Political theory

(role of humans)

Reflect on actions
Possess reason
(analysis) (brings the
evidence)
Politics is power and opinions existing in society.

Political theory deals with the ideas and principles that shape
Constitutions, governments and social life in a systematic manner.
It clarifies the meaning of concepts such as freedom, equality, justice,
democracy, secularism and so on.

It probes the significance of principles such as rule of law, separation of

powers, judicial review,etc.

In ancient Greece, in the city of Athens, Socrates was described as the

‘wisest man’. He was known for questioning and challenging popularly
held beliefs about society, religion and politics. For this he was
condemned to death by the rulers of Athens.

Plato wrote extensively about the life and ideas of Socrates. In his
book ‘The Republic’, he created the character Socrates and through him
examined the question – what is justice?
 • Wider term (method (HOW) and
approach focus on study(WHAT))

• General
• Particular way of doing things
method • Procedure
• (comparison, inductive,
deductive )
ALAN BALL TRADITIONAL IS NOT A CRITICISM AND IT IS
IMPORTANT FOR MODERN POLITICAL STUDIES.

TRADITIONAL-
values(belief system of
individual),norms(accepted
rules),customs(conduct/behaviour)

WORLD WAR II

MODERN-
scientific method
behaviour, models
(interdisciplinary)
TRADITIONAL

PHILOSOPHICAL APPROACH- (ought to be)

Leo strauss –strongest supporter for philosophical approach.
Vernon Van Dyke – A philosophical analysis is an effort to clarify thought about the nature of the
subject and about ends and means in studying it.
linguistic clarity and to reduce linguistic confusion.
"standards of right and wrong“ - good, right, just
normative, descriptive, or prescriptive- slavery(kant vs aristotle)

HISTORICAL APPROACH-
historical events study - historical account of political thought of the past, as exemplified by
George H. Sabine's 'A History of Political Theory‘
It is necessary to recapitulate the circumstances under which a particular theory was produced, for
understanding its relevance to the present situation.

Criticized by Karl Popper has described this approach as 'historicism‘(beyond human ingenuity
and control).
David Easton has warned against living 'parasitically on ideas a century old' and failing to develop
a 'new political synthesis‘
However, it is seen that there are examples of thinkers drawing their ideas from historic thinkers-
John Rawls has built his celebrated theory of justice by drawing on the methodology of Locke and
Kant and by rejecting the utilitarian philosophy of Bentham and Mill.
LEGAL -
attempt to understand politics in terms of law /actions legally valid.
Vernon Van Dyke-
both the procedures and the substance of political action at every level are often controlled by law.
(LEGISLATURE, EXECUTIVE, JUDICIARY)

INSTITUTIONAL-
Government itself is an institution, and its various organs, such as
Parliament(legislature), Cabinet (executive), and Supreme Court (judiciary), etc.
Political parties—which exist separately—are also
institutions in their own right.
institutions in society, such as family, school, church, or club.

DRAWBACKS-
neglected the individual (voting behaviour and political attitudes )
neglected the study of international politics
neglected the role of violence or threat of violence, political movements and agitations, war and
revolutions, etc
MODERN APPROACH-
(a) they attempt to establish a separate identity of political science by focusing on the real
character of politics;
(b) they try to understand politics in totality, transcending its formal aspects and looking
for those aspects of social life which influence and are influenced by it.
Contemporary approaches-
(a) Behavioural approach; (b) post-behavioural approach; and (c) some important models
of political analysis.
(b) Systematic
(c) Experimental/scientific
(d) Facts and data
(e) Inter disciplinary
Behaviouralism, or the behavioural approach-
Fact laden and value free.
to the analysis and explanation of political phenomena, is particularly associated with the work
of American political scientists after the Second World War (1939-45), but its origins may be
traced back to the works of Graham Wallas.

greater emphasis on the informal processes of politics

less on political institutions in isolation.

new realism in political studies in the light of the new findings of contemporary
Psychology

political actions were not totally guided by reason and self-interest

Greatly inspired by sociology, he proceeded to undertake a study of the roles of
pressure groups, political parties, elections and public opinion in the political process.

