy is
responsible for socio – economic equality.
● For example –
● Article 16(4) - Provides Equality of opportunity in matter of public employment.
● Article 21 A – Right to free and compulsory Elementary Education.
● Article 38 – It authorizes the State to secure a social order for the promotion of the welfare of the
people.
● Article 39 A – Equal Justice and Free Legal Aid.
● Article 43 B – Promotion of Cooperative Societies.
● India has achieved food security by the Green and White Revolution for its citizens and working on
Nutritional Security.
● Means of livelihood is provided through various government schemes such as MGNREGA,
Ayushman Bharat, Jal Jeevan Mission, Startup India, Reservations for Marginalized sections of
Society.
 8

GLOBALIZATION AND THE NATION STATES-

Globalization-
● Globalization is the process of interaction and integration among people, companies and governments
worldwide. This process is multidimensional and has grown due to advances in transportation and
communication technology with the increased global interactions in terms of trade, ideas and culture.
● It was primarily referred to as expansion of economic activities like trade movement of capital, goods and
labour beyond borders but ultimately it also has socio- political impact as these activities affect the
domestic and international economy as well as the national and international politics.
● It envisages a borderless world and seeks world as a Global Village by accelerating flow of goods,
people, capital, information and energy across borders, often enabled by technological development
● Globalization is a complex, elusive and a controversial term as it has been used to refer to a process, a
policy, a marketing strategy and even an ideology.
● Therefore, a distinction is made between Globalization as a process or set of processes which sought to
highlight the dynamics of transformation or change.
Globality as a condition which indicates set of circumstances that globalization has produced and
Globalism that refer to the ideology of Globalization process.
● Thus, Globalization is the „widening, intensifying, speeding up , and growing impact of world wide inter
– connectedness‟.
● This interconnectedness is multidimensional and operates through distinctive economic, cultural and
political process.
● Basically, it is the emergence of a complex web of interconnectedness that implies that geographical
distance and territorial boundaries such as those between nation – states are of declining relevance.
● But it does not imply that „the local‟ and „the nations‟ are subordinate to „the global‟ rather it deepens the
political process in the sense that local, national and global events constantly interact with one another.

The most significant distinctive forms of globalization are as follows -

1. Economic Globalization
2. Cultural Globalization
3. Political Globalization

Economic Globalization -
● It is refer to the increasing economic interdependence of national economies across the world through a
massive increase in cross border movement of goods, services, technology and capital leading to the
emergence of a global market place or a single world market.
● It is also reflected in the idea that national economies is to be absorbed into an interlocking global
economy in which the production is internationalized and financial capital flows freely and instantly
between countries.
● Presently, trends in globalization is accounted for by developed economies integrating with less
developed economies by means of foreign direct investment, the reduction of trade barriers as well as
other economic reforms.

Cultural Globalization -
● It is associated with the transmission of ideas, meaning and values to intensify social relations marked by
the common consumption of cultures, information and commodities into a global flow to minimize the
cultural differences between the nations, regions and individuals by the internet, social media and
international travel.
● It involves the formation of shared norms and knowledge with which people associate their individual
and collective cultural identities and increasing interconnectedness between different population and
cultures.
 9

Political Globalization -
● It is referred to the growth of the world wide political system both in size and complexity which includes
national governments as well as elements of global civil society such as International Non Governmental
Organizations and Social Movement Organizations.
● One of the key aspects of Political Globalization is the rise of the non political actors in International
Arena and the decline of Nation-State. For example, United Nations, NATO, European Union, World
Bank, International Monetary Fund, World Trade Organization, etc.

Nation – State-
● A Nation State is an autonomous political community that is bound together by the overlapping bonds of
citizenship and nationality, meaning that their political and cultural identity coincides.
● Therefore, Nation States reflect Mazzini's goal “every nation a state, only one state for the entire nation’.
● The Nation is accepted as the basic unit of political rule and is more a political ideal than a reality, as all
states are to some extent culturally and ethnically heterogeneous.
● Basically, it is a State in which a great majority shares the same culture and is conscious of it as its
cultural boundaries are in consonance with its political boundaries.
● It is essentially a cultural or ethnic entity whose people are bound together primarily by shared
citizenship, regardless of their, cultural, ethnic or other loyalties.
● It is the concept of Sovereignty that has been a key idea in the evolution of the all powerful nation states
as it authorizes them to exercise supreme authority to maintain order within their territory.

Impact of Globalization on Nation – States-

● Globalization has cost Nation States in both positive and negative ways.
● It sought to help the government of developing Nation States to deal with the problems of economic
growth, solving the poverty problems, etc by economic Integration.
● Development of Nation States and its functioning as result of the free flow of political ideas.
● The Government of various nation states takes policy initiatives in the field of health, education,
environment and information technology are the direct result of Globalization. For example, recently in
India, the verdict on the rights of the LGBTQ community is the perfect example of the changing role of
the State in influence of the international scenario.
● But , Moreover the free movement of capital, goods and Labour, free flow of communication across state
boundaries have given a severe blow to the concept of State sovereignty and raised the questions about
the supremacy of the notion of Sovereignty of the Nation States.
● With the increasing role of non state actors like the Multi National Corporations , Non Governmental
Organizations and the International Organizations, the powerful role of the Nation States is no longer in a
position to exert its strong control over the economic, social and administrative activities.
● The power of Nation States has been reduced in terms of control over the course of international trade
and communication flow because of Globalization as it is based on the concept of trade without barriers.
Therefore, making the world small with much smaller role of states.
● Globalization is also responsible for growing menace of International Terrorism as well as the Internal
Terrorism within the territories of Nation States and spreading cross border organised crimes.
● Spread of diseases world wide to various nation States such as SARS, Covid 19, etc.
● Globalization gave rise to maximize role of the United Nations, World Trade Organization, International
Monetary Fund, World Bank and other International bodies which prefers the voice of strong Nation
States than that of the weaker or less developed Nation States creating economic disparity between
Nation States and also compromising the welfare of the people belonging to them.
 1

UGC NET

DAILY
CLASS NOTES
Political Science

Comparative Political Analysis

Lecture – 4
Political Regimes
 2

Political Regimes
Political Regimes-
Democratic Regimes (Electoral, Liberal, Majoritarian and Participatory) and
Non-democratic regimes (Patrimonialism, Bureaucratic authoritarianism, Military dictatorship,
Totalitarianism, and fascist)

Democratic regimes-
● Meaning – The word ‗democracy‘ originates from two Greek words ‗demos‘ meaning people and ‗kratia‘
meaning rule. Thus, in literal sense, the meaning of democracy is ‗rule of the people‘.
● According to Abraham Lincoln – ‗it is the govt. of the people, by the people and for the people.‘
● A.V Dicey – ―it is a form of govt. in which the governing body is comparatively a large faction of the
entire nation‖
● Lord James Bryce – ‗The word democracy has been used to denote that form of govt. in which the ruling
power of a state is largely vested not in a particular class or classes, but in the members of community as
a whole.‖
● David Held – ―I believe that the most defensible and attractive form of democracy is one in which
citizens can participate in decision-making in a wide array of spheres.‖
● The initial form of democracy included the free and adult males of the city states directly involved in the
deliberation and subsequent decision making on various political and public affairs. This form of
democratic governance was called as the purest form or direct form of democracy.
● However, sooner or later, with the society becoming complex and geographically and population wise
bigger in size, the direct form of democracy was no longer feasible and practical.
● Thus, a new form of democratic governance emerged post Glorious Revolution in England (1688),
American Declaration of Independence (1776) and French Revolution (1789), called as the indirect form
of democracy or the representative form of democracy in which the will of the public is expressed
through the medium of delegates or representatives chosen to act for them.
● Thus, John Stuart Mill calls it ‗representative form of govt.‘ and Henry Maine has called it a ‗popular
govt.‘
● Participation and elections, two very fundamental premises of democracy, give the people at large the
instruments to determine the major policy guidelines and choose their representatives accordingly; and
enable to evaluate/judge, and on the basis of performance of their representatives, decide whether to vote
for them or not in the general elections.
● Though in some countries like in Switzerland, the devices of direct democracy are still used such as
initiative and referendum and in US, another device of democracy i.e. recall can be used by people to
recall or call back their elected governor. Brexit too was a referendum.
● The four devices of direct democracy are Referendum, Initiative, Recall and Plebiscite.
a) Referendum is a procedure whereby a proposed legislation is referred to the electorate for settlement
by their direct votes.
b) Initiative is a method by means of which the people can propose a bill to the legislature for
enactment.
c) Recall is a method by means of which the voters can remove a representative or an officer before the
expiry of his term, when he fails to discharge his duties properly.
d) Plebiscite is a method of obtaining the opinions of people on any issue of public importance. It is
generally used to solve the territorial disputes.
● In a democratic society:
I. Individuals are assumed to be free.
II. Clearly defined and demarcated ―limitations‖ and ―responsibilities‖ are the two key features
to recount the essence of a democratic regime.
III. Limitations, both procedural (the way the political power is exercised) and substantial (rights,
liberties, various structures etc.) serve as checks on the powers and authority of the state.
While limitations negate the state to interfere in the activities of the individuals,
 3

responsibility demands certain definite and positive actions on the part of the state and its
involvement in various activities with a view to further individuals‘ well-being.
IV. All democratic regimes have a Constitution— short or detailed, written or conventions-based.
The Constitution establishes in various ways the responsibility and accountability of the
public functionaries to the citizens i.e. it lays down the functions, powers and responsibilities
of organs of the state (legislature, executive and judiciary) and sometimes other
administrative authorities as well.

● In terms of operations, the democracy is either direct or indirect, but in respect of its nature, it has many
forms such as Liberal Democracy, Electoral, Social, Majoritarian, participatory etc.
● Salient features of Liberal Democracy:
i. Based on the principal of limited govt.
ii. Representative form of democracy.
iii. Focus on individual liberty and rights with less interference from the State.
iv. Govt. is a necessary evil i.e. there is a risk of it becoming tyrannical and henceforth supports
various methods of checks and balances to constraint/limit govt. such as constitution, rule of law,
independent judiciary, separation of powers etc.
v. Typically co-exist with the capitalist economic order.
vi. Based on rule of law.
vii. Presence of a robust and critical civil society.
viii. Multi party political system and presence of number of interests and pressures groups. Robert
Dahl prefers to call it ‗polyarchy‘.
ix. Free and fair elections – Popular consent i.e. respects the principle of political equality.
x. Provides devices to ensure accountability of representative by the people.
xi. A blend of elite rule with popular participation.
xii. Political pluralism, open competition between political philosophies, social movements, political
parties etc. constitute the essence of liberal democracy etc.
● Salient Features of Radical or Social Democracy:
i. The mechanism of workings of democracy is same as that of liberal democracy but the emphasis
is more on the interests of the society than of the individual.
ii. People have the right to vote but reasonable restrictions are put onto the economic freedom of the
individuals to eliminate the evils of poverty and exploitation at the societal level.
iii. It desires to establish a ‗welfare state‘ with greater role of the State in development of the society
and its people.
● Salient Features of Presidential form and Parliamentary form of democracy:
The nature of executive in a democracy can be either a presidential or parliamentary or it may be a
combination of the two.

In the Presidential types of democracy,

▪ The president is the head of the state as well as the government.
▪ The Constitution of the US (the most notable example of Presidential system of democracy),
mentions the President of USA as the Commander-in-chief, foreign policy negotiator, manager-
in-Chief, party leader, spokesman of the public interest, and broker of ideas and policies in the
civil society.
▪ The President heads the executive branch within his own office, and is arranged by a personal
staff, the White office.
▪ Total separation of powers between the three organs of the State.

In a parliamentary form of democracy,

▪ Legislature enjoys supreme power to make laws, control the finances, and make appointment and
dismissal of the head of the government (Prime Minister and his Ministers).
▪ However, in practice, the cabinet, and the PM (and bureaucratic agencies) have emerged as quasi
–independent policy making bodies.
 4

▪ There is presence of nominal and real executives

▪ Majority party rule
▪ Collective responsibility of executive to legislature and membership of executives to the
legislature.
▪ The parliamentary regime is cabinet government, whereby the leadership of the majority and its
leader (Prime Minister) commands supreme political power.
▪ The cabinet has acquired the totality of the executive power.

Note: The nature and patterns of political regime in France (Fifth Republic, 1958) can be described as semi-
presidential and semi parliamentary regime. The French president holds the supreme executive power in reality.
Also, there is a cabinet led by him who conducts the policy of the nation and is responsible for it before the
parliament.
● Electoral democracy – type of representative democracy based on election, on electoral vote,
as modern occidental or liberal democracies.
● Participatory democracy – involves more citizen participation in decision making and offers greater
political representation than traditional representative democracy, e.g., wider control of proxies given to
representatives by those who get directly involved and participate.
● Majoritarian form of democracy – it involves a form of democracy which is based on majority rule of the
society and is criticized for excluding the voice of the minority. This form of democracy has the inherent
danger of turning into ‗tyranny of the majority‘ and therefore a consensus democracy was developed in
response that emphasizes rule by as many people as possible to make government inclusive, with a
majority of support from society merely being a minimal threshold.

● Samuel Huntington‘s Three waves of Democracy –

▪ In his book, The Third Wave: Democratisation in the late Twentieth Century 1991, S.P Huntington has
talked about the three waves in the world that democratized the different types of countries in the world
i.e. it led to the popularization of features of democracy in different parts of the world in three
waves/stages.
▪ Democratization waves have been linked to sudden shifts in the distribution of power among the great
powers, which creates openings and incentives to introduce sweeping domestic reforms.
▪ In his 1991 book The Third Wave, Huntington defined a democratic wave as "a group of transitions from
nondemocratic to democratic regimes that occur within a specified period of time and that significantly
outnumber transitions in the opposite directions during that period of time.‖
▪ Huntington describes three waves: the first "slow" wave of the 19th century, a second wave after World
War II, and a third wave beginning in the mid-1970s in South Europe, followed by Latin America and
Asia.

First wave:
The First wave of democracy, 1828–1926 began in the early 19th century when suffrage was granted to the
majority of white males in the United States .Then came France, Britain, Canada, Australia, Italy and Argentina,
and a few others before 1900. At its peak, after the breakup of the Russian, German, Austrian and Ottoman
empires in 1918, the first wave saw 29 democracies in the world i.e. post WW1. Reversal began in 1922,
when Benito Mussolini rose to power in Italy. The collapse primarily hit newly formed democracies, which could
not stand against the aggressions rise of expansionist communist, fascist and militaristic authoritarian or
totalitarian movements which systematically rejected democracy. The lowest point of the first wave came in
1942, when the number of democracies in the world dropped to a mere 12.

Second wave:
The Second wave began following the Allied victory in World War II, and crested nearly 20 years later in 1962
with 36 recognized democracies in the world. The Second wave ebbed as well at this point, and the total number
dropped to 30 democracies between 1962 and the mid-1970s. But the "flat line" would not last for long, as the
third wave was about to surge in a way no one had ever seen. Note: India is part of second wave.
 5

Third wave
The Third wave began in 1974 (Carnation Revolution, Portugal) and included the historic democratic transitions
in Latin America in the 1980s, Asia Pacific countries (Philippines, South Korea, and Taiwan) from 1986 to 1988,
Eastern Europe after the collapse of the Soviet Union, and sub-Saharan Africa beginning in 1989.
In Latin America only Colombia, Costa Rica, and Venezuela were democratic by 1978 and only Cuba and Haiti
remained authoritarian by 1995, when the wave had swept across twenty countries.
Huntington points out that three-fourths of the new democracies were Roman Catholics. Most Protestant countries
already were democratic. He emphasizes the Vatican Council of 1962, which turned the Catholic Church from
defenders of the old established order into an opponent of totalitarianism.

