POL101 - Lecture 4 - Political Regimes - KNHH
POL101 - Lecture 4 - Political Regimes - KNHH
POL101 - Lecture 4 - Political Regimes - KNHH
Lecture No. 4
Political Systems (Political Regimes)
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
➢ The parties must have time and freedom to organize and present
their case well before elections.
➢ A regime that permits no opposition activity until shortly before
balloting has rigged the election. Likewise, denying media access—
especially by controlling television—stunts any opposition.
Alternation in Power
➢ People must have the right to resist the commands of government they
deem wrong or unreasonable.
➢ All men recognize the right of revolution; that is, the right to refuse
allegiance to, and to resist, the government, when its tyranny or its
inefficiency are great and unendurable.
➢ Civil disobedience as an individual act of conscience, but others seek
to organize it and mobilize it.
Political Equality
➢ In a democracy, all adults (usually now age eighteen and over) are
equally able to participate in politics: “one person, one vote.”
➢ In theory, all are able to run for public office, but critics point out that it
takes a great deal of money—and often specific racial and religious
ties—to really enter public life.
➢ Under the pressure of minority claims and civil disobedience, however,
democracies tend to open up over time and become less elite in
nature. Barack Obama’s victories were examples.
Popular Consultation
➢ Most leaders realize that to govern effectively, they must know what
the people want and must be responsive to their needs and demands.
➢ mass media-Modern means of communication that quickly reach very
wide audiences. Dictatorships cannot tolerate free and critical mass
media; democracies cannot do without them.
Popular Consultation
➢ No criticism, no democracy.
➢ The checks on reckless reporting are competing journals, channels,
and blogs that refute each other in what has been called “the
marketplace of ideas.”
Democracy in Practice: Elitism or Pluralism
➢ Elites make the actual decisions, and ordinary citizens, the masses,
generally go along with these decisions.
➢ Money and connections give elites access to political power,
emphasize elite theorists.
➢ Politics functions, say pluralists, through interest groups.
Democracy in Practice: Elitism or Pluralism
➢ Democracy can actually come too soon in the political life of a nation.
Stable democracy has historically taken root in countries with large,
educated middle classes.
➢ As Barrington Moore observed in 1966, “No bourgeoisie, no
democracy.” People in poor countries care more about survival than
democracy.
Democracy: Why Democracies Fail
➢ Poverty
➢ Major inequality
➢ No middle class
➢ Low education levels
➢ Oil
➢ Tribalism
Several characteristics tend to block democracy