Assignment Code: BPSC-109/ASST/TMA/2021

Course Code: BPSC-109

Assignment Name: Political Processes and Institutions In Comparative Perspective

Year: 2020-2021

Verification Status: Verified by Professor

Answer all questions in each Section.

Assignment – I

Answer the following in about 500 words each. Each question carries 20 marks

1. Critically examine political culture as an approach to the study of comparative politics.

Ans) A longstanding argument in the literature on comparative politics is that political culture has an important effect on the emergence of political democracy. In part, the focus on political culture is rather a natural extension of the behavioural revolution in political science and a product of economic modernization. With modernization came changes in values regarding the role of the individual in the political system. Political culture is a simple concept, but it can easily be misunderstood. The fact that we may characterize a given nation ‘s culture in some way should not lead us to underestimate the importance of diverse subcultures within it. Similarly, the fact that political culture may be an explanatory factor should not lead us to overlook the possibility that objective conditions within a country may be responsible for behaviour often attributed to culture.

It is extremely difficult to define the term political culture. It is elusive and comprehensive at the same time. In the extant literature in political science, political culture has been defined in many ways but essentially it involves the basic values, ideas, beliefs, attitudes, and orientations about politics. This involves issues of right and wrong, good, and bad, what is acceptable in politics and what is not. To understand the dynamics of political culture, it will be useful to begin with a meaning of the term culture ‘. Culture is a derivation of the German word ―kultur. Kultur indicates the distinctive higher values of enlightenment of a society. Culture thereby was defined as ―the sway of man over nature. The term culture was first used by Edward B. Taylor, the pioneer English anthropologist in his book, Primitive Culture. Taylor used the term culture to refer to a universal human capacity. It is the complex whole that includes knowledge, belief, art, ethics, morals, law, traditions, traits, custom, and any other capabilities and habits acquired by man as a member of society. Culture is a powerful human tool for survival, but it is a fragile phenomenon. It is constantly changing and easily lost because it exists only in one's mind.

Culture, thus, represents the shared psychological orientation of the people of society towards societal objects. People of a society acquire and form a distinct pattern of orientations towards societal objects. This is, in fact, the culture of the people of the society or the 'Societal Culture', and 'Political Culture' is a distinct part of this societal culture. The political culture approach can be seen as a natural evolution in the growth of behavioural approach in political analysis in the 1960s. More specifically, the concept was developed to address the need to bridge a growing gap in the behavioural approach between the level of micro-analysis and macro-analysis. It is a set of attitudes and practices held by people that shape their political behaviour includes moral judgment, political myths, beliefs, and ideas about what makes up for a good society.

It reflects government, but it also incorporates elements of history and tradition that may predict the current regime. It is said to matter because it shapes a population's political perceptions and actions. It is associated with the concept of political ideology, national ethos and spirit, national political psychology, the fundamental values of people etc. For example, the United States and Great Britain have been both democracies, but each has a distinctive political culture. American government derives its power from a written constitution and is dominated by two political parties. In contrast, Britain has a long history of monarchy and has never had a written constitution. There is a close relationship between political culture and the political system. Political culture is the basis of the survival of all old and modern political systems.

2. Examine the role of pressure groups in modern politics.

Ans) Pressure group activity also encourages wider participation in decision making process. Ordinary individuals participate in political life only during election time. Elections which are held once in four or five years may not allow voters to express a preference on individual issue. Pressure groups give an opportunity to individuals be politically active and to contribute to the working of democracy between elections. Pressure groups act as a link between the people and the government, a useful intermediary between the electors and those whom they elect, allowing a variety of views to be expressed. They counter the monopoly of the political process by political parties. As one political scientist put it “The views which pressure groups convey are legitimate interests…Modern democracy would not exist without pressure groups. As a channel of representation, they are as legitimate as the ballot box…. They can mediate between the government and the governed”.

Pressure groups often provide specialist information to the government and often help in the implementation of policy. Some of the well organised pressure groups often participate in official consultative committees, advisory groups, and commissions. Most governments rely on these groups for advice, information specialist expertise and help in implementing policies. Pressure groups thus contribute to the formation, shaping and implementation of public policies. Finally, activities of pressure groups make the public at large better informed about public policies. These activities keep political system and government more responsive to the aspiration and demands of the people. However, there are critics who argue that pressure groups can endanger and weaken the democratic process. They argue that relatively small unelected groups of individuals, instead of elected representatives, can influence policies and laws. Marxist and Elitist theorists, for instance, argue that politics is always dominated by a small number of people. According to Marxist scholars, pressure groups reflect the prevailing power structure of the system in which few leaders from the capitalist class always control and dominate these pressure groups. This class-based nature of pressure groups ensures the system in favour of the powerful and wealthy class while leaving less for the weaker majority.