Non-Democratic Regimes-
Totalitarian regimes–
● The essence of totalitarian regimes lies in the ideology.
● General public is tightly organised in the name of the ideology, with the goal of disseminating it and
imposing it.
● All totalitarian regimes are based on the single-party system usually led by an all powerful leader.
● A monopoly on the means of mass communication and armed forces.
● State control over all aspects of economic life.
● The totalitarian regimes can be classified as the communist totalitarian regimes like erstwhile Soviet
Union, and other Eastern European countries and the Balkans (except Greece), Cuba, Vietnam, Mongolia,
Ethiopia, Angola and Mozambique, Nicaragua, etc. and the non-communist totalitarian regimes like Nazi
Germany and Fascist Italy.
● Totalitarian and authoritarian regimes share many common characteristics.
● In both authoritarian and totalitarian regimes political power is concentrated.
● The command structure has no limitations or accountability.
● There is no respect of rule of law. It keeps on changing as per the whims and fancies of the totalitarian.
● Very little or no attention is paid to the individual rights.
● Various methods are used to subordinate and control interests and interests association, utilization of
force (police and other paramilitary force) to ensure the control of public media.
● In totalitarian regimes the leadership develops new institutions to bring societal forces under their control
like economy, the family, churches, universities and schools, and other cultural associations.

Authoritarian Regimes–
● Nearly half of the political regimes in the world are based on authoritarianism. They can be classified as
personal regimes (Saudi Arabia), single-party regimes or outright personal tyrannies, states, and
bureaucratic and military regimes.
● Centralised control and repressive mechanisms to control public and dissidents.
● The military is highly significant and influential in such states.
● Govt. is not constitutionally responsible to people.
● Public has no or very little role in selecting a leader.
● Individual freedom is restricted.
● Rights especially political rights are either non-existent or nominal.
● Authoritarian regimes may be institutionalized or legitimate.
● There is normally absence of any ideology to mobilize the masses.
● Creation of critical opinions and establishment of interest and pressure groups or civil society is
discouraged.
● Types of the Authoritarian Regimes - There are four types of authoritarian regimes: (A) Tyrannies, (B)
Dynastic regimes, (C) Military regimes, and (D) Single-party regimes.

Patrimonialism–
● It is a form of political organization in which authority is based primarily on the personal power exercised
by a ruler, either directly or indirectly i.e. all the power flows directly from the leader.
● Although the ruler‘s authority is extensive, he is not viewed as a tyrant.
 6

● The ruler may act alone or with the help of a powerful elite group or oligarchy.
● For instance, the leadership of the contemporary Roman Catholic Church remains patrimonial.
● Direct rule involves the ruler and a few key members of the ruler‘s household or staff maintaining
personal control over every aspect of governance. If rule is indirect, there may be
an intellectual or moral elite of priests or officeholders as well as a military.
● The ruler is generally recognized as the chief landholder and, in the extreme case, as the owner of all the
land in the kingdom or state.
● The legal authority of the ruler is largely unchallenged; there is no recognized body of case law or formal
law, though there may be notions of etiquette and honour.
● The very essence of patrimonialism consists in the idea that "the whole government authority and the
economic rights which correspond to it, tend to be treated as privately appropriated economic
advantages".
● These regimes are autocratic or oligarchic and exclude the lower, middle and upper classes from power.
● The leaders of these countries typically enjoy absolute personal power. Usually, the armies of these
countries are loyal to the leader, not the nation.

Military dictatorship–
● It is form of political organisation where the military exerts complete or substantial control over the
political authority and institutions.
● The dictator is most often the high rank defence official.
● It is a subtype to authoritarian regime.
● Most military dictatorships are formed after a coup d'état i.e. forcible removal of an existing government
from power through violent means. has overthrown the previous government.
● Military rule can be either direct or indirect through military control, arbitration and veto.
● Indirect military control ranging from arbitration to army veto is prevalent in some pseudo-democratic
countries where despite the constitution, regular elections, democratic power structures, and other
democratic processes, the military dictator controls and influences the decision-making process.
● In this category of political regimes can be mentioned countries like Argentina, Pakistan, Brazil, Peru,
Bolivia, Uruguay, Guatemala, Colombia etc.

Bureaucratic Authoritarianism–
● A powerful group of technocrats uses the state apparatus to try to rationalize and develop the economy"
such as South Korea under Park Chung-hee.
● The concept of bureaucratic authoritarianism arose from the study of major episodes of authoritarianism
in South America between the 1960s and the 1980s such as Brazil, Chile, Argentina, Uruguay etc.
● It was generally led by the military as an institution, in contrast to the personalistic rule of individual
officers. Rotation in the presidency among military leaders was common, though not universal, trait.
● This form of rule has been interpreted as distinctively bureaucratic because national leadership was
dominated by individuals who had risen to prominence not through political careers but through
bureaucratic careers in large public and private organizations, including international agencies and
transnational corporations.
● Decision-making styles among these leaders were commonly technocratic.
● This bureaucratic, technocratic orientation was generally accompanied by intense repression, which in
most of the cases reached levels unprecedented in the region.
● Repression was unleashed against the labor movement, political parties associated with labor, and other
social sectors whose prior mobilization had seemed to threaten the existing political and economic
system.
● The phenomenon of bureaucratic authoritarianism commanded wide analytic interest, in part because its
emergence seemed to contradict the hypothesis that socioeconomic modernization might be supportive of
democracy as ln terms of per capita indicators, Argentina, Chile, and Uruguay were among the most
modernized countries in Latin America.
 7

● This form of organisation is understood as a form of bureaucratic and technocratic military rule that seeks
to curtail popular mobilization and is built on political collation and policy orientation that entails string
ties to international economic actors. It is different from fascism which is mobilizational and nationalistic.

Fascism–
● Fascism is a form of far-right, authoritarian ultra-nationalism characterized by dictatorial power, forcible
suppression of opposition, as well as strong regimentation of society and of the economy which came to
prominence in early 20th-century Europe.
● The first fascist movements emerged in Italy during World War I.
● Glorification of one man, leader, or an ideology.
● Extreme militaristic nationalism
● Contempt for electoral democracy and political and cultural liberalism.
● A belief in natural social hierarchy
● Rule of elites
● The desire to create a Volksgemeinschaft (German: ―people‘s community‖), in which individual interests
would be subordinated to the good of the nation.
● Extreme form of statism that was based upon unquestioning respect and absolute loyalty towards a
'totalitarian' state.
● The main authority meaning of Fascism originates from Benito Mussolini, the organizer of fascism, in
which he traces three standards of a rightist theory:‖ Everything in the state‖, ―Nothing outside the state‖
and ―Nothing against the state‖
● Opposition to Marxism.
● Opposition to Parliamentary democracy.
● Supports corporatism - The fascist economic theory corporatism called for organizing each of the major
sectors of industry, agriculture, the professions, and the arts into state- or management-controlled trade
unions and employer associations, or ―corporations,‖ each of which would negotiate labour contracts and
working conditions and represent the general interests of their professions in a larger assembly of
corporations, or ―corporatist parliament.‖ Corporatist institutions would replace all independent
organizations of workers and employers, and the corporatist parliament would replace, or at least exist
alongside, traditional representative and legislative bodies.

Important Books:
● Robert Dahl - "On Democracy" (1998) -It clarifies what democracy is, why it is valuable, how it works,
and what challenges it confronts in the future.
● Robert Dahl - "Democracy and its Critics" (1989)
● Larry Diamond - "Developing Democracy‖ (1999)- It sets forth a distinctive theoretical perspective on
democratic evolution and consolidation in the late twentieth century.
● S.P Huntington- "The Third Wave- Democratization in late Twentieth-century"- (1991)- he has explained
the global expansion of Democracy in the form of Waves.
● C.B Macpherson - "The Real-world of Democracy" (1965)
● The Origins of Totalitarianism- by Hannah Arendt (1951) - she describes and analyzes Nazism and
Stalinism as the major totalitarian political movements of the first half of the 20th century.
● Escape from Freedom -by Erich Fromm (1941) related to authoritarianism.
● The Anatomy of Fascism -by Robert O. Paxton (2004)
● Did Somebody Say Totalitarianism? -by Slavoj Žižek (2001)
● The Open Society and Its Enemies - by Karl Popper (1945)
 1

UGC NET

DAILY
CLASS NOTES
Political Science

Comparative Political Analysis

Lecture – 5
Key Features of Major Constitutions-1
 2

Key Features of Major Constitutions-1

Constitutions and Constitutionalism-
Key Features of Major Constitutions-

Introduction:
● Constitutionalism is a modern concept that promotes a political order governed by laws and regulations.
● It stands for rule of law i.e. supremacy of the law and not rule of individual.
● Constitutionalism imbibes the principles of nationalism, democracy, and limited government.
● It may be identified with the system of ‘divided power’ i.e. separation of power.
● Carl Friedrich says ‘Constitutionalism by diving power provides a system of effective restraints upon
governmental action. It is body of rules ensuring fair play, thus rendering the govt. responsible.’
● Constitutionalism thus stands for the existence of a constitution in a State that promotes rule of law and/or
fundamental law of the land that sets limit to arbitrary actions of the govt., guarantees rights to the
governed i.e. the people and define the operations of the sovereign power.
● A Constitution can be either written or an unwritten document.

Written Constitution Unwritten Constitution

1. Refers to a systematically codified and 1. It refers to rules and regulations governing a State, not
structured document containing written codified/written in a document, and is based on
rules and regulations for governance of a conventions, customs and traditions.
nation.
2. Constitution is mostly rigid or rigid and 2. Constitution is flexible
flexible both
3. The Constitution is supreme 3. The Parliament/Legislature is supreme.

4. Judiciary has power to ensure supremacy of 4. Jusiciary Powers are limited.

the Constitution.
5. Example – USA Constitution, Indian Example - The Magna Carta can be considered the earliest
Constitution, Australia, France, Denmark, form of the unwritten constitution. It was a charter of rights
Japan etc. signed by King John of England on 15th June 1215. The
charter promised to protect the rights of the nobility from the
interference of the crown. The Magna Carter would
eventually evolve into the unwritten constitution of the
United Kingdom
Countries having unwritten Constitution – UK, Israel, Saudi
Arabia, New Zealand, Canada (parts of Canadian law are
written, but a majority of it remains undocumented) etc.

British Constitution:
Main Features –
1) Unwritten constitution based on rules, conventions, customs, traditions etc.
2) Oldest and most influential Constitution of all times.
3) Glorious Revolution 1688 laid the foundation of sovereignty of the Parliament.
4) Considered as the mother of all Constitutions.
 3

5) It has unitary form of government.

6) It is a flexible constitution that can be amended like any other ordinary law of the country.
7) Bicameralism – Two houses in the Parliament – House of Lords (Upper House) and House of Commons
(Lower House).
8) Parliament is sovereign. Parliament means the House of Commons, the House of Lords and the Queen.
9) Parliamentary system of government i.e. the executive is responsible to the Parliament i.e. legislature and
remains in the office as long as it enjoys confidence of the majority of members of Lower House of the
Parliament i.e. House of Commons.
10) The British State has hereditary head (monarch) who is the head of the State (nominal executive).
11) There is limited monarchy i.e. the Queen can exercise powers on the advice of the Cabinet.
12) Based on Rule of Law – Equality before law. Judiciary is the custodian of the rights of the people.
13) No rigid separation of Powers. However, judiciary is independent of the executive.
14) Two Party systems – One forms the govt. and other opposes it. (Conservatists and Labour Party).

American Constitution:
Main Features –
1) The Constitution of USA came into force in 1789 as a result of Declaration of independence 1776 that was
the first collective step towards forming USA.
2) First Written Constitution that systematically codified and laid down the rules for governance.
3) The USA Constitution is a brief document of 18 pages.
4) The Constitution is supreme.
5) Lays down broad outline for the structure of federal govt. and leaves it to each state to design the
organisation of the govt.
6) Follows a Federal system of govt. i.e. equal division of powers between Centre and states.
7) Constitution is Rigid i.e. it cannot be easily amended by the Congress. The Constitution provides two ways
through it can be amended. Any amendment can be proposed either by two-third majority of Congress or
by special convention called by Congress on the application of teo0thirds of the States. Any such proposed
amendment has to also be ratified by the three-fourth of the States.
8) Follows doctrine of popular sovereignty.
9) Total and watertight separation of powers is laid down in the Constitution. It is supplemented by the
principle of checks and balances.
10) Bicameralism in the legislature – The United States House of Representatives and The Senate.
11) The Senate consisting of 100 members (2 from each State) is the most powerful second chamber in the
world.
12) Constitution provides for Republicanism under which the head is elected by the people.
13) Follows Presidential system meaning that President is both the head of the State and Head of the Govt.
The executive is therefore not responsible to the legislature.
14) The US President and its ministers do not sit in Congress. The President is elected for a fixed period (4
years) and calendar and appoints its own staff and ministers.
15) Dual citizenship.
16) USA judiciary is the most powerful judiciary in the world i.e. judicial review is exercised in its highest
form (Judicial supremacy). Judiciary is the custodian and guarantor of Constitution and Fundamental
Rights of the American People.
17) The First 10 commandments of the American Constitution contain Bill of Rights embodying the rights and
liberties of the people.
 4

France Constitution –
Main Features:
1) The Constitution of the Fifth Republic is the constitution that established constitutional stability in France.
2) The Constitution of the Fifth Republic has been in operation since October 4, 1958.
3) It was framed by a Constituent Assembly which drew inspiration from General De Gaulle.
4) The Constitution of Fifth Republic incorporates a mixed Presidential-Parliamentary model of government.
5) It combines the features of both Parliamentary and Presidential forms. The President is the head of the
state, but he is neither a purely nominal head of the state like the Indian President nor an all-powerful
executive like the U.S. President. He is directly elected by the people and enjoys some real executive
powers.
6) In France, executive powers have been divided between the President and the Prime Minister. The
President has been made an arbiter between the Parliament and the Government (Ministry). In times of
emergency, he becomes very powerful. Normally also, he appoints the Prime Minister and presides over
the meetings of the Council of Ministers.
7) Prime Minister is in-charge of the work of Government. He directs the operation of Government. He is
responsible for the national defence. He ensures the execution of laws. He deputises for the President of
the Republic whenever necessary. He can delegate certain of his functions to the ministers.
8) The Prime Minister and other Ministers are not members of the Parliament; however, they are responsible
before the Parliament. The Parliament can pass a vote of no confidence or a censure motion against the
Prime Minister or the Government and can force the Prime Minister to resign forthwith. The Prime
Minister can also recommend to the President, the need for the dissolution of the Parliament.
9) Moreover, ministers not members of the Parliament, but they can take part in its work in every way except
when the Parliament comes to vote on a measure. Thus, the French executive represents a mixture of
Parliamentary and Presidential executives.
10) The Constitution of the Fifth Republic is a written and enacted Constitution.
11) Popular Sovereignty - the French Constitution of 1958 affirms belief in the sovereignty of the people.
12) Follows unitary form of govt.
13) In France, a Multi-party System is in operation.
14) The French Constitution is the supreme law of the land. Every organ of the government derives its powers
from the Constitution.
15) Establishes Rigid Constitution.
16) France follows the principal of secularism.
17) The Constitution established a Republic form of Government.
18) It guarantees Social and Political Rights to the citizens. Art 2 states that the motto of the Republic is
Liberty, Equality and Fraternity. The rights are not mentioned in separate chapter but are enlisted in the
Preamble.
19) Bicameralism – The National Assembly and the Senate. The National Assembly is the lower, popular,
directly elected and more powerful House of the Parliament. The Senate is the upper, less popular, quasi-
permanent, indirectly elected and less powerful House. In it, representation has been given to the territorial
entities of France and the French citizens residing abroad.
20) Under the French Constitution, a special institution has been formed to determine the validity of laws and
orders made by the Parliament and the Government. This power, which in other countries like India and
the U.S.A. has been given to the courts, has been given in France to the Constitutional Council.
21) The President of France, the Presidents of both the National Assembly and the Senate nominate 3
members each to the Constitutional Council. The President of the Constitutional Council is appointed by
the President of the Republic.
 5