Charles E. Merriam-
He deprecated the work of historians as they had ignored the role of psychological, sociological
and economic factors in human affairs.
He called for renewed scientific endeavour and emphasized the need for a 'policy science' by
using quantitative techniques already developed in the fields of psychology and sociology.
Behaviouralism came to accord primacy to higher degree of reliability &higher degree of
generality.
According to David Easton, the intellectual
foundations of behaviouralism consist of eight major tenets:

• Regularities: It implies that there are discoverable uniformities in political behaviour which can be
expressed in theory-like statements so as to provide for explanation and prediction of political
phenomena.
• Verification: It requires that the validity of such theory-like statements must be testable, in principle, by
reference to relevant behaviour.
• Techniques: It means that the means for acquiring and interpreting data should be examined self-
consciously, refined and validated for the purpose of observing, recording and analysing behaviour.
• Quantification: It is necessary because precision in the recording of data and statement of findings requires
measurement which should be expressed in terms of actual quantities to facilitate proper analysis.
• Values: The behaviouralists drew a clear distinction between ethical evaluation and empirical explanation,
which were concerned with values and facts respectively. They insisted that objective scientific inquiry
has to be value-free or value-neutral.
• Systematization: It stands for establishing close interrelationship between theory and research, because
research untutored by theory may prove trivial while theory unsupportable by data may turn out to be
futile.
• Pure Science: It holds that the understanding and explanation of political behaviour is essential to utilize
political knowledge in the solution of urgent practical problems of society.
• Integration: It signifies integration of political science with other social sciences in order to evolve a
comprehensive view of human affairs, to strengthen its validity and the generality of its own results.

Studies in beahvioural approach included- political socialization, political ideologies, political

culture,Political participation, political communication, leadership, decision-making, political violence
POST BEHAVIOURALISM-
(solution giving)
Leo Strauss had started arguing that the rise of behaviouralism was symptomatic of a
crisis in political theory.

behaviouralism realized that its strict adherence to 'pure science' was responsible for
its failure to attend to the pressing social and political issues.
David Easton himself in his presidential address to the American Political Science
Association, announced a new revolution in political science—'a post-behavioural
revolution'—that represented a shift of focus from strict methodological issues to a
greater concern with public responsibilities of the discipline and with political
problems.

Relevance and action were the twin slogans of post-behaviouralism. It represented no

complete departure from behaviouralism.

problem-solving and crisis management

Political analysis is the product of the empirical-scientific orientation in the study of politics.
However, political analysis in the real sense has flourished only in modern times.
Contemporary political science has evolved a large number of models of political analysis.
A model of political system in this sense was first developed by David Easton
 System analysis-
POLITICS AS THE 'AUTHORITATIVE ALLOCATION OF VALUES‘
Open system
political process
Social process
allocation of values = 'demands' from the society or 'environment‘
'authoritative‘ = 'supports' from the 'environment‘
'inputs‘ = 'demands‘ and 'supports‘
'outputs' = 'policies and decisions‘
'outputs' flow back into the environment
(1) demands for allocation of goods and services, such as wages and working conditions,
educational opportunities, recreational facilities, roads and transportation, etc.;
(2) demands for the regulation of behaviour, such as provision of public safety, controls over
markets and rules pertaining to marriage , health and sanitation;
(3) demands for participation in the political system, such as the right to vote, to hold office, to
petition government bodies and officials, and to form political associations; and
(4) demands for communication and information, such as the affirmation of norms, the
information regarding policy intent, and display of the majesty and power of the political system
in times of foreign threats as well as on ceremonial occasions.

(1) material supports, such as the payment of taxes and other levies, and rendering service in
public interest, such as social work or military Service
(2) obedience to law, rules and regulations;
(3) participatory supports, such as voting, political discussion and other forms of political
activity; and
(4) paying attention to governmental communication, and display of deference or respect to
public authority, symbols and ceremonials.

The outputs, which may be clubbed together as policies and decisions-

(1) extractions, which may take the form of tribute, taxes or personal services;
(2) regulations of behaviour, which may cover a wide range of human activities;
(3) allocation or distribution of goods and services, opportunities, honours, status
(4) symbolic outputs, including affirmation of values, display of political symbols and
communication of policy intent.
 Structural functional analysis-
Gabriel Almond and J.S. Coleman identified four characteristics of the political system:
(a) all political systems have political structures;
(b) the same functions are performed in all political systems with different frequencies and by
different kinds of structures;
(c) All political structures are multi-functional;.
(d) all political systems are 'mixed‘ systems in the cultural sense, i.e. they are based in a culture
which is always a mixture of the modern and the traditional.
Input functions are: Output functions are:
(1) Political socialization and recruitment; (1) Rule-making;
(2) Interest articulation; (2) Rule-application;
(3) Interest aggregation; and (3) Rule-adjudication.
(4) Political communication.

Political socialization is the process whereby an individual acquires attitudes and orientations
towards political phenomena; it also implies the process whereby society transmits political
norms and beliefs from one generation to the next. Family, school and other primary groups are
most suited to perform this function

Recruitment stands for the process whereby political groups obtain members for various
important roles in the political process, either in addition to the existing members or as
replacement for other members.

