Comparative Politics

Section No.2
1. State
a. Aristotele: “A Union of Families and Villages having for its end a perfect and self-
sufficing life by which we mean a happy and honorable life”.
i. There will be anarchy without the State.
ii. Necessary for leading good life.
b. “Is a community of persons, more or less, numerous, permanently occupying a
definite portion of territory independent or nearly so of external control and
possessing an organized government to which greater body of inhabitants render
habitual obedience.
i. Population: A considerable group of human beings;  
ii. Territory:  A defined area of earth’s surface upon which the population
permanently resides.
iii. Government: A political organization through which the will or law of the
state is expressed and administrated.
iv. Sovereignty: the supremacy of the state over all individuals and
associations within it and the independence of the state from external
control.
v. International Recognition: By the UN and intr. community, and start
diplomatic relations.
2. Gabriel Almond’s 8 Functions of the State
8 key functions states need to carry out in order to survive:
a. Political Socialization: process of acquiring political orientation.
i. Political socialization: is the process of ‘induction into the political
culture’. Members of the system inculcate values, goals, norms and
attitudes pertaining to the political system.
ii. The main agencies of socialization with varying forms and effects are:
family, school, church, peer-groups, work-groups, office, service associa-
tions, political parties, governmental structures, media etc. All tend to
prepare individuals for appropriate roles. These roles interact, and make up
the political system.
iii. In view of its impact on the present and future course of system, it
becomes important to know who controls the socialization process and
with what purpose. It may aim at maintaining the status quo (as in Pakistan
and Bangladesh), development (in India), revolutionary change (in Cuba),
or military grandeur (in China).
iv. Obviously, except in a democracy, the ruling elite control the form and
content of socialization. But at the family level, it is latent, informal, and
affective. Later, it becomes manifest, formal, and intellectual.
b. Political Recruitment: bringing people into roles as political activists.
i. It is political socialization which determines the form of political
recruitment. It decides who would take up what roles. Recruiting
individuals to appropriate political roles bears a direct relationship with the
maintenance of a political system.
c. Political Communication: flow of political information through society.
i. Communication is the medium through which all other functions are
performed. Almond equates it to circulation of blood in human body. Its
scope and form is wider than conventional terms like public opinion, mass
media, press, etc. It is sharing of ideas, information, and values by various
 means, and expressions thereof. It performs the function of boundary-
maintenance by deciding on the issues as political or non-political.
Political communication interconnects society and polity directly and
through feedback.
ii. In every political system there must exist a network of elaborate
communication system and it must have enough autonomy to work
independently. We can treat it as an important precondition and it is
essential for successful functioning of the political system.
d. Interest Articulation: communication of needs/wants from state.
i. It is the process of joining issues and problems, or making of common
interest among small scattered groups.
ii. Articulation of interest can take place by and through many structures: 
 Institutions, e.g., legislature, services, army, etc.
 Non-institutional interest groups, e.g., tribes, racial groups, priests,
community, etc.
 Anomic-interest groups, e.g., spontaneous rioting, demonstrations,
etc.
 Associational -groups, e.g., civic, cultural, and other commercial
associations, trade unions, etc.
e. Interest Aggregation: transformation of needs/wants into few coherent
alternatives.
i. A political system can cope with innumerable interest or diversities if they
again are aggregated or grouped at higher levels. Various interests,
demands, pressures, wants, etc., have to be combined and expressed in the
form of broad policy decisions.
ii. Interest aggregation enables the system to operate in a simplified,
acceptable, responsive, accountable, and efficient manner. It becomes easy
for it to jump from input to output stage. Aggregation makes it possible to
act in a measurable and calculated way.
iii. Structures specialised to perform aggregation-functions are political
parties, council of ministers, bureaucracy, etc. The political parties are
particularly suitable to do this job.
f. Policy Making: establishing laws/policy decisions/value allocations.
g. Policy Implementation: application of laws/policy decisions.
h. Policy Adjudication: interpreting/resolving disagreement regarding meaning
& implementation of policies.
3. Closed Definitions of the State
a. Nation:
i. A set of people with a deeply shared fundamental identification, having a
community of understanding of communication, and of trust, based on
factors such as culture, religion, ethnicity, language, kinship.
ii. Unlike the state, nation’s definition is not based on legal or structural-
functional premises, but instead on powerful psychological and emotional
association.
iii. WHICH ONE IS A NATION?
 USA Belgium Japan USSR Kurds Slovenia Yugoslavia
 Answer: (Japan- Kurds- Slovenia)
b. Nation-State:
i. “-Is an area that has both the territorial boundaries of a single state and a
citizenry who all share the same primary national identity
 ii. Self-determination: concept that every nation/ethnicity has the right to
govern themselves
iii. ADDING CULTURE TO THE EQUATION
iv. Example: Sweden, Japan, Greece, most of European countries-
v. -Mostly culturally homogenous with few minorities
vi. 1+1+1 -State (Name)+Nation/People+ Language
vii. WHICH ONE IS A NATION-STATE?
 France - Palestine – Switzerland – Denmark
 Answer (France and Denmark)

c. Stateless Nation
i. Kurds: An ancient group with a distinctive language and culture, and
concentrate in Turkey, Iran, and Iraq. Smaller numbers live in Syria,
Armenia, and Azerbaijan.
d. Statelets/Microstate
i. A small state, especially one that is closely affiliated to or has emerged
from the break-up of a larger state.
ii. Microstates are defined as a small area of land that has a small population
that is considered to be a sovereign state. Sovereignty means that
these microstates each of their own government that is able to govern itself
without help from another state/government.
iii. Example: Vatican, Liechtenstein, Monaco, San Marino, Andorra, the Cook
Islands, Niue, and the Federated States of Micronesia.
e. Multi-National State
i. Former U.S.S.R.: The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics was born of the
Russian Empire in 1917. It encompassed over 100 different nationalities,
fifteen of which were assigned Union Republic status. The Soviet Union
ceased to exist on December 26, 1991, in part because of the “nationalities
problem.”
ii. Another example is Canada: It contains three distinct nations (native
Canadians and British and French origins) and has two official languages,
English and French.
f. Federal State
i. A form of states in which power is divided between one central
government and the lower levels of government such as states or
provinces.
ii. Central government is powerful but cannot dissolve states or choose state
leaders.
iii. The United States, Brazil, Canada, Germany, Mexico, and Russia.
g. Confederal State
i. Countries agree to work together to solve problems or provide for their
people.
ii. Countries may sign a treaty to trade together, defend each other, or have a
common currency.
iii. Usually membership in the confederation is voluntary and all members are
equal.
iv. European Union and British Commonwealth of Nations (former British
colonies)