22) This Council has been given the power to judge the constitutionality or unconstitutionality of organic laws
before their promulgation and the ordinary laws and the rules of procedure of the parliamentary assemblies
before their application.
23) This Council also acts as the Election Commission and the Election Tribunal in parliamentary elections.
This is a unique French institution. It has been copied by the Constitution of Russia.
24) Title XV (Articles 88-1 to 88-4) contains provisions relating to the French membership of the European
Communities and the European Union. (EU) France is a member of the European Union and its three
communities since 1992. It actively participates in the formulation and execution of the policies and
decisions of these communities and the EU.
 1

UGC NET

DAILY
CLASS NOTES
Political Science

Comparative Political Analysis

Lecture – 6
Key Features of Major Constitutions-2
 2

Key Features of Major Constitutions-2

Chinese Constitution:
 The Constitution of the People's Republic of China is nominally the supreme law of the People's Republic
of China. It was adopted by the 5th National People's Congress on December 4, 1982, with further
revisions about every five years. It is the fourth constitution in the country's history, superseding the 1954
constitution, the 1975 constitution, and the 1978 constitution.
 China is a socialist country. There is supremacy of socialist ideology in China. The Chinese Constitution
accepts the leadership of the Communist Party of China (CPC).
 It works on the principle of Democratic Centralism. The full meeting of the party is called as National
Party Congress (NPC), which is convened once in five years. Though theoretically all power lies with the
people, but in practice, it is with the top leaders.
 NPC members select the members of the Central Committee. The Central Committee selects the Polit
Bureau (around 200 members). The Polit Bureau selects the Standing Committee of the Polit Bureau (at
present 24 members: the most powerful members of the party).

Main Features–
1) Preamble – The principles of Marxism, Leninism and Maoism have been declared as the ideological
goals of the political system. The principle of Democratic centralism too has been given a due space in
constitutional setup.
The old definition of China as a “Dictatorship of the Proletariat” has been replaced with “People’s
Democratic Dictatorship.”
2) The nature of the Constitution is neither too flexible nor too rigid.
3) Follows unitary form of government.
4) Follows democratic centralism. Keeping in view democratic norms, elective principle has been
introduced at all levels not only within the governmental institutions but also within the Party
organization. People have the right to suffrage.
5) One party System: The Communist Party enjoys almost dictatorial powers within the constitutional
framework and has been regarded as the sole source of political authority for all practical purposes.
Party organization runs parallel to that of the governmental institutions. Party elite hold all top-notch
positions in the government.
In practice, no other political party enjoys real freedom to act.
Certain youth organizations, loyal to the party and working groups affiliated with the Party, enjoy the
right to participate in decision-making.
6) Legislature:
▪ The National People’s Congress (NPC) comprises the legislative branch.
▪ It is a unicameral legislature with more than 3000 members.
▪ Theoretically, it is the top decision-making body in China. It has the ultimate say on policies,
amendments, and appointment of ministers in the government.
▪ It has been declared as an organ through which the people exercise state power.
▪ Congressmen are elected by regional Congresses, by autonomous regions, by Municipalities working
under the central government and by People’s Liberation Army, each according to its quota.
▪ The mode of election is based on secret ballot, while the constitution guarantees holding of free and
fair elections.
 3

▪ The real work of NPC is done by a smaller body known as Standing Committee of NPC, consisting
around 150 members.
7) Executive:
▪ The State Council is the Cabinet or Executive of China. It is headed by the Premier, four Vice
Premiers and State Councilors.
▪ The Premier performs a very important role as head of the administration and holds a pivotal position
within the administrative set up.
▪ The President of the Republic is regarded as head of the state.
8) Judiciary - China has a committed Judiciary, i.e. committed to the goal of Socialism. The highest organ is
the Supreme People’s Court. China also has a Court of Procuratorates – it deals with corruption cases of
officials. Chinese law has never been codified in a systematic form. Most of the disputes and
controversies are settled in quasi-judicial institutions. The Chinese judicial system has been held together
more by conventions, rather than by laws.
9) Rights and Duties:

Rights-
▪ The Chinese Constitution gives Fundamental Rights and prescribes certain duties for its citizens.
▪ All citizens at least18 years of age are secured the right to vote. They also enjoy the right to contest
elections. Right to secrecy of all correspondence, freedom of speech and expression, freedom to join or
form associations, and right to hold public meetings even to the extent of staging demonstration or
resorting to strike for articulation of demands, have been secured under the Constitution.
▪ According to the constitution, the government is under obligation to afford full protection to the
preservation of family life in addition to the integrity of a person. All citizens have the right to personal
security against illegal detention. The constitution also recognizes equal right of all citizens to education
and cultural freedom. Equality of men and women has also been recognized in all areas of life.

Duties-
▪ The Chinese constitution explicitly prescribes certain duties of the citizens, which are justiciable. It is the
first and foremost duty of the citizens to cooperate with the Socialist leadership in every respect, abide by
the Constitution and all other state laws. They are required to protect public property and extend a helping
hand in the maintenance of law and order. To defend the country against foreign aggression is also
another duty of the citizens.

German Constitution-
● The Constitution of Germany is known as the Basic Law (Grundgesetz).
● Germany is a parliamentary democracy and is officially called the Federal Republic of Germany
(Bundesrepublik Deutschland).
● Germany follows 'the Chancellor system' of Government where the Chancellor -the equivalent of a Prime
Minister, is appointed by the Federal President with the approval of the Bundestag, the first chamber of
the federal legislature.

Historical background-
● Until the 19th century, the area of Germany comprised a collection of kingdoms, city-states, duchies and
other principalities. These various entities were loosely held together as part of the Holy Roman Empire.
● In 1815, after the defeat of Napolean, the German Confederation arose replacing the Roman Empire.
 4

● This confederation consisted of 39 sovereign states and resembled a treaty community more than a
political union.
● In 1849, the Parliament adopted the Frankfurt Constitution which became the constitution of the German
Empire.
● In 1867, the North German Confederation was established under Otto von Bismarck. A new constitution
was adopted.
● This constitution was maintained in 1871 when the German Empire was established.
● This empire lasted until the German Revolution of 1918, which declared Germany a Republic. Under this
republic, the Weimar Constitution (1919) was drawn up.
● However, a long succession of unstable governments led to the rise of the Nazi Party in power in the
1930s. Adolf Hitler was appointed as the Chancellor of Germany in 1933 and he remained in power until
Germany was defeated in the Second World War.
● In the aftermath of the war, Germany’s administration was divided between the Allied Powers, which
finally led to the division of the country into the Federal Republic of Germany in the west and the
German Democratic Republic (GDR) in the east.
● In 1990, Germany officially reunited to form the present-day Federal Republic of Germany.
● The current constitution of Germany is a slightly amended version of West Germany’s 1949
Constitution.

Important features of German Constitution-

Federalism-
● The federal state is composed of a central government (Bund) and a number of constitutive states (Länder
or Bundesländer).
● There are 16 constitutive states in Germany with each state enjoying a good deal of power in matters of
police, law, culture and disaster control.
● For historical reasons, the cities of Berlin, Hamburg, and Bremen are also federal states.

Democracy-
● Since Germany is a democracy, all power is said to be derived from the people.
● The Basic Law states “All state authority is derived from the people. It shall be exercised by the people
through elections and other votes and through specific legislative, executive, and judicial bodies.”
● Basic Law also stipulates the separation of powers.
● The separation of powers is intended to provide constitutional limits to the exercise of power, and to
ensure democratic representation and the rational discharge of functions.
● Power is distributed between the Executive, the Legislature and the Judiciary.

Executive-
● The executive branch is comprised of the President, the Chancellor, and the Federal Ministers.
● While the President is the Head of State, the Chancellor is the Head of the Government.
● The President appoints and removes ministers on the proposal of the Chancellor.
● The Chancellor and the ministers set the policies and guidelines for the federal government.

Legislature-
The legislature at the federal level is composed of two houses, the Bundesrat and the Bundestag.
 5

Bundestag-
● Bundestag is the lower house.
● The Bundestag consists of 598 regular seats elected under a mixed electoral system.
● One-half of the seats are elected directly in 299 constituencies based on a majority vote, while the other
half is filled through the proportional representation system using the party list.
● The latter arrangement aims to allocate extra seats to political parties so that the make-up of the
Bundestag reflects the support for these parties across the country.
● Hence, every person who is eligible to vote has two votes under this system. The first is for a specific
candidate and the second is for the party list.
● Members are elected for a four-year term.

Bundesrat-
● Bundesrat is the upper house and is comprised of members of the Lander governments and represents
state interests.
● A bill adopted by the Bundestag may require Bundesrat consent. If the bill does not require the consent of
the Bundesrat, the body may still enter an objection, but the Bundestag may override those objections.

Judiciary-
● Germany has an independent judiciary consisting of the Federal Constitutional Court, Supreme Federal
Courts, and other Federal Courts.
● The Federal Constitutional Court rules on issues dealing with the Basic Law, disputes between the
Landers and the Federation, disputes between the Landers, etc.

Switzerland Constitution-
● Switzerland is a federation of a special kind. It calls itself a 'confederation'.
● The Swiss people consider themselves a multi-religious, multi-lingual nation. Three major languages -
German; French and Italian -and two major religious sects-Catholic and Protestant-divide the Swiss
people into 26 cantons .The Swiss cantons enjoy more autonomy than the states of the USA.
● The Federal Constitution of the Swiss Confederation establishes the Swiss Confederation as a federal
republic of 26 cantons (states). The Constitution delineates the responsibilities of the cantons and the
Confederation and establishes the federal authorities of government.
● Each canton has its own constitution, legislature, government and courts.
● The Constitution was adopted by a referendum on 18 April 1999, in which a majority of the people and
the Cantons voted in favour. It replaced the prior federal constitution of 1874.

Important features:
● The preamble and the first title of the Constitution determine the general outlines of Switzerland as a
democratic federal republic of 26 cantons governed by the rule of law.
● Preamble includes "liberty and democracy, independence and peace in solidarity and openness towards
the world".
● Constitution provides for three branches of the government represented by three bodies: the Federal
Assembly (two chambers, representing the Legislative power), Federal Council (the Executive power),
and the Federal Court (the Judicial power).
● There is existence of written and rigid constitution affecting a division of powers between the Swiss
Federation and the Cantons.
 6

● The division of powers in the Swiss Constitution follows the pattern of the US federation. The powers of
the Federation and the joint powers of the Federation and the Cantons have been laid down in the
Constitution, and the residuary powers have been left with the Cantons.
● The federation has been given powers in respect of subjects of national importance and the Cantons have
retained powers in respect of local and regional subjects.
● The Cantons have been given equality of representation in the Upper House of the Swiss Federal
Parliament, Each full Canton, whether big or small, sends two representatives and each half-Canton sends
one representative.
● The Cantons have their separate constitutions.
● The Swiss Federal Court is an independent judiciary with the power of judicial review over the legislation
passed by Cantonal legislatures.
● There is dual citizenship, dual administration and a dual system of courts.

Legislative-
● Switzerland has a bicameral parliament called the Federal Assembly, which is composed by:
● the Council of States (46 seats, 2 seats per canton, except for six cantons which only have 1), also known
as the upper chamber
● the National Council (200 seats, split between the cantons based on population), also known as the lower
chamber
● The Federal Assembly convenes to elect the members of the Federal Council. The two chambers are
equal.
● Members of both houses serve for 4 years.

Executive-
● The Swiss Federal Council is a seven-member executive council that heads the federal administration.
● The Federal Council is elected by the Federal Assembly for a four-year term.
● The President and Vice President of the Confederation are elected by the Federal Assembly from among
the members of the Federal Council for one-year terms that run concurrently.
● The President has almost no powers over and above his or her six colleagues, but undertakes
representative functions normally performed by a president or prime minister in single-executive
systems.

Judiciary-
● Switzerland has a Federal Supreme Court, with judges elected for six-year terms by the Federal
Assembly.
● The function of the Federal Supreme Court is to hear appeals of cantonal courts or the administrative
rulings of the federal administration.
● Switzerland does not have a Constitutional Court, and the Supreme Court cannot comment on law put
forward by the parliament.
● This role is assumed by the people, which acts as a guardian and can repeal any legislation or
constitutional change.

Direct democracy-
● Switzerland has a tradition of direct democracy.
● For any change in the constitution, a referendum is mandatory (mandatory referendum); for any change in
a law, a referendum can be requested (optional referendum).
 7

● In addition, the people may present a constitutional popular initiative to introduce amendments to the
federal constitution.
● The people also assume a role similar to the constitutional court, which does not exist, and thus act as the
guardian of the rule of law.
● Any citizen may challenge a law that has been passed by parliament. If that person is able to gather
50,000 signatures against the law within 100 days, a national vote has to be scheduled where voters
decide by a simple majority of the voters whether to accept or reject the law.

Note: In 2018, the two-term limit for Presidency which was imposed in 1982 by Deng Xiaoping was removed
allowing the current Chinese President Xi Jinping to rule indefinitely through an amendment to the Constitution.

Important Books:
1. A.V Dicey – An introduction to the Study of the Law of the Constitution – 1948
2. Carl J Friedrich – Constitutional govt. and Democracy – 1968
3. KC. Wheare – Modern Constitution – 1956
4. Jean Blondel – An Introduction to Comparative Govt. – 1969
5. E. Barker – The Political Thought of Plato and Aristotle
 1

UGC NET

DAILY
CLASS NOTES
Political Science

Comparative Political Analysis

Lecture – 7
Theories of Development
 2

Theories of Development
Introduction:
● The emergence of independent nations in Asia, Africa, and Latin America led to a new approach to study
development and modernization.
● It was realized that there was more than one way i.e. apart from the Western model of development to
approach/see development and modernization.
● The unique socio-economic, political, and cultural factors of the new nations showed a new perspective
of how development can take place and reflected the challenging problems faced in these societies.
● Thus, the field of comparative analysis expanded to include, a wide range of ecological forces besides the
analysis of political institutions and structures.

Meaning:
● Development – It refers to series of steps taken to improve the social, political and economic well-being
of a society and/or improving the quality of the life of the nation, region, local community or an
individual as per the targeted goals and objectives.
● The word ‘development’ has been for long time considered synonymous with terms like
‘Westernization’, ‘Modernization’ and ‘Industrialization’.

