Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Chapter 2 Institutions: Economic, Political and Legal Systems
Chapter 2 Institutions: Economic, Political and Legal Systems
INSTITUTIONS:
ECONOMIC, POLITICAL AND
LEGAL SYSTEMS
How do legal changes in South Africa since 1994 affect opportunities for business people
of all ethnic groups?
The financial crises of 2008 revealed that banks made major mistakes in
their risk management practices. Probing deeper, it emerged that a
combination of cognitive and normative pressures may be at fault.
• Totalitarianism (dictatorship)
– System in which one person or party exercises absolute
political control over the population
Civil law
• A legal tradition that uses comprehensive statutes and codes as a
primary means to form legal judgments.
Common law
• A legal tradition that is shaped by precedents and traditions from
previous judicial decisions.
Case law
• Rules of law that have been created by precedents of cases in court.
• Trademarks
– exclusive legal rights of firms to use specific names,
brands and designs to differentiate their products from
others.