The Structure of Governments, Systems/Institutions and Regimes

1. POLS101 Week 5 Part 1 L15
Governments, Systems and Regimes
Mr. Siyabonga Nxumalo
NxumaloS2@ukzn.ac.za 033 260 5309
NAB Room 336A
Consultation times: Mon:10h30-12h00, Wed:11h30-13h00
Required Reading: Heywood, Chapter 12, 4th edition: What is Politics?

2. 1. Classifying political systems.
• The classification of political systems aids
understanding by helping to highlight similarities
and differences between otherwise shapeless
collections of facts. 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.
• It also helps us to evaluate the effectiveness or
success of different political systems.

3. 2. Criteria which affect classification:
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?

4. 3. Regimes of the modern world.
A. Western polyarchies
• Broadly equivalent to regimes classified as ‘liberal democracies’.
• Polyarchy means “rule by many”.
• The term was used by Robert A. Dahl to describe a form of government in which
power is invested in multiple people - a political system in which power is dispersed
e.g multiparty government, interest groups, individuals etc,
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.

5. 3. Regimes of the modern world (cont…)
B. New democracies
• Refers to democracies which emerged after the third wave of democratization in
1974 (Huntington, 1991).
• Overthrow of right wing dictatorships in Spain, Greece, and Portugal.
• 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.

6. 3. Regimes of the modern world (cont…)
C. East Asian regimes
• Are oriented more around economic rather than political goals.
• Support for ‘strong’ government.
• Confucian emphasis on loyalty, discipline and duty. This reduces the scope for
assimilation of ideas like human rights and individualism but focus on the good
of the community / society as a whole.
Confucianism rests upon the belief that human beings are fundamentally good,
and teachable, improvable, and perfectible through personal and communal
endeavor, especially self-cultivation and self-creation. Confucian thought focuses
on the cultivation of virtue in a morally organised world.

7. 3. Regimes of the modern world (cont…)
D. Islamic regimes
• Political Islam aims at the construction of a theocracy in which political and other
affairs are structured according to ‘higher’ religious principles. Nevertheless,
political. Theocracy is a country / government that is ruled by religious leader/s.
• 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’, because this perpetuates long-established western prejudices
against Islam.

8. 3. Regimes of the modern world (cont…)
E. Military regimes
• 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.

9. Fin