Interest articulation implies the processes whereby opinions, attitudes, beliefs, preferences, etc.
are converted into coherent demands on the political system.

Interest aggregation is the process whereby various divergent interests are collated and
translated into concrete demands of a very large section of society (preferably appealing to all
sections of society), policy proposals and programmes of action, etc.

Political communication is the process whereby components of a political system, such as

individuals, groups and institutions, transmit and receive information regarding the functioning
of the political system. Eg-Mass media
'differentiation' we refer to the processes whereby roles change and become more specialized
or more autonomous or whereby new types of roles are established or new structures and sub-
systems emerge or are created.

Marxian analysis-
Marxian analysis deals with a wide range of social phenomena—their past, present and future.
Marxism, insofar as it is a practical programme as well as a body of theoretical analysis, seeks
the abolition of politics.
Marxist analysis starts with a distinction between 'base' (or 'substructure') and 'superstructure'.
This building-like metaphor is used to postulate that the economic structure of society (which
represents the base) is responsible for creating and transforming its social structure, including
its legal and political structure, religion and morals, etc. (which represents the superstructure).

social production of their life, men enter into definite relations that are indispensable and
independent of their will.
relations of production which correspond to a definite stage of development of their material
productive forces.
The sum total of these relations of production constitutes the economic structure of society, the
real foundation, on which rises a legal and political superstructure.
The economic structure or the mode of production itself changes with the development of
forces of production (i.e. means of production and labour power).
This would bring about corresponding changes in the political system and other aspects of
superstructure.
At each stage of historical development society is divided into two antagonistic classes.
The owners of private property or the major means of production rise to the position of
'dominant class' whereas those living solely on their labour on the terms dictated by the former
constitute 'dependent class‘.
Marx and Engels observed: "Political power, properly so called, is merely the organized power of
one class for oppressing another.“
Marxism speaks of five stages of historical development, including one prehistorical stage.

It hopes that once genuine socialist system is established and there is no distortion
in its working, common ownership of major means of production will eventually
lead to abolition of classes; state and political power will become redundant; and
politics itself will disappear. Society will then enter the phase of communism; it
will become classless and stateless society.
Post modernism-

Post-modernism is the idea that reality is not mirrored in human understanding, but rather constructed as
individuals find their own reality. It is a worldview characterized by reaction to established norms, values,
and belief of modernism or age of enlightenment; mainly the belief that truth doesn’t exist in any objective
sense but is created rather than discovered. “A multi-faceted theoretical approach which challenges the
certainties and dualisms of modernism but promotes pluralism” – Garner.

Origin can be attributed to two French Philosophers – Jacques Derrida and Michael Foucault after Second
World War.

It is defined as “Incredulity (disbelief) towards meta-narratives (any story told to justify another) – Lyotard,
1984.

The set of ideas emerged as an area of academic study since the mid of 1980s.

The term ‘postmodernism’ first entered the philosophical dictionary in 1979, with the publication of ‘The
Postmodern Condition’ by Jean Francois Lyotard, Book – ‘The Post Modern Condition’ (1979) . He gave the
briefest definition of Post-Modernism – “incredulity (disbelief) towards meta narratives” . By this he meant
to disbelief about all types of theories and ideologies that claimed to be universal theories. Mistrust of Grand
Narratives.

Jacques Derrida - French Philosopher ( Book : ‘The Post Modern Condition’ (1979),‘Deconstruction in a
Nutshell’ (1997) )
He showed how knowledge and truth ‘deconstruct’ themselves.
Traditional Society- Modern Society - Post-modern Society -
Religion and Community Values Rationality and Legal Power Dilution of Power
Traditional Power Economic Growth Maximization of Happiness
Stable National Economy Achievement &Motivations Post Materialist Values

Factors which spurred Post-Modernism -

➢ Two World Wars
➢ Globalised information society led by ICT revolution.
➢ Anti-colonial, feminist and indigenous people’s movements

features -
➢ Post-Modernist goes against the grand narratives.
➢ It favors mini-narratives that explain small practices rather than large global events.
➢ It makes no claim to universality, truth, reason or stability.
➢ Emphasis is on every culture and society constituting its own reality.
➢ Politicians, leaders, writers, authors, policy makers are not impartial or unbiased. He/she is influenced by
his/her own affiliations.,
➢ They insist that all, nearly all, aspects of human psychology are completely socially determined.
➢ Political Ideologies have: • No Foundations • No objective standards • No fixed points • No
universalism • No knowledge -it is constructed
➢ It celebrates Diversity and Difference.
➢ The world is a social construction.