Modernization theory:
● Modernization theory is used to explain the process of modernization within societies.
● Modernization refers to a model of a progressive transition from a 'pre-modern' or ‘traditional’ to a
'modern' society.
● The theory looks at the internal factors of a country while assuming that with assistance, "traditional"
countries can be brought to development in the same manner more developed countries have been.
● Modernization theory was a dominant paradigm in the social sciences in the 1950s and 1960s.
● Modernization theory originated from the ideas of German sociologist Max Weber (1864–1920), which
provided the basis for the modernization paradigm developed by Harvard sociologist Talcott
Parsons (1902–1979).
● Main and historical elements to the growth of modernization theory were:
a) Rise of the United States as a superpower after WW2.
b) spread of a united world communist movement
c) Independent nation coming in Asia, Africa, and Latin America. These nascent nation-states were in
search of a model of development to promote their economy and to enhance their political
independence as they failed to develop, even after exposure of capitalism and the fear that these
countries might move towards communism, Modernization theory developed.
● According to the modernization theory, modern societies are more productive, children are better
educated, and the needy receive more welfare.
● Modernization theory suggests that traditional societies will develop as they adopt more modern
practices. Proponents of modernization theory claim that modern states are wealthier and more powerful
and that their citizens are freer to enjoy a higher standard of living.
● In a political sense, Coleman stresses three main features of modern societies: a) Differentiation of
political structure; b) Secularization of political culture -with the ethos of equality-, which c) enhances the
capacity of a society’s political system.
● The major assumptions of the modernization theory of development basically are:
 3

a) Modernization is a phased process

b) Modernization is a homogenizing process
c) Modernization is an Europeanization or Americanization process as nations are viewed as
having unmatched economic prosperity and democratic stability.
d) Modernization is an irreversible process, once started modernization cannot be stopped. In
other words, once third world countries come into contact with the West, they will not be able
to resist the impetus toward modernization.
e) Thus, it is a progressive process which in the long run is not only inevitable but desirable.
f) A modernized political system has a higher capacity to deal with the function of national
identity, legitimacy, penetration, participation, and distribution than traditional political
systems.
g) Modernization is a lengthy process. It is an evolutionary change, not a revolutionary one.
● There are two main aspects of modernization theory –
(1) Its explanation of why poor countries is underdeveloped, and
(2) Its proposed solution to underdevelopment.
● The modernization theory quoted cultural, social, economic and political barriers that have restricted the
development till now in developing countries and believed that by adoption of western values and
industrialization they too will be on path of development like the Western developed countries.
● Through his structural functional theory, Talcott Parson emphasized on the need of developing countries
to adapt western values required for development. He was critical of the traditional values of
underdeveloped countries – he believed that they were too attached to traditional customs, rituals,
practices and institutions, which Parsons argued were the ‘enemy of progresses.
● Parsons argued that traditional values in Africa, Asia and Latin America acted as barriers to
development which included:
a) Particularism
b) Collectivism
c) Patriarchy
d) Ascriptive values – Ascribed status and Fatalism
● In contrast, Parsons believed that Western cultural values which promoted competition and economic
growth such as:
a) Individualism
b) Universalism
c) Legal and Administrative order
d) Achieved Status and Meritocracy
● One of the principal applications of the modernization theory has been the economic field related to
public policy decisions.
● Modernization Theorists believed traditional societies needed Western assistance to develop. There were
numerous debates about the most effective ways to help countries develop, but there was general
consensus on the view that aid was a good thing and if Developing countries were injected with money
and western expertise it would help to erode ‘backward’ cultural barriers and kick starts their economies.
The Marshall Plan and the Alliance for Progress in Latin America are examples of programs which were
influenced by Rostow’s political theories.
● The most well-known version of modernization theory is Walt Rostow’s 5 stages of economic
growth. Rostow (1971) suggested that following initial investment, countries would then set off on an
evolutionary process in which they would progress up 5 stages of a development ladder.
 4

These five stages are: traditional society, precondition for takeoff, the takeoff process, the drive to maturity, and
high mass consumption society.

Stage 1 – Traditional societies whose economies are dominated by subsistence farming. Such societies have little
wealth to invest and have limited access to modern industry and technology. Rostow argued that at this stage
there are cultural barriers to development.
Stage 2 – The preconditions for take off – the stage in which western aid packages brings western values,
practices, and expertise into the society.
Stage 3 - Take off stage –The society experiences economic growth as new modern practices become the norm.
Profits are reinvested in infrastructure etc. and a new entrepreneurial class emerges and urbanized that is willing
to invest further and take risks. The country now moves beyond subsistence economy and starts exporting goods
to other countries
This generates more wealth which then trickles down to the population who are then able to become consumers of
new products produced by new industries there and from abroad.
Stage 4 – The drive to maturity - More economic growth and investment in education, media, and birth control.
The population starts to realize new opportunities opening up and strive to make the most of their lives.
Stage 5 – The age of high mass consumption – This is where economic growth and production are at Western
levels.
● Criticisms: Modernization theory, on the other hand, was popular in the 1950s, but was under heavy
attack at the end of the 60s. Criticisms of the theory include the following:
a) Development is not necessarily unidirectional.
b) Modernization perspective only shows one possible model of development with the most favored
example being the development pattern in the United States and Europe.
c) Modernization theory regards the need to eliminate traditional values. Third World countries do not have
a homogeneous set of traditional values; their value systems are highly heterogeneous.
d) China, for example, despite advances in economic development continues to operate on traditional values
and this appears to be the same situation in Japan. Moreover, it is not possible to say that traditional
values are always dichotomous from modern status
 5

Lucian Pye – Aspects of Poltiical Development – 1966

 Lucian Pye after analysing political development from varieties of angles such as political development
as prerequisite for economic development, as political modernization, as operations of a nation state, as
building of democracy, as administrative and legal development etc., realized that the most widely held
fundamental characteristics of political development are three i.e. the three aspects related to political
development.
 First, Equality i.e. political development includes mass participation, popular involvement, standards of
achievement etc. Second, Capacity of political system: It is related to outputs: economy, performance of
government, effectiveness and efficiency, rationality in administration, and secularization of public
policies; and Third, Differentiation: It involves increase of structures, institutions, division of labor,
specialization, followed by ultimate sense of integration.
 Thus, political development, according to him, is a three-dimensional process of equality, capacity, and
differentiation. It is not unilinear nor it is governed by sharp and distinct stages.
 Lucian Pye thus emphasizes on development as strengthening the values and practices pf liberal
democracy, pluralistic participation, multi-party systems and competitive politics and political stability.
❑ Criticisms: Modernization theory, on the other hand, was popular in the 1950s, but was under heavy
attack at the end of the 60s. Criticisms of the theory include the following:
a) Development is not necessarily unidirectional.
b) Modernization perspective only shows one possible model of development with the most favored
example being the development pattern in the United States and Europe.
c) Modernization theory regards the need to eliminate traditional values. Third World countries do not
have a homogeneous set of traditional values; their value systems are highly heterogeneous.
d) China and other Asian Tiger economies, despite advances in economic development continues to
operate on traditional values and this appears to be the same situation in Japan. Moreover, it is not
possible to say that traditional values are always dichotomous from modern status

Samuel P. Huntington in his essay, Political Development and Political Decay 1965 debunks the various
political scientists obsession with modernization and states that development and decay are two polar points
of a continuum and there are series of countries at different points in it. He asserts that identification of
political development with modernization is too vague and parochial, as it is wedded to one-way development
and does not take into account the possibility of social regression.
✔ He therefore in this essay, while explaining the process of development in the Third World identifies four
variables and its antonyms to signify the marks of development and decay. These are:
1. Adaptability (meaning leadership open to reforms and change) vs Rigidity (leadership resistance to
change and follows age-old customs, traditions, and institutions)
2. Complexity (meaning network of institutions, each carrying its responsibilities without interference)
vs Simplicity (mode of operation is old and traditional and no separation of functions).
3. Autonomy (meaning institutions having clearly defined activity and freedom with no interference) vs
Subordination (meaning institutions under the control of some powerful body of the state)
4. Coherence/unity (meaning degree of consensus amongst different associations and institutions) vs
incoherence or disunity (absence of consensus).
✔ He describes how chaos and disorder can arise from social development increasing more rapidly than
political and institutional development.
 6

Dependency theory and Theory of underdevelopment:

● The Dependency Theory seeks to analyze international politics by understanding the unequal relationship
among nation-states i.e. between Developed Countries (Centre/Core) and Underdeveloped Countries
(Periphery.)
● It asserts that resources flow from a "periphery" of poor and underdeveloped states to a "core" of wealthy
states, enriching the latter at the expense of the former.

Origin of Dependency Theory-

● The origin of Dependency Theory came as an alternative to the theories of modernization and
development in the 1950s and mid 1960s as formulated and supported by the Western and Marxist
scholars.
● The Dependency theory begins with a study of the colonial impact on the indigenous socio-economic and
political structures, then seeks to analyze the characteristics of the new socio- economic structure, and
finally seeks to trace its evolution in relations to both the internal changes and developments in the World
capitalist system.
● Dependency theory originates with two papers published – one by Hans Singer, one by Raúl Prebisch:
1 Raul Prebisch – “The Economic Development of Latin America and its Principal Problems” (1950).
2 Hans Singer - Post-war Price Relations between Under-developed and Industrialized Countries
(1949).
● Both the authors observe that the terms of trade for underdeveloped countries relative to the developed
countries had deteriorated over time: the underdeveloped countries were able to purchase fewer and
fewer manufactured goods from the developed countries in exchange for a given quantity of their raw
materials exports. This idea is known as the Prebisch–Singer thesis.

Central Arguments of Dependency theory-

● The Dependency Theory analyses the internal dynamics of underdeveloped countries and relates their
underdevelopment to their positions in the international economic system.
● It also examines the relation between the internal and external structures.
● The underdevelopment of the Third World countries is explained by it in terms of the socio- economic-
politico-cultural processes which link these countries to the developed countries. The underdeveloped
countries are regarded as the peripheries and the developed countries as the centers, and it is held that the
nature of social phenomena in the periphery can be understood and analyzed only with reference to the
world capitalist system, which stands dominated by the developed centers.
● The central point in the Dependency Theory is that the nature of social phenomena in the Third World
countries is determined by the process of underdevelopment which characterizes these countries, and
which is the result of the expansion of World Capitalism.
● Prebisch, an Argentine economist at the United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and
Caribbean (UNECLA), went on to conclude that the underdeveloped nations must employ some degree
of protectionism in trade if they were to enter a self-sustaining development path. He argued that import-
substitution industrialisation (ISI), not a trade-and-export orientation, was the best strategy for
underdeveloped countries
● Dependency theorists typically divide into two different categories surrounding the theory: liberal
reformists and neo-Marxists.
● The main advocates of Dependency Theory are Andre Gunder Frank, Raul Prebisch, Wallerstein, Dos
Santos, Osvaldo Sunkel, Celso Furtado, Rodolfo Stavenhagen, Euzo Falleto and Frantz Fanon. All of
them agree that underdevelopment of the Third World countries, (the wretched of the Earth, as Frantz
 7

Fanon describes them) is directly related to their neo-colonial existence, i.e., external dependence upon
the developed countries.
● Some authors identify two main streams in dependency theory: the Latin American Structuralist, typified
by the work of Prebisch, Celso Furtado, and Aníbal Pinto at the United Nations Economic Commission
for Latin America (ECLAC, or, in Spanish, CEPAL); and the American Marxist, developed by Paul A.
Baran, Paul Sweezy, and Andre Gunder Frank.
● The Dependency Theory presents a macro-historical and structural perspective. It involves a rejection of
the Continuum and Marxist explanations of development and underdevelopment. Underdevelopment is
explained by it as a product of capitalist expansion which is accompanied by unequal exchanges and in
which the Centre/Core/Metropolis exploits the resources and labour of the periphery for its advantage.
The periphery lives in a state of dependency and is characterised by underdevelopment.
● According to Theotonio Dos Santos, the basis of dependency in underdeveloped nations is derived from
industrial technological production, rather than from financial ties to monopolies from the core nations. In
addition to Dos Santos, other classical authors in the dependency school are: Paul Baran, who has studied
conditions in India in the late 1950s; and Landsberg, who has studied the processes of industrial
production in the core countries in 1987.
● The pioneer contribution in the emergence of development theory is of Andre Gunder Frank and
Wallerstein who have advocated that the underdevelopment of Third World Countries was due to the
development of developed country to which the former is dependent.

Classification of Dependency theories by Chilcote-

Chilcote divides the conceptions of dependency into four:
* Development of underdevelopment (A. G. Frank and Rodney)
* New Dependency (Dos Santos)
* Dependency and development (Cardoso)
* Dependency and Imperialism (Baran, Sweezy and Quijano)

Theory of Underdevelopment by A. G Frank-

● Andre Gunder Frank (1971) argues that developing nations have failed to develop not because of ‘internal
barriers to development’ as modernization theorists argue, but because the developed West has
systematically underdeveloped them, keeping them in a state of dependency.
 8

● They asserted that the development of Third World countries is not possible in the world capitalist system
which continues to favour the development of the Core i.e. developed countries. The system in other
words, is unfavorable to the developing countries.
● Their economies have, on the contrary, become stagnant and increasingly dependent upon the economies
of the developed.
● And to come out of this dependence, only one option is there, as per dependence theorists and that is to
overthrow the current system.
● Some dependence theorists hence favored:
a) Socialist revolution
b) Command centered economy
c) Liberal reforms such as maintenance of balance in trade, targeted policy intervention.
d) Increasing of bargaining power through regional cooperation
e) Assimilations of new techniques through macro-economic adjustments.
● Criticisms:
a) It does not provide exhaustive empirical evidence to support its conclusions.
b) Advocacy of Radicalism and Socialism
c) Failure of Socialist Solutions and Systems
d) Does not accept the relative autonomy of government from the powerful elites which was a studied in
detail by new dependence theorists such as Enrique Cardozo (1979), and Falleto (1980). These
authors take into account the relations that exist in a country in terms of its systemic -external-, and
its sub-systemic -internal- level, and how these relationships can be transformed into positive
elements for the development of peripheral nations. O’Donell studied the case of relative autonomy
between economic and political elements within conditions of Third World countries, especially
those in South East Asia.
e) One of the main current critiques of the theory of dependency and the theory of modernization is that
they both continue to base their assumptions and results on the nation-state.

World System theory:

● The theory is developed by Immanuel Wallerstein in 19779 in which he talked about the establishment of
a global economic capitalist system that depicts and controls the relationship between countries existing
within it.
● World systems theory is a response to the criticisms of Dependency Theory.
● Characteristics of World system Theory are as follows:
1. One must look at the world system as a whole, rather than just at individual countries. Dependency
Theory tended to argue that countries are poor because they used to be exploited by other countries.
However, focusing on countries (or governments/ nation states) is the wrong level of analysis –
government today has declined in power, whereas Corporations are more powerful than ever. Global
Corporations, and global capital, transcend national boundaries, and nation states (even wealthy ones) are
relatively powerless to control them, thus in order to understand why countries are rich or poor, we
should be looking at global economic institutions and corporations rather than countries.
Global Economic Institutions form what Wallerstein calls a Modern World System, and all countries, rich
and poor alike are caught up in it.
2. Wallerstein believes that the Modern World System is characterized by an international division of
labour consisting of a structured set of relations between three types of capitalist zone:
 9

The core or developed countries control world wages and monopolize the production of manufactured goods.
The semi-peripheral zone includes countries like South Africa or Brazil which resemble the core in terms of their
urban centres but also have areas of rural poverty which resemble the peripheral countries. The core contracts
work out to these countries.
Finally, there are the peripheral countries at the bottom, mainly in Africa, which provide the raw materials such as
cash crops to the core and semi periphery. These are also the emerging markets in which the core attempts to
market their manufactured goods.
3. Countries can be upwardly or downwardly mobile in the world system.
4. The Modern World System is dynamic – core countries are constantly evolving new ways of extracting
profit from poorer countries and regions in the form of unfair trade rules, domination of Western
Corporations, Land grabs etc.

