1. GOVERNMENTS,
SYSTEMS AND
REGIMES

2. • The classification of political systems aids understanding by helping
to highlight similarities and differences between otherwise
shapeless collections of facts.
• It also helps us to evaluate the effectiveness or success of different
political systems.
• Regimes have been classified on a variety of bases. ‘Classical’
typologies, stemming from Aristotle, concentrated on constitutional
arrangements and institutional structures (Who rules? Who benefits
from rule?)
• The ‘three worlds’ approach highlighted material and ideological
differences between the systems found in ‘first world’ capitalist,
‘second world’ communist and ‘third world’ developing states.
Classifying political systems

3. • No system of classification relies on just one single
factor – a variety of political, economic and cultural
factors come into play:
• Who rules?
• How is compliance achieved?
• Is government power centralized or fragmented?
• How is government power acquired and transferred?
• What is the balance between the state and the
individual?
• What is the level of material development?
• How is economic life organized?
• How stable is a regime?
Criteria which affect classification

4. • Western polyarchies
• New democracies
• East Asian regimes
• Islamic regimes
• Military regimes
Regimes of the modern world

5. • Broadly equivalent to regimes classified as ‘liberal democracies’.
Key features:
• High tolerance of opposition which can check the arbitrary
inclinations of government. This is manifest in a competitive party
system, institutionally protected civil liberties.
• Opportunities for participating in politics should be sufficiently
widespread to guarantee a reliable level of popular responsiveness.
• Some western polyarchies are biased in favour of centralization and
majority rule, and others tend towards fragmentation and pluralism.
Western polyarchies

6. • Refers to democracies which emerged after the third wave of
democratization in 1974 (Huntington, 1991).
• The process of democratic transition has been both complex and difficult,
highlighting the fact that liberal democracy may not be the ‘default position’
for human societies.
• Problems faced by postcommunist regimes:
• The lack of a civic culture built around participation, bargaining and
consensus can produce a weak, fragmented party system (e.g. Russia).
• The transition from central planning to laissez-faire capitalism unleashed
deep securities due to the initial growth in unemployment and inflation.
New democracies

7. • Are oriented more around economic rather than political
goals
• Support for ‘strong’ government
• Confucian stress on loyalty, discipline and duty. This
reduces the scope for assimilation of ideas like human
rights and individualism
East Asian regimes

8. • Political Islam aims at the construction of a theocracy in which political
and other affairs are structured according to ‘higher’ religious
principles. Nevertheless, political Islam has assumed clearly
contrasting forms, ranging from fundamentalist to pluralist extremes.
• The fundamentalist version of Islam is most commonly associated with
Iran. The Iranian system of government is a complex mix of theocracy
and democracy. All legislation is ratified by the Council for the
Protection of the Constitution, which ensures conformity to Islamic
principles.
• Muslims themselves have often objected to the classification of any
Islamic regime as ‘fundamentalist’, on the grounds that this
perpetuates long-established western prejudices against an ‘exotic’ or
‘repressive’ East, serving as examples of ‘orientalism’ (Said, 1978).
Islamic regimes

9. • The key feature of a military regime is that the leading posts in the
government are filled on the basis of the person’s position within the
military chain of command.
• Differences between military regimes:
• Junta regimes: characterized by rivalry between the services and
between leading figures, the consequence being that formal
positions of power tend to change hands relatively frequently.
• Military-backed personalized dictatorship: a single individual gains
pre-eminence within the junta or regime, often being bolstered by a
cult of personality (see p. 302) designed to manufacture charismatic
authority
Military regimes

10. • The key feature of a military regime is that the leading posts in the
government are filled on the basis of the person’s position within the
military chain of command.
• Differences between military regimes:
• Junta regimes: characterized by rivalry between the services and
between leading figures, the consequence being that formal
positions of power tend to change hands relatively frequently.
• Military-backed personalized dictatorship: a single individual gains
pre-eminence within the junta or regime, often being bolstered by a
cult of personality (see p. 302) designed to manufacture charismatic
authority
Military regimes