Critics of group activity also contend that the methods and tactics used by pressure groups are often corrupt and intimidating. For example, large-scale demonstrations or protest may cause inconvenience to many. Sometimes direct actions methods go out of control, thereby resulting into violent clashes between the protestors and state machineries. However, the right to make a protest, particularly when those in power take actions that are detrimental to a section of society, is a fundamental one in any democracy. It appears that excessive group power creates the possibility of organised interests foisting their views upon elected representatives who are expected to keep the general interest of the people. On the other hand, too little group power poses the threat of elected government behaving in high handed manner and ignoring the legitimate needs and preferences of the people. Given that pressure groups have become indispensable components of modern political life, it is important to draw a line between excessive and reasonable influence of group activity. In general, governments which allow pressure groups to operate freely are far more accountable and responsive to the public than those without pressure groups.

Assignment - II

Answer the following questions in about 250 words each. Each question carries 10 marks.

1. Examine the importance of pluralism for contemporary states.

Ans) On the other hand, there are states where the state elites practice ethnic, religious, or regional discrimination by favouring the members of their ethnic group. This results in the politicisation of ethnic differences and the creation of ethnic democracy or „ethnicization of bureaucracy‟. Wimmer suggests two reasons for this ethicised politics. Firstly, there may be a scarcity of resources, which prevents the state elites from an inclusive integration of all sections of society. Secondly, the state formation may precede the establishment of a democratic civil society; thus, the state elites‟ function based on political networks often structured along ethnic lines. We often see such ethnicization of national politics in post-colonial states such as Rwanda, Ethiopia, Sudan, and other states such as Israel.

The politicisation of ethnic identities does not necessarily lead to violent conflict. In democratic states, negotiations between ethnic groups can result in redefining national identity in pluralist terms. Hear, the dominant group realises that it is just one among other ethnic groups that share the state. In other words, the majority does not adopt pluralism on its own. Most of its own volition rarely grants equal status to the minorities. The minorities must claim and advance their rights. The minorities demanding pluralism must have sufficient leverage to stake their claims. Thus, a pluralistic state is not free from power relations. It keeps on balancing between containing the demands of the minorities and granting concessions to the minorities. There is an ongoing negotiation and renegotiation of defining the national identity. Pluralism provides the space for such negotiations. Pluralism believes that there are different ways of leading a good life and hence, there is potential for different cultures to learn from one another. Pluralism cherishes diversity. It attempts to redress the ethnic exclusions that are an inherent by-product of modern nationalist discourse. The mechanism through which pluralism is implemented depends on power relations and negotiations between the majority and minority groups.

2. Describe the structuralist explanation of democratization process in the developing countries.

Ans) The main proponent of structuralism also called historical sociology or social forces approach was Barrington Moore who in 1966 wrote Social Origins of Dictatorship and Democracy. He was writing at a time when modernization theory and the idea of unilinear path of development was still popular. Moore argued that there are many paths to modernization and that the path taken by an individual nation was influenced by the nature of relationships between different classes that existed. Since this approach gives importance to structures, it is also called structuralism. Structuralists see democracy as state transformation, and they analyse state through conflict between different classes over a period. It also contains features of political economy as it highlights how economic evolution affects class or social conflict. Moore analysed eight big countries in comparative perspective through the 19th century into the 20th century. The outcome depended on relationship between three classes – the bourgeoisie, the peasantry, and the landed upper class.

Democracy was the result when:

1. The peasant question was solved by gradually eliminating peasant agriculture accompanied by transformation of peasants into urban workers by expanding towns and employment in industrial sector.

2. The rising bourgeoisie defeats the landed class and transforms it in its struggles for state control.

Structuralism has a good understanding of grass root level and is explanatory, but it has its share of shortcomings. Post-modernists, for instance, argue that power is too diffused a concept to be understood in a static way. Structuralism gives importance to historical change in the long-term, but it has been unable to explain the onset of sudden democratization in former Communist countries in East and Central Europe and the former Soviet republics where there was little evidence of class struggle or agitation for democracy. External factors have played an important role in these regions.

3. Examine the reasons for the chequered democratic process in post-colonial countries.

Ans) It is remarkable that very few post-colonial states in the world were able to remain democratic despite starting as democratic ones after decolonisation. In a very short period, democratic regimes were overthrown, and authoritarianism set in. Decolonisation had witnessed the transfer of the political power to the local political elites by the imperial regimes in these former colonies. The postcolonial state elites had led the nationalist struggle in these states while holding out democratic promises to the masses. The state elites enjoyed a very high level of peoples‟ confidence and legitimacy due to their role in leading the anticolonial resistance. They were also viewed as being capable of rising over and above the sectional interests. There was also wider acceptance of their key role even in the economic sector mainly because of the absence of any developed class which could mobilise resources for the developmental purposes and because the state was also endowed with a prescience to know what the best for the people was.

