Category: Government & Politics

Authoritarian Systems

In AUTHORITARIAN SYSTEMS, power resides with the state. This means that the state has the authority to make decisions concerning how power will be exercised and how the social order will be structured. In other words, only the state can make decisions regarding how people should live their collective lives.

In authoritarian systems, people have obligations and responsibilities to the state, but they do not necessarily have rights or privileges against the state (unless rights or privileges are granted to the people, as was the case with the Magna Carta, in which case the state may choose to reissue or recall those rights as it sees fit).  In authoritarian systems, people play the role of SUBJECTS who must submit to the state’s exercise of power.  

Governments that are considered to fall within the scope of authoritarian political systems include, but are not limited to,

• MONARCHY – undivided rule or absolute sovereignty by a single person
• DICTATORSHIP – rule or absolute power by a dictator or a small clique
• ARISTOCRACY – rule by the best suited, through virtue, talent, or education
• OLIGARCHY – rule by a few members of the elite, an economic class that controls political and economic affairs

Nonauthoritarian Systems

In NONAUTHORITARIAN SYSTEMS, power resides with the people. This means that individuals, either directly or indirectly, make decisions concerning how power will be exercised and how the social order will be structured. 

ANARCHY, or the absence of government, is considered to be the most extreme form of social order falling within the scope of nonauthoritarian political systems. 

DEMOCRACY also falls within the scope of nonauthoritarian political systems.  In democracies, power resides with the people.  People play the role of CITIZENS who have consented to be governed; they have obligations and responsibilities to the state, and the state provides procedural guarantees to preserve their rights as citizens. 

POWER is simply the ability to get others to do what you want.  Power is central to the politics and government, which is reflected in our basic definitions of these concepts: recall that politics involves distributing limited power and resources in society, and government is defined as the structure through which AUTHORITY (i.e., power that is viewed as legitimate) is exercised over a group of people.

Power in the civil arena has many different sources, and the exercise of power can take many different forms.  Understanding where power comes from and how it can be exercised within the civic arena can help you more effectively engage in civic life.

GOVERNMENT is the structure through which authority is exercised over a group of people.  Government provides society with:

1. rules about conflict resolution and the allocation of resources
   • U.S. constitution and constitutional law; federal statutory laws; federal administrative rules and regulations
   • Texas Constitution; Texas statutory laws; Texas administrative rules and regulations
   • local ordinances
2. institutions where governmental power is exercised to enforce those rules and maintain social order
   • U.S. Congress (i.e., U.S. House of Representatives and U.S. Senate); President and federal bureaucracy; federal courts (Supreme Court, courts of appeals, district courts)
   • Texas Legislature (i.e., Texas House of Representatives and Texas Senate); plural executive and bureaucracy; state courts (Texas Supreme Court, Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, courts of appeals, and district courts)
   • county government (commissioner’s courts), municipal government, local courts (justices of the peace, municipal courts, and county courts), and special districts

Government is created to promote the safety and well-being of the nation.  Of course, not everyone agrees on what this means or how best to achieve this goal (i.e., which collective goals the government should seek to accomplish, and which benefits the government should seek to provide).  As a result, conflict arises within government, making politics necessary.

Similarly, not everyone agrees as to whether – and why – we should have government, nor does everyone agree on what the “right” form of government looks like. 

Because of the rules and institutions we have in place and the way that we have divided power between the different levels of government, our government is considered a CONSTITUTIONAL FEDERAL REPUBLIC, which is a form of indirect or representative democracy.

For more information about the different types of government found around the world today, check out the CIA World Factbook website.

“POLITICS is who gets what, when, and how.”- Harold Lasswell

Politics is a process

Politics refers to the process through which we arrange and live our collective lives in a social order based on legitimate principles.  LEGITIMACY comes from the belief that something is right and proper, and it compels obedience.   

Politics is a fundamental human activity

According to Aristotle, people are political animals because we are social creatures with the power of speech and the ability to engage in moral reasoning.  This means that when conflict arises, people can collectively determine who gets what, when, and how by coming together, engaging in discourse with others, and agreeing upon which principles are legitimate.  

Politics allows for conflict resolution

Power and resources are not unlimited.  There’s only so many fish in the sea; so many jobs in a geographic area; so much meat, produce, or toilet paper available for distribution to retailers; etc.  Similarly, power is subject to limitations and constraints. 

When power and resources are limited, conflict is inevitable.  Politics allows us to determine how power and limited resources can be distributed within society without being limited to the use of force or violence.  As social creatures with the power of speech, people can engage in bargaining, coercion, compromise, cooperation, deceit, and persuasion when determining who gets what, when, and how.  This does not mean, however, that politics does not sometimes result in the use of force.

Politics is everywhere

Politics does not only exist in the context of government; politics exists within any social context.