● Criticisms:
a) Wallerstein can also be criticized in the same way Dependency Theorists can be criticized – there are
more causes of underdevelopment than just Capitalism – Such as cultural factors, corruption, and
ethnic conflict.
b) The concept is vague.

Globalization Theory:
● Globalization or globalization is the process of interaction and integration among people, companies, and
governments worldwide.
 10

● The theory of globalization emerges from the global mechanisms of greater integration with emphasis on
the sphere of economic transactions.
● As a complex and multifaceted phenomenon, globalization is considered by some as a form of capitalist
expansion which entails the integration of local and national economies into a global, unregulated market
economy.
● One of the most important characteristics of the globalization is its focus and emphasis on cultural aspects
and their communication worldwide. Rather than the economic, financial, and political ties, globalization
scholars argue that the main modern elements for development interpretation are the cultural links among
nations.
● And to enhance the cultural amongst people, the technology’s ability to connect people has played a
major role.
● Globalization has grown due to advances in transportation and communication technology. With the
increased global interactions comes the growth of international trade, ideas, and culture.
● The theory of globalization has made usage of nation-state as unit of analysis redundant.
● The theory is known for its contribution to transform the world into a global village, and for
strengthening political, social, economic, and cultural ties amongst the people across the globe.
● The contribution of non-state actors apart from nation-state actors such as MNCs, Corporations, Terrorist
organisations has become significant via globalization in shaping the world.
● In 2000, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) identified four basic aspects of
globalization: trade and transactions, capital and investment movements, migration and movement of
people, and the dissemination of knowledge. Further, environmental challenges such as global warming,
cross-boundary water, air pollution, and over-fishing of the ocean are linked with globalization.
● Globalizing processes affect and are affected by business and work organization, economics, socio-
cultural resources, and the natural environment. Academic literature commonly subdivides globalization
into three major areas: economic globalization, cultural globalization, and political globalization.

Important Books:
● Lucian Pye – Aspects of Poltiical Development – 1966
In this book, he has explained three aspects related to political development. First, Equality includes
participation, universalistic nature, standards of achievement etc. Second, Capacity of political system: It
is related to outputs: economy, performance of government, effectiveness and efficiency, rationality in
administration, and secularization of public policies; and Differentiation: It involves increase of
structures, institutions, division of labor, specialization, followed by ultimate sense of integration.
Thus, political development, according to him, is a three-dimensional process of equality, capacity, and
differentiation. He admits that these do not necessarily or easily fit together.
● Paul Baran – The Political Economy of Growth – 1857
● Lucian Pye – Communications and Political Development 1963
● Samuel P. Huntington – Political Development and Political Decay – 1965
● S.M Lipset – Political Man – 1960
● W.W. Rostow – The Stages of Economic Growth – 1960
● A.F.K Organski – The Stages of Political Development – 1965
● Almond and Coleman – The Politics of Developing Areas
● David Apter – Introduction to Political Analysis
● Cardoso – Dependency and Development in Latin America
● Wallerstein – The Modern World Systems (1971), World Inequality (1975), The Capitalist World
Economy (1979).
 1

UGC NET

DAILY
CLASS NOTES
Political Science

Comparative Political Analysis

Lecture – 8
Structure of Power & Colonialism
 2

Structure of Power & Colonialism

Structures of Power-
Elite Theory-
Introduction-
● The Elite theory in political science and sociology questions the liberal democratic character of the State.
● The proponents of the elite theory assert that within the democratic political system of a State, a strong
element of oligarchy exists in every organisation.
● In other words, elite theory is a theory of the state that seeks to describe and explain power relationships
in contemporary society.
● The theory posits that a small minority, consisting of members of the economic elite and policy-planning
networks, holds the most power—and that this power is independent of democratic elections.
● By being in the influential positions or via financial support in corporations, organisations, think tanks,
and governmental institutions etc., these elites exert their latent domination/influence over the policy and
political decision making.
● Thus, the elitism asserts that it is these elites who make all the important policy decisions in the State and
normal public have no role to play.
● The basic characteristics of this theory are that power is concentrated amongst the unified elites and the
non-elites i.e. the people are diverse and powerless.
● The elites' interests are unified simply because of their interest in concentrating their power, due to
common backgrounds, positions, and collective interests in influencing the institutional positions.
● Elitist theory of democracy/Elitism opposes Pluralism or Plural theory of democracy which asserts that
major social, pressure and/or interest groups plays a significant and major role in exerting influence on
the State with respect to political and policy decisions.
● Elite Theory asserts:
a. Democracy is a utopian folly
b. Democracy in its idealized form cannot function in a capitalist system.

Italian School of Elitism:

● Proponents – Vilfredo Pareto, Gaetano Mosca, and Robert Michels.
● The Italian School of Elitism is based on two fundamental ideas:
a. Power lies is position of authority i.e. with those having key positions in political and economic
institutions.
b. There is difference between elites and non-elites. The elites have resources such as intelligence,
skills, finances etc. and vested interest in the government and non-elites are incompetent and do not
have the capabilities to govern and hence the power is concentrated in the hands of elites.

Vilfredo Pareto:
● He was an Italian engineer, sociologist, economist, political scientist, and philosopher.
● He made several important contributions to economics, particularly in the study of income
distribution and in the analysis of individuals' choices
● He was also responsible for popularizing the use of the term "elite" in social analysis.
● He introduced the concept of Pareto efficiency and helped develop the field of microeconomics.
● Note: Pareto efficiency or Pareto optimality is a situation where no individual or preference criterion can
be better off without making at least one individual or preference criterion worse off.
● Pareto in his book, ‗Mind and Society‘ (1916) analyzed the elitist theory of democracy.
● Pareto emphasized the psychological and intellectual superiority of elites, believing that they were the
highest accomplishers in any field. He discussed the existence of two types of elites:
a. Governing elites
b. Non-governing elites
 3

● He also extended the idea that whole elite can be replaced by a new one and how one can circulate from
being elite to non-elite i.e. he put forth the law of circulation of elites in which he asserts that no political
regime or system could be treated as permanent or stable.
● The circulation of elite is a theory of regime change i.e. through this Pareto says that change of
regime, revolutions, etc. occur not when rulers are overthrown from below, but when one elite replaces
another. The role of ordinary people in such transformation is not that of initiators or principal actors, but
as followers and supporters of one elite or another.
● He therefore rejected the theory of classical democracy that talks about the rule of the people and states
that society is divided between a minorities which rules and majority which is ruled.

Gaetano Mosca:
● An Italian political scientist, journalist and public servant. He is credited with developing the elite
theory and the doctrine of the political class.
● He too rejected the classical theory of democracy.
● Mosca in his book ‗The Rulling Class‘ (1939) analyzed the elitist theory.
● He emphasized on the sociological and personal characteristics of elites. He said elites are an organized
minority and that the masses are an unorganized majority. The ruling class is composed of the ruling elite
and the sub-elites. He divides the world into two groups:
a) Political class - It refers to the relatively small group of activists that is highly aware and active in
politics, and from whom the national leadership is largely drawn.
b) Non-Political class
● Mosca asserts that elites have intellectual, moral, and material superiority that is highly esteemed and
influential.
● Mosca argues that in history there has always been one form of govt. i.e. oligarchy. The history of
mankind shows that the elites govern and exercises the authority over the masses. The elites, a definite
minority, are the privileged class to enjoy the luxury and comfort due to their monopolistic control of
power in society. The masses, who constitute the majority obey the dictates of the elites and work to
satisfy the rulling classes.
● Mosca defined modern elites in term of their superior organizational skills. These organizational skills
were especially useful in gaining political power in modern bureaucratic society.
● However, unlike Pareto, he opines that elite status is not hereditary and anyone can become elite
theoretically.

Robert Michels:
● He was a German-born Italian sociologist who contributed to elite theory by describing the political
behavior of intellectual elites.
● He is best known for his book Political Parties, published in 1911, which contains a description of the
"iron law of oligarchy."
● Iron Law of Oligarchy –
1. He asserts that social and political organizations are run by few individuals, and social organization
and labor division are a key.
2. It asserts that rule by elite, or oligarchy, is inevitable as an "iron law" within
any democratic organization as part of the "tactical and technical necessities" of organization.
3. Michels's theory states that all complex organizations, regardless of how democratic they are when
started, eventually develop into oligarchies. Michels observed that since no sufficiently large and
complex organization can function purely as a direct democracy, power within an organization will
always get delegated to individuals within that group, elected or otherwise.
● Michels addressed the application of this law to representative democracy, and stated: "Who says
organization, says oligarchy.‖ He went on to state that "Historical evolution mocks all the prophylactic
measures that have been adopted for the prevention of oligarchy.‖
● According to him, all organizations eventually come to run by ―elite class or the leadership class‖ who
are generally the bureaucrats, spokesperson, administrators, executives etc. within the organisations.
 4

● These people he says, who were originally play the role as the ‗servants of the masses‘ will eventually
grow to dominate the organization‘s power structures and will centralize the power successfully.
● He says the democratic process of keeping institutions accountable is bound to fail since with power
comes the ability to reward loyalty, the ability to decide how the organisation makes decisions and who
will have access of information, which can be used effectively and strongly to influence any democratic
decisions.
● He thus says that the major goal of representative democracy i.e. to eliminate elite rule is impossible and
rule of elites or oligarchy is inevitable.
● Later, Michels migrated to Italy and joined Benito Mussolini's Fascist Party, as he believed this was the
next legitimate step of modern societies.

Contemporary Elite Theorists:

C. Wright Mills –
● Wrote a book called ‗The Power Elite‘ in 1956 in which he talked about the systems of power, class
alliances and relationships existing within United States.
● He calls the Power Elite to a triumvirate of power groups—political, economic, and military—which
form a distinguishable, although not unified, power-wielding body in the United States.

● He asserts that power resides amongst the people at influential political, economic, and military positions
who thus dominate the politics and decision making in US.
● He in other words, talks about the degradation of democracy in advanced industrial societies wherein the
power generally lies outside the boundaries of elected representatives.
● He also wrote a book explaining the role and characteristics of Middle class - White Collar: The
American Middle Classes published in 1951 in which he described the forming of a new class that white-
collar workers and salesmanship mentality which is prevalent in cities of advanced countries.
● And another book called The Sociological Imagination in 1959 where he describes the interdependence
of person‘s personal life with social structures and historical development.

G. William Domhoff –
In his book Who Rules America? first published in 1967, G. William Domhoff researched local and national
decision making process networks seeking to illustrate the power structure in the United States. He asserts that
elite classes that owns and manages large income-producing properties (like banks and corporations) dominate
the American power structure politically and economically.

James Burnham –
● In his Book, The Managerial Revolution (1941), Burnham talks about how the real functional power is in
the hands of the managers rather than the political representative or businessman with respect to control
and ownership.
 5

Robert D. Putnam–
● A political scientist from America.
● He wrote a book called Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Community published in
2000. The book was developed from his 1995 essay entitled "Bowling Alone: America's Declining Social
Capital".
● In this book, Putnam talked about the crisis of social capital i.e. unprecedented collapse of social, civic,
political, and associational life in US since 1960s. He argues that Americans are no longer interested in
any one to one social interactions, debate, or deliberations which at point used to enrich the American life
and its social fabric.
● Hence, due to this decline in social capital has undermined the active civil engagement which a
strong democracy requires from its citizens.
● In other words, Putnam talks about the decline in active political engagement of the citizens i.e. decreased
voter turnout, public meeting attendance, serving on committees, and working with political parties, that
in turn has severely affected the democratic characteristic of the State.
● He also talks about the increased distrust that has erupted against the govt. in the American society.
● Putnam uses bowling as an example to illustrate this. Although the number of people who bowl has
increased in the last 20 years, the number of people who bowl in leagues has decreased. If people bowl
alone, they do not participate in social interaction and civic discussions that might occur in a league
environment.

Thomas R. Dye –
● In his book Top Down Policymaking (2001), he opines that US public policy does not result from the
"demands of the people", but rather from elite consensus found in Washington, D.C. based non-profit
foundations, think tanks, special-interest groups, and prominent lobbying and law firms.
● He also further wrote books such as The Irony of Democracy (1970), Politics in America
(1993), Understanding Public Policy (1972), and who‘s running America? (1976) and Who's Running
America? The Obama Reign (2014).

COLONIALISM AND DECOLONIZATION-

● Colonialism is the policy by which virtue a country seeks to establish, extent or retain its authority over
other people or territories, generally with the aim of economic dominance.
● In this process a colony is the region on which coloniser may impose their religion, economics and other
cultural practices by the foreign administrators rule.
● It is associated with European colonial period starting with the 15th century and is described as the
process of European Settlement and political control over the rest of the world, including America,
Australia and parts of Africa and Asia.
● Colonialism implies domination of people‘s life and culture for the aim to extract economic benefits from
the colony and control it politically.
● Colonialism as a modern historical phenomenon started around 15th century when the European
discovered sea route around Africa‘s Southern coast and America with which sea power shifted to
developing nation States of Portugal, Spain, France and England and gradually Colonization spread to
other parts of Asia as well.
● In this process of Colonialism, the Alien minority asserts racial and cultural superiority over a native
majority.

There are different forms of Colonialism which are as follows -

● Settler Colonialism – It involves the large scale immigration, that is, often motivated by religious,
political or economical reasons which aims to replace any existing population by sending a large number
of people to the colony for the purpose of Staying as well as cultivating the land. Australia, Canada and
United States are example of Settler Colonial Societies.
 6

● Exploitation Colonialism - It involves relatively less number of immigrants and predominantly focuses
on exploitation of the resources or population as labourers of the colonial countries. Example, the
exploitation of resources of India by the Britishers.
● Surrogate Colonialism - It involves a settlement project that is supported by a colonial power in which
the most of the settlers do not come from a same ethnic group as the Ruling power.
● Internal Colonialism - It represents a notion of uneven structural power between areas of a state. The
source of exploitation comes from within the State as it is demonstrated in the way to control and
exploitation may pass from whites from the colonizing country to a white immigrant population within a
newly independent country.
● Therefore, Colonialism denotes a set of unequal relationships between the colonial power and the colony,
and often between the colonialists and the indigenous population, relationships in which the colonialists
acquire benefits disproportionately at the expense of the local population.

Basic Features of the Colonialism –

● Under Colonialism, the Integration of the Colony with the world capitalist system is in a subordinate or
subservient position. The needs of the Coloniser‘s economy and its capitalist class determine the basic
issues of colony‘s economy and Society.
● Immanuel Wallerstein and Samir Amin held that the Colonialism is the twin notions of unequal exchange
and internal disarticulation of the Colonial economy and articulation of its different parts through world
market and imperialists hegemony. Example, Railways were developed in India in 19 th century to serve
the interests of British Industry rather than Indian Industry
● The third feature of Colonialism is the Drain of Wealth or the unilateral transfer of Surplus to the
Coloniser State.
● The fourth basic feature of Colonialism is foreign political domination or the existence and rule of the
colonial state.

