Introduction to political science

October 16th

Political regimes

-the discussions on political regimes has started with the Greeks

-the state is a problem of modern philosophy, of political modernity
-the state is both a recent discussion (roughly around the 15th century)

Regime - the term designates the shape or the structure of a political

community.
The regime refers to the specific mechanisms that organise political authorities,
that define authorities and institutions, that describes the mechanisms of
designation.
The regime refers to the prerogatives that each institution has and describes the
rules, both legal and political, that organise the relationships between different
institutions, public authorities etc.

The political system includes the regime, but it has other elements as well:
-actors that exist in any political community (media, pressure groups, political
parties etc)
-electoral systems
-different types of political behaviours
-different hystorical aspects - comparisons between different episodes within a
political system.

(In everyday language, the regime and the political system can be sinonyms)

Regimes according to the Greek philosophers

Key question: "What is the best regime?" (normative question) - central motif to
the philosophy of both Plato and Aristotle - who started from an ethical standard.
-the criteria to classify regimes was similar to both:
1) according to the number of those who govern
2) the criteria of justice

Plato
-Basic question: What is justice?

-reference to the human soul as a tool in understanding the regime

(correspondence between the human soul and the polis)
-Justice is the harmonious ordering of the key functional classes in the polis: the
philosophers rule, the soldiers defend the city, the producers provide for the city.
-The rational part of the human soul corresponds to the rational part of the polis
= the philosophers
-the passional part of the human soul corresponds to the passional part of the
polis = the soldiers => thymos
-the earthly appetite of the human soul corresponds to the earthly appetite of
the polis = the producers
-Why should a philosopher rule? Because he is the only one that has the vision of
what is good, his intellect allows him to grasp the truth of reality (not the image,
nor the reflection) and because of his education he can critically examine ideas.
-If each functional class of the polis does that which it is best endowed to do (by
nature), the polis is governed well and there is justice; conflicts would be
outruled.
-The other regimes are measured according to the distance of this ideal just
regime (= the republic), being more and more deficient (harmony is broken, the
philosophers do not rule).
Aristocracy (next best or maybe even the best regime = republic)
-The deficient forms of government:
a) Thymocracy (soldiers rule)
b) Oligarchy (government by the rich and those who love money for the sake of
money)
c) Democracy (government by the many poor, who have an equal share of
freedom and power)
d) Tyranny (the lawless rule of one man) - the exact opposite of the republic
-Justice is the natural harmony of the cathegories that make up the polis.

Aristotle
-despite his criticism to Plato, he remained indebted to his master for many of his
basic ideas, i.e. Aristotle endorses the need to understand the best regime, He
relates ethics to politics and he looks for the best regime, aka the regime that is
closest to the human nature.
-the best regime: polity/politeia or constitutional government.
-polity = mixed regime (from democracy and oligarchy) - regime based upon the
many, but a regime that seeks to respect the common good - the freedom of the
many poor united with the wealth of the few rich - such a mixed government
would be based on a well educated, reasonably virtuous, sufficiently wealthy
middle class in between with interest in and time for politics.
-the polity is not the best in the sense of ideal, but in the sense of sustainable
and practical.
-ideal for Aristotle: monarchy - rule of a virtuous, rich one in the interest of the
common good.

number common good selfish interest

one monarchy tyranny

a few aristocracy oligarchy

the many polity (mixt) democracy

Modern political philosophy has a totally different approach on the inquiry for the
best regime. It derives from the Greek philosophy.
The language of modern political philosophy is more abstract, more conceptual,
more technical than the language of Greek philosophy.
Modern political philosophy is opposed in many ways to Greek and even early
Christian philosophy (the tradition in philosophy, which is often an impediment).
Modern philosophy does not consider the political community as natural, but it is
artificial, constructed.
Modern philosophy's ambition is to explain reality, not to search for the best
regime.
Modern philosophy tackles political regimes beyond any normative judgement.
Its major concern is the efficiency of the regimes, not the values or the value of
the regime, not the truth of a regime => dissolution of ethical and moral
perspective on politics.
The merit of a regime is judged according to its efficiency.
Raymond Aron:
-includes a Greek type of inquiry, the Greek tradition of political philosophy.
-keeps one Greek criteria of classifying regimes: the number of those who govern
- reffering to the number of parties who govern, not the number of persons
-the number of the parties who rule designate the nature of the regime:
-the one (monopolistic) party regime, i.e.: The Soviet Union
-the pluralist constitutional regime = a constitutional organization of
peaceful competition for power i.e. Western countries contemporary to the
Soviet Union
-two different principles that rule in two different regimes:
-one official ideology, one truth, based on fear
-the respect of the rule of law and compromise.

Democratic regimes
-modern democracy is representative, indirect (we are too many, not everybody
has the time, not everybody is intelligent enough)
-compromise between the direct involvement of the people
-people consent to be governed and represented (kewyord: consensus) - the
people is sovereign
-ruling is legitimate only if there is consent from the sovereign people.
-ruling in the name of god is illegitimate, as from the two great revolutions (1776
- Declaration of Independence of the US; 1789 - French Revolution - Declaration
of Rights of the Citizen and Individual)
-the ambition of modern government (democratic and liberal)
- to guarantee and protect the fundamental rights and freedoms of the
individuals (inherent to our nature, no political power can take them away)
- equality in front of the law
- freedom
- competition
- free choice both at the balot box and free choice on the market
- the limitation and separation of powers
- by dividing powers - institutions check and oppose one another
(checks and balances)
- by Constitutions
-Right to life, right to property, right to freedom (the three fundamental rights)
-representation: Greeks ignored it, moderns invented it, it is the weaker (risk of
oligarchy, tyranny of the majority, possibility of lack of trust) and the stronger
(doable, based on consent, efficient, the possibility of turnover, time in office is
limited) part of our regime.
-representation was, at the beginning, an attempt to limit power of the
monarchs.

Unfree regimes
a) Totalitarian regimes: the nazi regime (Germany under Hitler) and the Soviet
Union under Stalin
-one party monopoly
-total control
-hystorical necessity
-clear laws of history
-the supremacy of race (nazi)
-remodeling of society throught total state domination
-political opression, propaganda, censorship, fear
-the novelty and originality (nothing similar in the past)
b) Authoritarian regimes:
 -total control is not the ambition
-more fluent, more diverse
-the means to exercise power are different (limited means and
instruments)
-rarely have a very coherent ideology
1) patrimonial authoritarianism - a mixture between the private and
public resources of those who govern
- a confusion between politics and economy -
control over the market, monopoly
- may include elements of legal domination (a
constitution)
- African regimes
2) modernizing authoritarianism - the majority of authoritarian regimes
today
- there is a dominant group, but its aim is to
modernize society rapidly (Turkey after the collapse of the Ottoman Empire -
under the first president Kemal Ataturk - of military background)
-democratic rules are not accepted (limited pluralism)
-compromise between the different actors is not institutionalised
-may use repression (occasional)
-repression is less visible
-individuals are not expected to be mobilized - passive citizens