However, very soon the disenchantment set in as the state elites started dismantling the nascent democratic structure, subverting the democratic procedures, and undermining the democratic institutions. Most of these democratic regimes turned into authoritarian ones by the same political elites under the pretext of bringing about radical social and economic changes swiftly without allowing themselves to be constrained by the democratic procedures and institutions. Democracy in any case has not been a constant variable in these countries. There have been times when these countries have been under democratic regimes and in other times it would be authoritarian regime in power. Even India, considered the signpost of liberal democracy among the post-colonial countries, experienced democratic backsliding during two years of emergency when the democratic freedoms were curtailed, and the elected and non-elected institutions were subverted.

Assignment - III

Write a short note on the following in about 100 words each. Each short note carries 6 marks.

1. Representative function of political parties.

Ans) The representative function of political parties is extensive and diverse because the representation takes many forms: ideological representation, regional representation, representation of identities and representation of interests. A good number of political parties represent the common ideology of their core voters and supporters. Such parties‟ core vote is based in a particular region; they prefer to identify themselves with the region’s culture, language and religion and speak for that region. India’s Telangana Rastra Samiti which championed the cause of separate statehood for Telangana or the National Conference striving for the autonomy for the state of Jammu & Kashmir are examples of parties that represent the demands of their region. Some parties represent identities. The Bahujan Samaj Party in Uttar Pradesh and the Shiv Sena in Maharashtra are examples of parties which represent the interests of Dalits and Marathi’s respectively. Although these parties succeed in garnering support from voters of other identities, a large chunk of votes comes from their core identity-based voters.

2. Federal features of Canadian constitution.

Ans) Canadian federalism involves the current nature and historical development of the federal system in Canada. Canada is a federation with eleven components: the national Government of Canada and ten provincial governments. All eleven governments derive their authority from the Constitution of Canada. There are also three territorial governments in the far north, which exercise powers delegated by the federal parliament, and municipal governments which exercise powers delegated by the province or territory. Each jurisdiction is generally independent from the others in its realm of legislative authority. The division of powers between the federal government and the provincial governments is based on the principle of exhaustive distribution: all legal issues are assigned to either the federal Parliament or the provincial Legislatures.

3. Features of Single Transferable Vote System.

Ans) Under STV, each elector (voter) casts a single vote in a district election that elects multiple winners. Each elector marks their ballot for the most preferred candidate and marks back-up preferences. A vote goes to the voter's first preference, if possible, but if the first preference is eliminated, instead of being thrown away, the vote is transferred to a back-up preference, with the vote being assigned to the voter's second, third, or lower choice if possible. Where there are more candidates than seats, the least popular is eliminated and their votes transferred based on voters' marked back-up preferences. In some systems surplus votes not needed by successful candidates are transferred proportionally, as described below. Elections and/or eliminations, and vote transfers where applicable, continue until enough candidates are declared elected or until there are only as many remaining candidates as there are unfilled seats, at which point the remaining candidates are declared elected.

4. Concept of popular sovereignty.

Ans) Popular sovereignty posits that consent of the people is one of fundamental basis by which the authority of the state can be justified. The main pioneers of this concept were John Locke and Jean-Jacques Rousseau. John Locke, an English philosopher who lived from 1632 to 1704, published Two Treatises of Government in 1689, where he put forward his version of the social contract theory. According to Locke, sovereignty lies with the people. It is the people who transfer this power to the state so that it can protect its life, liberty, and property. David Held writes, “It is important to emphasize that, in Locke’s account, political authority is bestowed by individuals on government for the purpose of pursuing the ends of the governed; and should these ends fail to be represented adequately, the final judges are the people—the citizens—who can dispense both their deputies and, if need be, with the existing form of government itself”.

5. Procedural and substantive democracy.

Ans) Substantive democracy is a form of democracy in which the outcome of elections is representative of the people. In other words, substantive democracy is a form of democracy that functions in the interest of the governed. Although a country may allow all citizens of age to vote, this characteristic does not necessarily qualify it as a substantive democracy.

Procedural democracy or proceduralist democracy or proceduralism is a term used to denote the procedures, such as regular elections based on universal suffrage, that produce an electorally legitimated government. Procedural democracy, with its cantering of electoral processes as the basis of democratic legitimacy, is often contrasted with substantive or participatory democracy, which centres the equal participation of all groups in society in the political process as the basis of legitimacy.