Stages of Colonialism -
● The process of Colonialism by which the colony was controlled, administered and exploited go through
the three stages which are as follows -

First Stage – Monopoly of Trade and Plunder-

● In this stage firstly the objective was to make trade more profitable and establishing monopoly of trade.
Secondly, the political conquest of the colony enabled plunder and seizure of Surplus values. For
example, the drain of wealth from India to Britain.

Second Stage - Era of Free Trade-

● In this stage changes were made in the economy, polity, and administration, social, cultural and
ideological structures were initiated to enable exploitation.

Third Stage – Era of Financial Capital

● In this stage there is intense struggle for market, sources of raw materials and food grains but the colony
is not able to increase its exports of raw materials as it is already over exploited in the earlier stages.
However in many colonies this stage did not take off as their economies were already wrecked.

Moreover, these stages were the result of the four factors which are as follows -
● The historical development of capitalism as a world system.
● The change in the Society, economy and polity.
● The change in position in the world economy of the metropolis.
● The colony‘s own historical development.
● Colonialism severely impacted on the cultural, political, regional, economic and social aspects of the
country. But after the Second worldwar, colonial systems were pulling to bits in a process called
Decolonization which is basically understood as undoing of Colonialism.
 7

● It may involve Non Violent Revolution or National Liberation wars by the pro independence groups for
the colonial self determination for the colonized people. Therefore, it is referred as the fragmentation of
colonies by Sovereign states in the America, Asia and the African Regions.

Important Books –
● Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe
● Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad
● Culture and Imperialism by Edward Said
● A Passage to India by E.M. Forster
● Orientalism by Edward Said
● Imperialism, the Highest Stage of Capitalism by Vladimir Ilychin Lenin.
● The Wretched Of the Earth by Frantz Fanon
● The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism by Naomi Klein
● Naked Imperialism by John Bellamy Foster
● Midnight’s Children by Salman Rushdie
● How Europe Underdeveloped Africa by Walter Rodney
● Hegemony or Survival: America's Quest for Global Dominance by Naomi Chosky.
 1

UGC NET

DAILY
CLASS NOTES
Political Science

Comparative Political Analysis

Lecture – 9
Decolonization & Nationalism
 2

Decolonization & Nationalism

Factors that led to Decolonization after Post World War II are as follows-
● It was after the Second World War that many nations ran out of financial resources and hence could no
longer help to maintain administration in the colonies.
● Independence Movements in colonial States took place as the education and western literature gave
rooms for rational thinking and independence thoughts about liberty, equality, freedom, self-
determination, etc.
● With the establishment of United Nations, its pressurizes the imperial countries like United Kingdom and
France to provide independence to colonies and accepted Nation States as ideal form of Political
Organization.
● During Cold War, the United States and USSR pressurised their European allies to give independence
and free colonies.
● Continuous exploitation of People and resources of the colonies generated the urge for National feeling
and patriotism.
● It ca be inferred that in the Post Second World War era, the European nations were not able to have
control on their colonies due to strong and persistent opposition from foreign powers acting individually
or through International Bodies such as United Nations.
● Moreover, the examples of Decolonization are mentioned in the writing of Thucydides in the modern
times which includes the break of the Spanish Empire in the 19th Century, of the German, Austro –
Hungarian, Ottoman Russian Empire by World War I, of the British, French, Dutch and Italian Colonial
Empire by World War II and of the Soviet Union by the end of Cold war in 1991.

NATIONALISM-
● The concept of Nationalism promotes the interests of a particular nation with the objective of gaining and
maintaining the Nation's Sovereignty.
● It upholds the idea of self-determination for each nation.
● It aims to build and maintain a single national identity that is based on shared social characteristics of
culture, ethnicity, geographic location, language, politics, religion, tradition, beliefs and values in a
shared singular history in order to promote national unity and solidarity.
● It seeks to preserve and foster nation‟s traditional culture and is in close proximity to patriotism.
● National symbols, National Flag, National Anthem, and National Language are some of important
components in the concept of Nationalism.
● According to Ernest Gellner, “Nationalism is a political principle that holds that National and Political
units should be congruent”.
● Basically it is the articulation of the nation desire for Autonomy, Unity and Identity of a unit called as
Nation. Therefore, it is referred to the self determination and self consciousness of people as a unified
entity.
● According to Anthony D. Smith, “Nationalism is an ideological movement for the attainment or
maintenance of Self Government”.
● Hence, he constituted the concept of Nationalism as an „ideal of national independence‟ which requires -
1. Securing Fraternity and Equality among co-nationalists or citizens by integrating them into a
homogeneous unit.
2. Unification of a single nation- state of extra territorial co- national.
3. Stressing cultural individuality.
 3

4. Gain economic autarchy and self sustain growth.

5. Attempts to expand the nation States to maintain International Power and Status.
6. Renewing the cultural and social fabric of the nation through sweeping Institutional changes to
maintain International Polity.

● Nationalism is the main spiritual and emotional force that is cementing all the elements of statehood in
nation States and has facilitated popular allegiance, loyalty and legitimacy to state power, authority and
actions.
● According to Toynbee, “Nationalism is the religion of the Modern States”. Therefore, it is an integral part
of the thoughts and actions of the people of modern States.

Elements of Nationalism-
1. Racial Unity-
It is the unity among the groups of people inhabiting a defined territory with a common origin.
Example of this unity is evident in Germany of Nazi times but Nationalism generally has a Cultural
unity and not particularly racial unity as in present times no state have racial purity.
2. Linguistic Unity-
It is usually regarded as an essential element as it binds the diverse people in unity by expressing their
culture, values and ideas.
3. Geographical Unity-
It provides a common climate to the entire people enabling them to shape their values, ideas and
attitudes and a nation must have more or less defined territory.
4. Common Political Aspirations-
It is one of the most important elements of Nationalism and is responsible for the creation of big
states with cultural diversity.
5. History And Traditions-
A common history and traditions do generate National spirit and constitute a fundamental feature of
all strong nations as it develops an emotional integration which is the cornerstone of Nationalism.

Types of Nationalism-
● Liberal Nationalism-
It emerged and developed in 19th century and regards that humanity is divided into different nation States
which has three basic characteristics -
1. Ultimate Legal and Political Authority over the people and institutions of an integrated territory.
2. Economic system
3. Cultural homogeneity between State officials and the people.
It is, therefore, opposed to all forms of foreign domination and oppression and advocate self Government.

● Aggressive Nationalism-
This type of Nationalism is transformed into imperialism and it raised patriotic fervor to commemorate
national glories and military victories as it was both a cause and product of war.
It stands for social cohesion, order and stability and doesn‟t stand for the universal self determination.
● Conservative Nationalism-
It is characterized by its appeal to tradition and history as it stands for the preservation of traditional
institutions and way of life.
Therefore, it tends to promote in tolerance.
 4

● Anti Colonial Nationalism-

Generally, the result of the people of Asia Africa against colonial power is called as Anti-Colonial
Nationalism which combines themes of independence from colonialism with desire for social
transformation.
● Sub State Nationalism
It is the result of uneven distribution of resources resulting in uneven development which creates
inequality and regional imbalance and in order to secure more equitable distribution of wealth,
economically and socially underdeveloped areas embrace Nationalism politics to redress imbalance of
uneven development or progress.

European Nationalism-
● Nationalism was the ideological impetus that over the century transformed Europe.
● The French Revolution was generated by the Revolutionary struggle for Liberty, Equality and Fraternity
for transforming the social political basis with emphasis on civic ties while German Nationalism
emphasized on ethnic basis of Solidarity.
● The three model cases of Nationalism in Europe are as follows -
1. England
2. France
3. Germany

England-
● The concept of Nationalism came into existence in late 15th century when inequality was justified as
permanent and natural. There were three major feudal orders –
1. The Nobility
2. The Clergy
3. The Toilers
● All three with separate roles.
● It was the War of Rose‟s in 1485 which resulted in the decimation of feudal Aristocracy and replaced the
nobility and the clergy with lower strata based on merit not on birth. It created a new social consciousness
that was Nationalism which reflected the change order of society with each member enjoying dignity of
Elite as well as equality and freedom.
● English Nationalism was individualistic and civic in the sense that national identity was identical with
citizenship.

France-
● Before Nationalism emerged in France there was no distinction between religious and political Spheres of
activity but in the modern period, Secularisation of the State as the Community of France- the French
people and territory – as a Nation.
● French Nationalism was collectivistic and based on an inequality between the masses and
Representatives.

Germany-
● German Nationalism was created in response to the dissatisfaction of middle class intellectuals rather
than aristocracy as in English or French Nationalism.
 5

● It was the aspiration and promises of the Enlightenment Movement that led to disillusionment and
dissatisfaction as the increase in numbers of intellectuals was also accompanied by Poverty and
Unemployment.
● Therefore, the reaction against it by Educated Bourgeoisie was termed as „Romanticism‟, which sought to
replace the rational self with creative self.
● In German Nationalism, an ethnic community membership was determined by natural ties, which were
innate and cannot be acquainted.

Cultural Nationalism-
 The term “cultural nationalism” refers to movements of group allegiance based on a shared heritage as in
language, history, literature, songs, religion, ideology, symbols, land, or monuments.
 Cultural nationalists emphasize heritage or culture, rather than race or ethnicity or institutions of
statehood.
 Johann Gottfried von Herder was considered as the most important scholar who supported the idea of
Cultural Nationalism.
 The history of cultural nationalism begins in late eighteenth-century Europe.

Johann Herder views-

 A German nationalist of the eighteenth century.
 Johann Herder proclaimed that the nation transcends all other elements of social differentiation.
 In his words “there is only one class in the state, the volk, and the King belongs to this class as well as the
peasant.”
 Volk - the concept of „Volksgeist‟ (spirit of the people) - the generalized feeling of belonging to a nation
rather than a state.
 Johann Herder was impressed by the tribalism of the nation and asserted that the cultural nation is the true
basis of the community and identity.
 He opposed the Enlightenment view that the political community is a construct made up of all those who
are subject to a sovereign power arising from a social contract.
 According to him an artificial construct between the state and the individual was a false notion dreamt up
by idealistic dreamers.
 Johann Herder argued that language determines thought and that language and cultural traditions are the
ties that create a nation.
 In 1772 Herder published Treatise on the Origin of Language.

Non European Nationalism-

● Benedict Anderson, a scholar of Nationalism emphasized the notion of nation as a way of thinking about
social solidarity and collective identity.
● He characterized Nation as an Imagined Political Community and held that Anti Colonialism
Consciousness that was produced by colonial education became instrument in generating Nationalism in
the Colonized regions and bringing the demise of Colonial rule.
 6

● Nationalism in colonial societies likes in America (in 17th and 18th century) and in Asia and Africa (in
18th, 19th and 20th century) emerged the form of Anti colonial Struggle which generated a feeling of
Solidarity among the people.
● Therefore, Nationalism of these nations required resistance to colonial domination in order to survive.

Important Books-
● Imagined Communities: Reflections of the Origin and Spread of Nationalism by Benedict Anderson.
● Nationalism: Five Roads to Modernity by Liah Greenfeld.
● Nations and Nationalism by Ernest Gellner.
● Nationalism and Modernity by Anthony D. Smith.
● Nationalism and Liberty by Hans Kohn.
● That Is Not Who We Are by Roger‟s M. Smith.
● Congress and Indian Nationalism by Richard Sisson.
 1

UGC NET

DAILY
CLASS NOTES
Political Science

Comparative Political Analysis

Lecture – 10
Political Parties and Party System
 2

Political Parties and Party System

Political Parties, Party System-
Introduction-
Political Parties are an indispensable part of modern democratic institutions. The study of political parties is
called „Statistiology‟. They provide a link between the government and the citizens. It indicated political
modernization in the sense that it calls for the involvement of more and more people in its process.

Meaning-
 A political party is a voluntary organization joined by person’s more or less sharing common aims and
objectives and who seek to gain control of the governmental apparatus with a view of furthering their
interests.
 They perform the essential input function known as Interest Aggregation.
 Political parties have become the universal feature of politics around the world irrespective of the fact
that the country is democratic or not.

Definitions (Views)-
 “Political Parties are lifeline of modern politics” – Sigmund Neumann
 “Political party is a voluntary society of propaganda and agitation seeking to acquire power to realize
objectives, aims or personal advantages or both” – Weber
 “Political party is a body of men united for promoting up their joint endeavors in the national interest
upon some particular principles in which they all agree” – Edmund Burke
 “Any political group identified by an official label that presents at elections, and is capable of placing
through elections, candidates for election to public office” – Giovanni Sartori
 Barker compares them to the conduit that carries the process of social thought of society into the area of
government.
 “Groups organized for the purpose of achieving and exercising power within a political system” –
Duverger
 “A party is a group whose members propose to act in concert in the competitive struggle for power.”-
Joseph Schumpeter in „Capitalism, Socialism, and Democracy’

Determinants of Political System-

 Historical:
 Historical factors are an important determinant in the structure of political parties.
 They are a result of the modern political processes and their emergence presupposes a necessary
degree of urbanization and development of mass communication
 Socio-Economic:
 The values and attitude prevalent in the society and the political culture play an important role in
determining the types of political parties that emerge.
 The level of economic development and the existence of urban and rural societies with their diverse
views influence the nature of party competition.
 Ideological:
 There are rightist and leftist parties based on the ideological commitment.
 However it is not necessary for every political party to be ideologically affluent.
 Political parties in United States have nothing like ideological commitment.
 3

 Lord James Bryce has described the Democrats and Republicans in America „as two bottle of wine,
liquor being the same but different labels‟.

Functions of Political Parties-

 They unite, simplify and stabilize the political process.
 They strive to form order out of chaos. They work as interest aggregators.
 They provide a link between the government and the people.
 They perform an important function of recruiting people.
 They while presenting issue of the political system, set values goals for the society.
 They do the job of political modernization.
 They at times perform social welfare functions which can be termed as non-political activities.

