Political Science II

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State
A state is an organized political community . Gettel has said, "Political
Science is the science of state". State is the central focus of Political Science.
Forms of State
Unitary state: A system in which all powers are centralized in the hands of a
central Government. Centre Government has the power to change, features of the
system of local governments. Britain, France, Japan, Italy, China and unitary
states.
Characteristics of Unitary Form of Government
Centralization
of Powers
In Unitary System, all powers are centralized in the hands of a
central Government. There is no other institution to share
governmental powers with the central government.
Uniformity of
Laws
Laws of unitary system are uniform because laws made by them.
Flexible
Constitution
The constitution of unitary state is very flexible. It has an advantage
that it may be changed according to the needs of time and changing
circumstances.
Responsibility Responsibility is fixed in the defined institutions.
Local
Government
To have access to rural areas, central government manipulates the
affairs through local government institutions. Powers are delegated
Federal System
Power is shared by a powerful
central government & states or
provinces that are given
considerable self-rule, usually
through their own legislatures.
Ex: US, Australia, Germany.
Unitary System
One central government controls
weaker states. Power is not shared
between states, counties, or
provinces.
Examples: China, United Kingdom
Confederation System
Weak or loose organization of states agrees to
follow a powerful central government.
Nations can choose to follow or not follow
the lead of the weak central government.
Examples: Soviet Union, Switzerland's
canton system, Confederate of America
(1861-1865)

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Institutions to these institutions and financial support is provided to manage their
affairs.
Federation
Federal state is a political entity . The governmental or constitutional
structure found in a federation is known as federalism. It can be considered the
oppositeof the unitary state. In a federation, the self-governing status of the
component states, as well as the devition of power between them and centrel
government.
 Government with strong central
powers
 Allows much authority
 Goes along with a multinational state
 Power is diffused
 Gives more power to local territories
 U.S. has a federal government
Confederation
A confederation is a union of political units for common action in relation to other
units. Usually created by treaty .but often later adopting a common constitution,
dealing with critical issues (such as defense, foreign affairs, or a common
currency.The nature of the relationship among the states constituting a
confederation varies considerably. In Canada, the word confederation has an
additional meaning. "Confederation" refers to the process of joining the Canadian
federal state.
Government
The Merriam-Webster Dictionary offers three definitions of government:
1. The group of people who control and make decisions for a country, state, etc.
2. A particular system used for controlling a country, state, etc.
3. The process or manner of controlling a country, state, etc.
Forms of Government
Democracy
The word "democracy" literally means "rule by the people." In a democracy,
the people govern. The term "democracy" comes from two Greek words: "demos"
(the people) and ""kratia" (power or authority). So democracy is a form of
government that gives power to the people. Democracy, or democratic

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government, is "a system of government in which all the people of a state or polity
are involved in making decisions about its affairs, typically by votinh.
The Common Features of Democracy:
 Separation of Powers:
 Legislative Power:
Parliament
normally in two
chambers
 Executive Power:
government and
administration
 Judicative Power:
courts of justice
 Constitution
 Laws debated and passed by the
parliament
 Decrees by the government; based on
laws and regulating the details how to
the laws shall be applied in practice
 Elections
 Political Parties
 Referendums
Three Basic Types of Democracy:
 Direct Democracy:
Here, in Government; members have equal rights, elected by the parliament,
representing all major parties. Example: Switzerland
 Presidential Democracy:
Here, President is elected by the members of government. Examples: USA,
France
 Parliamentary Democracy
Here, the Government is elected by the parliament based on a majority, may be
dismissed by the parliament.
Examples: UK, Germany, Spain, Italy.
Democracy in Pakistan
Democracy in Pakistan was derailed in the first nine years since independence,
starting with the murder of Liaquat Ali Khan. We could not recover till today.
When Pakistan was like a new-born baby, cracks appeared in the very foundation
of this country after the murder, which ultimately resulted in the break-up, some 25
years later, in 1971. Rest is history.