Theories of Political Parties-

Duverger’s Model
 Maurice Duverger has given a simplistic classification of party systems in his work „Political Parties:
their organization and activity in the modern state ’.(1954)
 He studied the classification and evolution of political parties in the west European countries.
 He classified political parties as one, two and multi-party systems.
 Single Party:
 This category is characterized by parties trying to absorb the political opposition or in extreme case
suppressing all the opposition groups which they regard as counter-revolutionary.
 Single party systems have worked out in Italy and Germany.
 This category has two sub-categories: Totalitarian and Democratic.
 He has given the following characteristics of these parties:
 They are both elite and bond.
 They have direct contact with the government and the masses.
 They are a result of Marxist doctrines and Soviet Union.
 Bi-Party System:
 This category exists when there are only two sufficiently strong parties taking part in the power
struggle.
 If a country has simple majoritarian type electoral system, it will have a two-party system.
 This type of party system exits in United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and United
Kingdom.
 Multi – Party System:
 It is a category in which no party is able to secure clear majority.
 If a country has a proportional representation, it will have Multi-Party system.
 Coalition governments that may form may either have stable or unstable political culture.
 This category is further divided into – Stable and Unstable parties.
 Duverger has given the case of Switzerland, Holland and Denmark.
 Duverger has also given a structural analysis of political parties. Accordingly there are 4 types of
parties, which include:
 Branch Type (West European)
 Mass parties with open membership and hierarchical structure.
 It is dominated by central leadership. It represents the highest policy making body.
 German social democratic party, British labor party.
 4

 Cell Type (Communist)

 This is a feature of communist parties
 They are smaller and cohesive than the branch type.
 Secretive and highly disciplined.
 Caucus Type (American)
 Also called „Committee Type’
 They are a small group of leaders and elites.
 The emphasis is more on quality than quantity.
 Militia Type (Fascist-Nazi)
 They are modeled on Army command
 The organization is Hierarchical.
 Fascist party of Mussolini, Red Guards of Communist party of China.
Sartori’s Paradigm-
 A clear taxonomic illustration of party system is given by Giovanni Sartori.
 According to him, party system is not shaped by number of parties, but by the number of parties
having systematic relevance .i.e. influencing systems.
 Book - Parties and Party Systems (1976)
 He classified party system into two types:

 Competitive System: It includes the real participation and interaction of power and political parties. This
type is further sub-divided into following classes:
 Polarized Pluralism: which include a combination of bi and multi-party system.
o Simple Two party system
o Moderate Pluralism
o Extreme Pluralism
 Two Party Systems: here two parties are in complete position to compete with each other.
 Pre-dominant Party System
 Atomized Party System: this is fragmented leader by leader with a small group revolving around
each leader.
 Non – Competitive System: In this system the contestants and the opponents are deprived of equal
rights to participate in the political process. He further divided this system into:
 Single Party System: According to Sartori,”in this system only party exists, and is allowed to exist”.
He further sub-divide it into:
o One Party Totalitarian
o Party Authoritarian
o One Party Pragmatic
 Hegemonic Party System: here no other parties are allowed to exist. He further sub-divided it into:
o Ideological Hegemonic Party
o Pragmatic Hegemonic Party

Robert Michel (Iron Law of Oligarchy)-

 He has given the concept of „Iron Law of Oligarchy’ in his book, „Political Parties’
 He has analyzed the internal functioning of socialist parties in Germany to examine the claim of Marxists
that socialist parties operate on different principles.
 5

 He came to a conclusion that, there is no difference in the internal functioning. All power is in the
hands of top leaders.
 Hence he suggested that, Oligarchy is the Iron Law – Power will always remain in the hands of
Elites.
 Masses never shape decisions.
 Irrespective of the ideology, all parties operate in a similar fashion.

Lenin’s Theory-
 He has given the theory of „Communist Party‟ in his pamphlet „what is to be done now’
 Marx never accepted the idea of party because party creates hierarchy which goes against the notion of
equality.
 Lenin believed that workers are not capable of developing the revolutionary consciousness on their
own.
 Hence the political parties will act as ‘Vanguard of revolution’
 According to him, communist party is different from Trade Unions. Trade Unions are parts of the
Bourgeoisie system whereas political parties (Communist parties) can bring workers to power.
 It is a secret society as the aim of the party is to overthrow the state.
 It will have its cells at local levels.
 It is Pyramidal in structure, Broad at the base.
 It works on the principle of Democratic Centralism.
 Top leadership will do what is determined at the base (Bottom-up Approach)

Joseph La Palombara and Myron Weiner’s Party Configuration-

 Their classification of Party systems is based on Competitive and Non-competitive party systems.

Electoral
System

Competitive Non -
System Competitive

Hegemonic Turnover One Party One Party

system system Authoritarian Pluralistic One Party
Totalitarian

Almond’s Aggregative Classification of Party System-

 He applied the „input’ notion of aggregative function while classifying political parties:
 He classified them on the basis of:
 Organization:
 Authoritative Dominant
 Non – Authoritative
 Competitive Two Party
 6

 Competitive Multi Party

 Style:
 Secular Pragmatic Bargaining
 Ideological or absolute value oriented
 Particularistic or Traditional

Comparison between Western and Non-Western Party System-

 Political parties do not operate in vacuum. They are influenced by systemic factors which include
social, cultural, economic, etc.
 Features of Western Party Systems:
 They are mature democracies. Hence democracy is institutionalized. Thus political parties are also
democratic.
 There is internal democracy with respect to selection of leaders and candidates.
 The working of political parties is transparent and financially accountable.
 They are primarily built on Ideological lines.
 Features of Non-Western (Post Colonial) party systems:
 They show paradoxical features. The parties are modern and bureaucratic in organization, but
traditional in functioning.
 Politics in these countries is more complex and multi-dimensional.
 Political parties may not have secular ideologies.
 They lack Intra-party democracy.
 They are controlled by dynasties.
 They revolve around personality.
 They lack transparency and accountability.

# The theory of „Partyless Democracy’ has its roots in the political philosophy of George Washington, James
Madison, Mahatma Gandhi, M. N. Roy, Acharya Vinoba Bhave, Jayprakash Narayan. However, it is
considered as purely a ‘Utopian Idea’.
 1

UGC NET

DAILY
CLASS NOTES
Political Science

Comparative Political Analysis

Lecture – 11
Civil Society, Interest Groups & Ngo's
 2

Civil Society, Interest Groups & Ngo's

Civil Society–
● Civil society is referred as the third sector of the society that represents the shared interests, values,
purposes and behaviour of the public. It is distinct from government and commercial (for-profit actors).
● They in other words manifest the will and interests of the common people, family, and the private sphere.
● It includes charities, development NGOs, community groups, women's organizations, faith-based
organizations, professional associations, trade unions, social movements, coalitions, and advocacy groups
etc.
● Thus, civil society is used in the sense of:
(1) The aggregate of non-governmental organizations and institutions that manifest interests and will of
citizens or
(2) Individuals and organizations in a society which are independent of the government.
● The inclusion of civil society voices is essential to give expression to the marginalized and those who
often are not heard. Civil society actors can enhance the participation of communities in the provision of
services and in policy decision-making and therefore plays a vital role in ensuring that good governance
is implemented by the official authorities.
● They facilitate better awareness and a more informed citizenry, who make better voting choices,
participate in politics, and hold the government more accountable as a result.
● The role of civil society in society was promoted by many classical liberal theorists such as Hegel, Marx,
Alexis de Tocqueville, Ferdinand Tonnies etc.
● Gabriel Almond and Sidney Verba in the 20th century have further expressed their role in decision/policy
making by emphasizing on their contribution in a democratic order.
● Robert Putnam opines that such non-political organisation are vital for democracy to work as they help in
building mutual trust, cooperation, social capital, values etc. which by transferring to the political system
helps in keeping the society intact and together.
● However, theorists like Partha Chatterjee believes that the scope of „civil society is demographically
limited‟.
● Role and Significance of Civil society:
 3

1. Supporting the Government plans and projects.

2. Facilitating Communication in the Planning Process.
3. Mobilizing Local Resources and Initiatives for proper Planning.
4. Advocacy for underprivileged sections.
5. Monitoring and Evaluation of Government Policies via social audit.
6. Facilitating Development, Education, Training and Technical Assistance.

Civil Society Campaigns:

Tools/Mechanisms – The Civil society has played its role in bringing social change and influencing the State‟s
decisions through:
a. Protests
b. Demonstrations
c. Social movements
d. Offline and Online media such as Social media
e. Lobbying
f. PILs (Public Interest Litigation) etc.

Examples (with respect to India) –

● Chipko Movement
● Narmada Bachao Andolan - Medha Patkar and Baba Amte, have received the Right Livelihood Award in
1991 for their contribution.
● Right to Information – MKSS in Rajasthan
● Child trafficking – Bachpan Bachao Andolan founded by Kailash Satyarthi received Nobel Peace Prize
along MalalaYousafzai in 2014.
● LGBT Rights – In 2017, SC declared section 377 of Indian Penal Code as null and void. Few
organisations such Naz Foundation, Ondede (founded by Akkai Padmashali), National AIDS Control
Organisation etc. played significant contribution.
● Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace 2013 – Vishakha and Others vs State of Rajasthan
● Movement for prevention of environment and Pollution control measures such as M. C. Mehta v. Union
of India under which the court shut down numerous industries and allowed them to reopen only after
controlled pollution disposal in the Ganga basin
● NGOs such as Administrative Democratic Reforms and People‟s Union for Civil liberties have played
significant contribution by filing PILs to improve the election procedures in India:
a. Disclosure of Candidate Background (Criminal, Educational & Financial) to Election Commission
(2003) - filed by ADR in December 1999 culminated into a landmark Supreme Court Judgment.
b. The Supreme Court's Judgment On NOTA (September 2013) – Both PUCL and ADR played a
significant contribution in inserting the NOTA button in the EVM machines for the first time during
the 2014 Lok Sabha elections.
c. Disqualification Of Convicted MPs/MLAs (2013) - On a petition filed by Lily Thomas and Lok
Prahari NGO, where ADR also intervened, the Supreme Court stated that if a sitting MP/MLA is
convicted (not only charged) then he/ she would be disqualified immediately and the seat would be
declared as vacant.
d. Introduction of VVPAT (Voter Verified Paper Audit Trail) (People‟s Union for Civil Liberties vs.
Union of India case - 2013)
 4

Non-Governmental Organisations:
● An NGO or a non-governmental organization is a private institution and is independent of the
government.
● NGOs essentially are non-profit making and works as service-oriented organizations committed to the
development and welfare of the community.
● Some NGOs may be a group of volunteers helping to sustain individuals or families, while others may
emphasize the empowerment of communities to bring about societal transformation or change.
● There are other terms such as Community Based Organizations (CBO), Non-profit organizations (NPO)
or Voluntary organizations (VO) which are frequently used to describe such organizations. In fact, these
terms describe their functions more directly than "non-government."
● Most NGOs are humanitarian and service oriented and works to improve the social, political, and
economic conditions of the society and people living within it.
● However, NGOs also work as lobbying groups for corporations and civil society, so as to create pressure
and influence decision/law making at the State level.
● According to [Link] (the non-governmental organizations associated with the United Nations,), "[an
NGO is] any non-profit, voluntary citizens' group which is organized on a local, national or international
level ... Task-oriented and driven by people with a common interest, NGOs perform a variety of service
and humanitarian functions, bring citizen concerns to Governments, advocate and monitor policies and
encourage political participation through provision of information."
● NGOs are known in some countries as non-profit organizations, and political parties and trade unions too
are sometimes considered NGOs.
● Thus, NGOs have following characteristics:
1. They are private, i.e., separate from government
2. They do not return profits generated to their owners or directors
3. They are self-governing, i.e., not controlled by government
4. They are registered organisations or informal groups, with clearly defined aims and objectives
● NGOs are classified by orientation and level of operation; orientation refers to the type of activities an
NGO undertakes. Activities may include human rights, environmentalism, health, or development.
● An NGO's level of operation indicates the scale at which an organization works: local, regional, national,
or international.
● Types of NGOs:

Based on Orientation:
● Charities: Often a top-down effort, with little participation or input from beneficiaries, they include
NGOs directed at meeting the needs of disadvantaged people and groups.
● Service: Includes NGOs which provide healthcare (including family planning) and education.
● Participation: Self-help projects with local involvement in the form of money, tools, land, materials, or
labor.
● Empowerment and Training/Capacity Building: Aim to help poor people understand the social, political,
and economic factors affecting their lives, and to increase awareness of their power to control their lives.
● Advocacy – Performing the task of pleading or arguing for rights and privileges of the exploited or
underprivileged. Such NGOs will speak out on issues of concern and may even conduct an intensive
campaign to change laws or policies
● Consultancy and Research – Working towards analysis and investigation of future goals and objectives.
 5

● Faith based/Religious based Organisations – Promotion of religious ideologies/elements are a priority.

However, they are also involved in other social services work such as establishment of schools, colleges,
hospitals etc. Example - YMCA

Based on level of operations:

● Community-based organizations (CBOs) are popular initiatives which can raise the consciousness of the
urban poor, helping them understand their right to services, and providing such services.
● City-wide organizations include chambers of commerce and industry, coalitions of business, ethnic or
educational groups, and community organizations.
● State NGOs include state-level organizations, associations, and groups. Some state NGOs are guided by
national and international NGOs.
● National NGOs include national organizations, professional associations, and similar groups. Some have
state or city branches and assist local NGOs.
● International NGOs range from secular agencies to religious groups. They may fund local NGOs,
institutions, and projects, and implement projects.

Significance of NGOs:
● Demonstrate a Sense of Commitment.
● Primarily Work for marginalized, voiceless and the Poor.
● Able to Reach Remote Areas of Need i.e. those areas/issues which are sometimes even neglected by the
govt.
● Possess First-Hand Knowledge of Local Conditions.
● Plays a significant role in representing the needs and interest of the society and members of the society.
● Under collaborative governance, NGOs plays an important role in helping the government in formulating,
implementing and evaluating public policies for social, cultural and economic welfare and development
of the society.

Interest Group & Revolution-

Interest Group/Pressure Group-
❖ Interest groups are considered as vital for the functioning of the political system.
❖ In his Structural-functional approach Gabriel Almond puts pressure groups as inputs. Pressure
groups/Interest group perform the function of Interest Articulation.
❖ Almond & Powell say that, “The process by which individuals and groups make demands upon the
political decision-makers we call interest articulation.”
❖ Two prominent scholars who provided classification of Interest groups/Pressure group are [Link] and
Jean Blondel.
❖ Almond and Powell say: “By „interest group‟ we mean a group of individuals who are linked by
particular bonds of concern or advantage, and who have some awareness of these bonds.
❖ David Truman (1951) has described interest group as „a shared attitude that makes certain claims upon or
through institutions of government‟.
❖ According to Harry Eckstein (1960), „By pressure group, we mean any organized group which attempts
to influence government decisions without seeking to exercise the formal powers of government.‟
 6

Institutional Interest Group: These groups are formally organised which consist of professionally employed
persons. They are a part of government machinery and try to exert their influence. But they do have much
autonomy. These groups include political parties, legislatures, armies, bureaucracies and churches.
Associational Interest Groups: These are organised specialised groups formed for interest articulation, but to
pursue limited goals. These include trade unions, organisations of businessmen and industrialists and civic
groups.

Anomic Interest Groups: These are the groups that have analogy with individual self-representation. In such
type of groups, perpetual infiltrations such as riots, demonstrations are observed. These groups are found in the
shape of movement demonstrations and processions, signature campaigns, street corner meetings, etc. Their
activities may either be constitutional or unconstitutional.
Non-Associational Interest Groups: These are the kinship and lineage groups and ethnic, regional, status and
class groups that articulate interests on the basis of individuals, family and religious heads. These groups have
informal structure. These include caste groups, language groups, etc.
 7

Customary Groups: The groups that essentially follow the customs and traditions of the community fall in the
category of customary groups. The groups of castes and sub-castes in India are of this type.
Institutional groups: Blondel has described those community groups as institutional who are formed by people
living together for a long time, and who develop common social relationship. Some of the examples of this type
can be welfare associations of serving or retired soldiers like the veterans unions, the civil servants welfare
associations, or the senior citizens‟ welfare bodies.
Protective groups: The protective groups try to protect the interests of their members like those of trade unions
and associations of traders or professionals. They, thus, have more or less homogeneous clientele.
Promotional Group: The promotional groups, on the other hand, have membership or large cross-sections of
community. The promotional groups may include group for disarmament, or the Greens seeking promotion of
environmental security.
 1

UGC NET

DAILY
CLASS NOTES
Political Science

Comparative Political Analysis

Lecture – 12
Electoral Systems
 2

Electoral Systems
Electoral system-
An electoral system is the method used to calculate the number of elected positions in government that
individuals and parties are awarded after elections. In simpler terms, it described how votes are translated into
seats.

First past the Post System-

 'first-past-the-post', is a concept of relative majority, or more commonly described as the simple plurality
system.
 It implies that the winner is the candidate who receives the maximum number of votes.
 According to the single majority system, it is possible to win an election without winning a majority of
votes. For instance, in an election, in which three candidates receive 40, 35, and 25 per cent of votes,
respectively, the winner is the candidate who received 40 per cent of the vote.
 In election, it means the one with maximum number of votes wins the seat, even if it is less than half of
total votes polled.
 Westminster
 United States
 India
 One objection to plurality has been that the democratic principle of majority rule is violated

Second Ballot System/ Majority-plurality Method-

 It is used to ensure that the candidate who is declared elected secures more than fifty per cent votes.
 Repeated ballots method is used, as many rounds of voting as are necessary to elect a candidate with an
absolute majority.
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 The major drawback of the method is that a large number of rounds of voting may be necessary, this
making it impractical for mass elections.
 The major example is the electoral system for the French National Assembly.
 This method requires a majority for election on the first ballot; if no candidate has received such a
majority, a second ballot is conducted and the winner is the candidate who has won a plurality of votes.

Limited Vote Plan-

 Invented by political scientist Steven J. Brams.
 Here Voters can cast votes for as many candidates as they like instead of only for their most preferred
candidate.
 For example, if there are five seats, voters call vote for one, two, three, or four of these candidates but not
for five candidates.
 Limited Vote Plan, also called Approval voting, and has been adopted by several private associations.

Condorcet Method-
 Invented by the Marquis de Condorcet.
 It asks the voters to choose between each of the possible pairs of candidates. The Condorcet winner is the
candidate who defeats all other candidates in these pairwise contests.
 For example, when there are three candidates - A, B, and C- voters are asked to choose between A and B,
between A and C, and between B and C. For instance, if a majority of the voters prefers A to B and also
A to C, candidate A wins.

Drawbacks of Majoritarian System-

 One of the serious shortcomings of majoritarian electoral system has been that when an entire legislature
is elected by majoritarian methods, large parties tend to be favoured.
 The reason is that in each single-member constituency the candidates of small parties do not have much
of a chance to be elected.
 Hence majoritarian elections tend to yield considerable disproportionality between votes cast and seats
won as a result of the overrepresentation of the largest parties and the underrepresentation of small
parties.

Proportional Representation-
 Proportional representation was invented in the nineteenth century. It was adopted by many European
democracies about the turn of the century or in the early decades of the twentieth century.
 The major reason many countries have adopted proportional representation is, as the term indicates, to
avoid the disproportionalities inherent in majoritarian systems and to achieve a relatively high degree of
proportionality between votes cast and seats won.

Single Transferable Vote System-

 It is also known as Hare System because it was first suggested by Thomas Hare
 It is known as Preferential Vote System because each voter is required to indicate his/her preferences of
candidates on the ballot paper, though the vote is only one.
 Can be used when there is a multiple-member constituency, which means three or more members are to
be elected from one constituency.
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 Each voter is entitled only to one vote, which may be transferred, if necessary, according to the
preferences indicated by the voter on the ballot paper. That is why it is called single transferable vote
system.
 After the polling, the total number of votes polled are divided by total number of seats + 1, and 1 is added
to the quotient. This then becomes quota, and a candidate in order to be able to get elected is required to
receive the number of votes equal to the quota.
 The candidates who polled least number of votes are eliminated, one by one, and all their votes are
transferred according to their second/third preferences.
 This method is used in the elections to Indian Rajya Sabha; it is also used for our State Legislative
Councils, for the Senate of Australia, and for parliamentary elections in Malta and Ireland.

List System-
 This method is also operates in multiple-member constituencies.
 Different parties put up lists of as many candidates (each) as number of members to be elected.
 If seven persons are to be elected. Each party will put up a list of seven candidates in the preference in
which they would like to be elected.
 The voters vote for parties and not individuals.
 Quota is fixed by dividing total number of votes by number of seats.

Semi-proportional Method-
 The single nontransferable vote method gives each voter one vote in multi-member districts, and the
candidates with the most votes win.
 In this system it is relatively easy for minority parties to gain representation.
 For instance, a party with slightly more than 20 per cent support that nominates one candidate in a four-
member district is assured of getting this candidate elected, without the use of a formal proportional
representation system.
 At the national level, the major example is Japan.

Slate System-
 This is a peculiar system used in the election of American President's Electoral College election.
 In each State different parties put up their lists (called Slates). Voters vote for a Slate, not individual
candidates).
 The slate which gets majority of votes polled is declared elected in its totality.
 Thus, if 51% voters in California vote for Democratic Slate, all the 54 Democrats will be elected and
none of the Republican will get in.
 ‘This may be described as a variety of majoritarian method.

Cumulative Vote System-

 May be called a semi-proportional method, in which a minority (racial, linguistic, etc.) can pool all its
votes in favour of one candidate.
 Thus, if ten members are to be elected from one constituency, the voters have ten votes which they may
use the way they like.
 A voter may cast one vote each for ten different candidates or 5 each for two candidates, or all the 10
votes for one candidate.
 The voter writes number of votes given for a candidate.
 The ten with maximum number of votes get elected.
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Countries and their Electoral system-

Country Office Electoral System Speciality
Germany President single winner Through Federal Convention in which
Half the member are the Bundestag,
the other half is appointed by state
legislatures
Parliament(Bundestag & combination of first-past-
Bundesrat the-post and proportional
representation
France President Two-round system
National Assembly Two-round system
Switzerland National Council Proportional Party list PR: Open lists: D'Hondt
method
England House of Commons First-past-the-post
Russia President Two-round system
Ukraine President Two-round system if a candidate can not capture more
than 50% of the vote in the first round
USA President Electoral college members
chosen using FPTP
Canada House of Commons First-past-the-post
Brazil President Two-round system
South National Assembly Party-list proportional
Africa representation
Egypt President Two-round system
Nigeria House of Representatives FPTP
Japan House of Representatives Mixed of FPTP & Party-
list proportional
representation
South President FPTP
Korea
Indonesia People's Representative Party-list proportional
Council representation
Iran President Two-round system (25% of votes in 1st round)
Israel Knesset Party-list proportional
representation
Nepal House of Representatives Mixed of FPTP & Party-
list proportional
representation
Pakistan National Assembly FPTP Some members appointed by parties
proportional with seats won
 1

UGC NET

DAILY
CLASS NOTES
Political Science

Comparative Political Analysis

Lecture – 13
Theories of Revolution & Social
Movements & NSM
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Theories of Revolution & Social Movements & NSM

Topic: Theories of Revolution, Social Movements & NSM

Theories of Revolution-
Aristotle’s Theory on Revolution-
 In his work, “Politics”, he provided his ideas about revolutions.
 It is his study of nearly 158 constitutions that helped him understand the implications of revolutions
on a political system.
 According to Aristotle, any change, big or small, peaceful or violent is revolution.
 Aristotle is a conservative and is worried about changes. He prefers stability over change.
⮚ General causes of revolution:
✔ Common cause is the feeling of Inequality.
✔ Corruption among ruling class
✔ Too much influx of foreigners
✔ Insolence or disrespect is displayed by the other members.
✔ Fear is a genuine and a worst enemy of man and human institutions.
 Solutions to curb revolution:
✔ Change is inevitable
✔ Ensuring that people do not get the feeling of injustice
✔ Keeping a check on corruption
✔ Keeping a check on movements inside and outside the state
✔ Ensuring that the social balance does not get disturbed.

Karl Marx Theory of Socialist Revolution

✔ According to Karl Marx ‘Revolutions are the locomotives of history’.
✔ Marx & Engels introduced the idea of Socialist Revolution in “The Communist Manifesto”
✔ He held that historically each new property owing class brings the revolution in the name of all
members of Society but establish itself as the ruling class after the transformation and exploits the
property less class.
✔ Marx viewed social classes as the agents of revolution.
✔ Marx strongly asserted that it was only the class of Proletariat whose revolution would abolish
private property and class Society.
✔ In his Manifesto of the Communist Party he calls state as the instrument of the ruling class,
therefore, according to him; the Proletariat must capture State power in order to bring about the
revolution.
✔ He advocated Dictatorship of the Proletariat to exclude the members of the bourgeoisie class from
the state till the time private property was not expropriated.
✔ Marx in Critique of the Gotha Program reiterated the need for dictatorship of the proletariat.

Theda Skocpol Views on Revolution-

✔ Theda Skocpol is an American sociologist and political scientist.
✔ In her book “States and Social Revolutions: A Comparative Analysis of France, Russia and China”
published in 1979, she presented her views on Revolution.
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✔ She did a comparative study of French Revolution, Russian Revolution and Chinese communist
revolution.
✔ Skocpol asserts that social revolutions are rapid and basic transformations of a society's state and
class structures.
✔ She distinguishes social revolution from mere rebellions.
✔ What is unique about social revolutions, she argues, is that basic changes in social structure and
political structure occur in a mutually reinforcing fashion and these changes occur through intense
socio-political conflict.
✔ According to her before a social revolutions can occur, the administrative and military power of a
state has to break down.
✔ Skocpol explains social revolutions as being based on four factors:
(1) State social structures,
(2) International Competitive pressures
(3) International Demonstration effects
(4) Class relations

Social Movements & NSM-

Introduction-
Social Movements-
● A social movement refers to a loosely organized group that have come together to achieve/fulfill a
common goal, agenda or purpose.
● A social movement is also indicative to the efforts brought forward by large group of people in the
society to bring a „change‟ i.e. mostly a social or political change.
● Social movements have been described as "organizational structures and strategies that may empower
oppressed populations to mount effective challenges and resist the more powerful and advantaged elites"
● Paul Wilkinson defines social movement as “a deliberate collective endeavour to promote change in any
direction and by any means, not excluding violence, illegality, revolution or withdrawal into „utopian‟
community.
● Social movements are, according to Sidney Tarrow, “collective challenges, based on common purposes
and social solidarities in sustained interaction with elites, opponents and authorities”.
● In other words, three important elements of social movements are:
a. Collective action
b. Social change
c. Common purpose
● The Social movements gained currency in West i.e. in Europe in the 19th century, which was possible
through mass education, awareness of rights and increased mobility of labor due to
the industrialization and urbanization of 19th-century societies.
● Please note – Rioting, protests, agitation, or violent rebellion are not social movement as they are often
impulsive and do not aim at bringing social change. In other words, they are only a reaction to certain
circumstances. However, they can or may become part of a social movement if they are a part of series of
programme to engineer „community consciousness‟ or to challenge or even perpetuate power of a
particular group for status quo.
● For instance, when students of the engineering college in Gujarat protested against the Mess bill, it was a
relatively spontaneous act. But that protest led to the Nav Nirman Andolan of 1974 in Gujarat.
● Therefore, it means that all social movements are collective actions, but all collective actions need not
necessarily be social movements.
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● Social movements have five main components:

a. Objectives
b. Ideology
c. Programmes
d. Leadership
e. Organisation

Old and New Social Movements

● The Old Social movements refers to the classical movements of industrial societies majorly organized as
per the Marxists theoretical framework focusing on class structure of the participants, with ultimate
objectives to overthrow the present state, thus aiming at bringing total change.
● These movements, it is argued, primarily focus on the state power and on class consciousness of the
participants. The examples of the peasant or working-class movement against the feudal/semi-feudal
economic structure fall in this category.
● In other words, old social movements had a political agenda to usher a social movement.
● As against this, some of the recent movements particularly in and after the 1960s in Europe such as peace
movement, ecological movement, women‟s movement etc. are called „new‟ social movement. In India,
the movements around the issue of identity – Dalit, Adivasi, women, human rights, environment etc. are
also labeled as the „new‟ social movement.
● In one sense they are called „new‟ social movements because they have raised the issues related to
identity and autonomy which are non-class issues and do not confront with the state. They are the new
forms of social movements.
● The primary difference between old and new social movements are in their goals, as the new movements
focus not on issues of materialistic qualities such as economic wellbeing, but on issues related to human
rights.
● The new movements instead of pushing for specific changes in public policy emphasize social changes in
identity, lifestyle, and culture. It believed in changing the overall perspective and thought process of the
society and people living in it and are not intended to capture state power.
● Thus, the social aspect is seen by the NSM as more important than the economic or political aspects.
● It is clearly elaborated by Habermas that new social movements are the „new politics‟ which is about
quality of life, individual self-realisation and human rights whereas the „old politics‟ focus on economic,
political, and military security.
● However, it is wrong to say that in the past people did not raise and struggled for identity and autonomy.
For instance, the Birsa Munda movement in Chhota Nagpur during the 1899-1900 period was the struggle
to resist the intervention of the British state in their life. It was the movement to protect their autonomy.
● In fact as Andre Gunder Frank and Marta Fuentes (2002) argue that the „classical‟ working class
movements are the product of the 19th century industrial society. “On the other hand, peasant, localist
community, ethnic/nationalist, religious, and even feminist/ women‟s movements have existed for
centuries and even millennia in many parts of the world (2002).”
● Therefore the „old‟ and new‟ are not related to time. They differ in their features.
● Features/characteristics of NSM are as follows:
a. The New Social Movements (NSM) are not directing their collective action to state power. They are
concerned with individual and collective morality.
b. The new social movements are not class–based. They are multi-class. The new social movements are
either ethnic or nationalist and plural. Women‟s movement is an example. Gail Omvedt treats the
contemporary farmers‟ movement as „new‟ and non-class movement. It is a movement of small and
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poor as well as middle and rich farmers. These movements, she argues also have support of
agriculture labourers. It also has support of shopkeepers and also of high and low castes.
c. The new social movements are confined to and concern with civil society. The NSMs raise the issue
of the „self-defense‟ of the community and society against the increasing expansion of the state
apparatuses: agencies of surveillance and social control.
d. NSMs are not around economic issues of land, wages or property. They are primarily concerned with
self- identity and autonomy of an individual and community against the state, market and social
institutions. Therefore, dalit movement for dignity and adivasis movement for their autonomy are
treated as NSM.
e. Protest groups tend to be single issue based and are often local in terms of the scope of change they
wish to affect. In contrast, NSMs last longer than single issue campaigns and wish to see change on
an (inter)national level on various issues in relation to their set of beliefs and ideals. An NSM may,
however adopt the tactic of a protest campaign as part of its strategy for achieving wider-ranging
change.
f. NSMs are not concerned for the benefit of one class or group. They are concerned for the good of
every one irrespective of class. Environmental movement in that sense according to some scholars, is
NSM as it does not raise the issue of a particular class.
g. For some NSMs are grassroots or micro movements and do not have capturing state power on their
agenda. They are democratic in their organisational structure. According to Jean Cohen NSMs raise
issue which emerges from society rather than form state and economy. They are concerned with
democratisation in day to day life. They focus on communication and identity.
h. Some NSM theorists, like F. Parkin (Middle Class Radicalism, 1968), argue that the key actors in
these movements are different as well, as they are more likely to come from the "new middle class"
rather than the lower classes.
i. Unlike pressure groups that have a formal organisation and 'members', NSMs consist of an informal,
loosely organised social network of 'supporters' rather than members. British sociologist Paul
Byrne (1997) described New Social Movements as 'relatively disorganised'.

Important contributors - Important contributors in the field include sociologists such as Alain Touraine, Ernesto
Laclau, Chantal Mouffe, Claus Offe, Immanuel Wallerstein, Manuel Castells or philosophers such as Michel
Foucault, Jürgen Habermas and Félix Guattari.