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Some of the politically ambitious former army chiefs like late Field Marshal Ayub
Khan, late General Yahya, late General Zia-ul-Haq and General Musharraf, beside,
some former chiefs of premier intelligence agency, further damage the foundation
of this country.the first full term of PPP government, it reflected the uncertain
political past and how democracy remained fragile. Now, as democracy started
taking roots with peaceful transfer of power from the one civilian government to
the other.
Authoritarianism:
Authoritarianism denotes the absence of free elections. In this form of non-
democratic government, the power and authority wielded by the
leader(s).Authoritarian leadership may be single or group headed. When a single
person heads the government, it is known as an autocracy. When an elite group of
individuals head the government, it is known as an oligarchy. Authoritarianism is
the oldest and most common form of government..
Features of Authoritarianism:
Authoritarian systems commonly emerge in times of political, economic, and
social instability, and thus, especially during the initial period of authoritarian rule,
authoritarian systems may have broad public support.authoritarian leaders make all
important government policy decisions.
Parliamentary System
A Parliamentary System is a system of government in which the ministers of
the Executive Branch get their legitimacy from a Legislature and are accountable
to that body, such that the Executive and Legislative branches are intertwined.
Countries around the world practice democracy through different types of
institutions. However, most democracies in the world today use the parliamentary
system as opposed to a presidential system.
Features of Parliamentary System:
In many parliamentary systems, elections may be called suddenly by the
ruling party or if there is a vote of no confidence in the government. In some
parliamentary systems, parliament may be dissolved by the head of state and new
elections ordered.

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Other characteristics of the parliamentary system are the supremacy of the
legislative branch within the three functions of government—executive,
legislative, and judicial.
In a parliamentary system, laws are made by majority vote of the legislature
and signed by the head of state, which does not have an effective veto power. A
prime minister and the ministers of several executive departments of the
government primarily carry out the executive function.
ORGANS OF PARLIMENTARY FORM OF GOVERNMENT:
There are 4 organs of the parliamentary form of government:
o the king or president
o the prime minister
o the cabinet or councils of minister
o The parliament.
Parliamentary system of Pakistan:
The Parliament of Pakistan, officially termed the Majlis-e-Shoora is the federal
and supreme legislative body of Pakistan. It is consists of the Senate as upper
house and the National Assembly, as lower houses. The foundation stone of the
Parliament House was laid on August 14,1974 by Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali
Bhutto . The second Constituent Assembly of Pakistan was created on 28 May
1955 under Governor General's Order No.12 of 1955.
First constitution was approved on 29th January 1956. The Governor General gave
is assent on 2nd March and the new constitution was enforced on 23rd March,
1956 and Pakistan was transformed into an Islamic Republic.This federal system
was closer to the one as it existed under 1935 Act of India. Under this system, all
ministers were supposed to be the members of Parliament and they remained in
office so long as they continued to command the confidence of the majority of the
Assembly, otherwise, they had to resign. The Cabinet was collectively accountable
to the National Assembly.
Presidential System:
A presidential system is a system of government where an executive branch is led
by a president who serves as both head of state and head of government.
Features of Presidential System:
 President is the Real Head  Separation of Powers

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 Ministers are Accountable to the President i.e. he can remove them from office if
he is not happy with them.
Merit
1. More Democratic
2. Stability and Continuity
3. People's President
4. More Efficient
5. Prompt/Bold Decisions
6. Best suited to Deal with Emergencies
7. More Suitable for Multi-Party System
8. Symbol of National Unity and
Integrity
A presidential election, based on 'one-man, one-vote', with a fixed team of, say
three years. The president would be entitled to have a cabinet of experts or
technocrats.
Presidents take more direct personal charge of policy than the cabinet does in a
parliamentary system. The president is directly elected by the people. The
president is also the head of the army and directly responsible for foreign policy.
Comparison of Parliamentary & Presidential Government Form
1. In parliamentary governments, the head of the government for whom there are
various different official titles such as prime minister, premier, chancellor and his
or her cabinet.
In presidential forms of government, President is elected for a fixed,
constitutionally prescribed term and in normal circumstances cannot be forced to
resign by the legislature.
2. Prime Minister is elected by the legislature.
President is popularly elected, either directly or via an electoral college.
3. Parliamentary systems have collective or collegial executives.
Presidential systems have one person, non collegial executives.
4. In parliamentary systems, political parties enjoy strong position.
5. Political parties have less of a role (no party discipline) in presidential system.
Characteristics of Political System
Political system is the set of formal legal institutions that constitute a
“government” or a “state.” It is also called a system of politics and government
There are following characteristics of political system:

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1. Use of Legal Forces: Political system allows the legal authority to use force.
2. Interactions: Almond said “Political system is that system of interactions to be
found in all independent societies which perform the functions of integration and
adaptation.
3. Interdependence: Interdependence means that when the properties of one
component in a system change, all the other components and the system as a whole
are affected.
4. Comprehensiveness: Political System is comprehensive because it includes all the
interactions from the formal as well as informal institutions in the society
5. Change of boundary: The concept of the system is the change of boundary. The
political system consists of interacting roles of nationals, subjects, voters, the
legislators, bureaucrats and judges. The same individuals who perform role in
social and economic system also play their notable role in political systems.As
described by Almond in The Politics of Developing Areas, All political System has
four characteristics in common and in terms of which they may be compared.
 First of all, political systems, including the simplest ones, have political
structure (executive, judiciary and legislature etc).
 Second, the same functions are performed in all political systems, even though
these functions may be performed with different frequencies, and different kinds
of structures.
 Third, all political structure, no matter how specialized, whether it is found in
primitive or in modern societies, is multifunctional.
 Fourth, all political systems are mixed systems in the cultural sense. There are
no ‘all- modern’ cultures and structures, in the sense of rationality .
 FUNCTIONS OF POLITICAL SYSTEM
There are various functions of political system. Although seven functional
requisites which must be fulfilled by any political system.
INPUT FUNCTIONS: Inputs are the demands which arise in the environment all
the economic, social religious and cultural conditions without which a political
system cannot exit.
These functions are discussed below; On the political or “input” side functions
are:

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1. Political Socialization and
recruitment,
2. interest articulation,
3. Interest aggregation
4. Political communication
Political Socialisation and Recruitment: These are the functions of citizenship
training and recruitment into political roles. They are related to political culture i.e.
the culture the influences politics. Political culture consists of cultural values,
believes, language, life-style etc.
Interest Articulation: Interest articulation means the formulation and expression
of claims and demands by the individuals or groups in the society for a political
action.
Interest Aggregation: Interest Aggregation is process through which expressed
claims and demands of the individuals or groups are combined accommodated and
compromised.
Political Communication: It is the medium through which other functions in the
political system are performed. Its role in a Political system is that of the blood in
the body.
OUTPUT FUNCTIONS: The authoritative decision making functions of the
governmental structures are called output functions. They are of the following
types.
1. Rule making, 2. Rule application 3. Rule adjudication.
Legislation (law-making): This function is related to the making of law in the
light of the desires and needs of the peoples. The government makes decisions in
the light of demands and claims of the public.
Execution (Law application): This is another important output function of the
political system. When the legislative body makes laws then there is a machinery
for the application and enforcement of these laws and policies. This machinery is
known as executive and this process is called execution.
Judiciary (law-adjudication): In every political system there is a machinery for
adjudicating the law enforced by the executive. This machinery is known as
judiciary. Its function is to punish those who violate the law of the state. This

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machinery consists of judges etc.However, there are some flaws and drawbacks of
this model.
Political System of Pakistan
Pakistan was created in 1947 as an independent nation for Muslims from the
regions in the east and west of Subcontinent where there was a Muslim majority,
Pakistan adopted a new constitution in 1956, becoming an Islamic republic. A civil
war in 1971 resulted in the secession of East Pakistan as the new country
of Bangladesh.
Pakistan is a federal parliamentary republic consisting of four provinces and four
federal territories. A regional and middle power,[16][17]Pakistan has the seventh
largest standing armed forces in the world and is also a nuclear power as well as a
declared nuclear-weapons state, being the only nation in the Muslim world, and the
second in South Asia, to have that status. Pakistan has been exercised different
forms of Political system like Presidential, Parliamentary, Federation and One Unit
etc. Local Bodies system has also been influenced by these experiences. It has been
facing Political, non-political, dictators and bureaucratic influence on it. Pakistan
has poor facts of democracy. It has been ruled by the military. Historical, Social
and political aspects are also discussed in this piece of work.
Pakistan has tried two forms of government—Western democracy and martial law
or dictatorship. But both forms of government have given nothing to Pakistan. We
are a developing country despite the laps of 60 years. Without doubt, the best form
of political system for Pakistan is democracy. But the democracywe see in
Pakistan has some major weaknesses. It does not fulfil our needs. We should
consider the political system that was introduced to us 14 hundred years ago.