State in Modern Societies Part - 2

A political system typically carries out a few clear-cut tasks. The input functions and the output functions are the two broad categories under which the major political system functions can be grouped.

Actually, the non-governmental subsystems reflect the first set of (input) functions, while the government subsystems reflect the second set of (output) functions.

Political socialization is the process of integrating someone into the political culture. It is a component of general socialization, but it has a different goal and focus. Political socialization begins later in childhood than general socialization does. Political socialization consists of two main parts. One is the indoctrination of general values and norms regarding political behavior and political issues, and the other is the induction of the person into a specific political party and the imparting of the party's ideology and action programmes to her or him.

The general educational system and other state agencies carry out the first. A variety of political parties carry out the second. The two aspects of political socialization are different in democracies and in those that are experimenting with democratic models. While the first seeks to provide a general understanding of what a person should and should not do, the second may vary from party to party in terms of its goal and the methods used to achieve it. The socializing agencies in oligarchies will be essentially, if not exactly, the same. The political education of the populace would be taken up by the ruling elite in a way that would maintain their (the elite's) control and influence over the populace. The ruling elite has a tendency that serves its own needs. The proposed theory will, therefore, paint a favorable picture of the ruling class.

The socialization that occurs within the non-political sub-systems that frequently infiltrate polities is another facet of political socialization. These are associations and groups that are based on ethnicity, religion, language, and other particularities that prey on the emotions of their supporters and enter or attempt to enter politics in order to impose their ideology. However, given that they are becoming more significant globally, they must be taken into account even though they pose a threat to the smooth political development of a society. This is particularly true in developing countries where astute politicians employ them to sway the sentiments of the populace.

Recruitment for political roles and positions is known as political recruitment. All citizens are involved in the political process in a modern political system, and even if they are not active members of any political party, they are aware of it and can participate in it inadvertently. Elections may be nothing more than a ritual in oligarchic political systems, but citizens still have to go through the associated political red tape. While all members of a society are thereby politically socialized, only those who meet the requirements will actually be hired for political positions and authorities. Since general socialization naturally follows these patterns, this is unavoidable.

Entry-level political candidates may have a wide or narrow social base. In India, the base is broad and competitive whereas it is narrow, patriarchal, and oligarchic in the Arab countries. Leaders are chosen from the first group, which includes wealthy and aristocratic families, clans, and classes, because they have historically dominated social groups. The educated urban class may also include other groups like government employees, military officers, and professional and business groups. Professional and business elites, as well as other modern groups, are largely non-participants in patriarchal societies, but as they grow in number as a result of modernization, they will inevitably become rivals in the political sphere. These groups will inevitably gain prominence as a result of social change, overshadowing the traditional components.

Broad-based societies are characterized by political competition, but it is primarily urban, educated middle-class people who are drawn to the political system and who could serve as candidates for political parties. The balance will undoubtedly be upset by social mobility, a feature of competition and a component of social change, making it possible for people from lower socioeconomic classes to enter politics.

Organizing and combining the demands put forth by the various interest groups is known as aggregation. The creation of general policies can be used to aggregate. that combine, accommodate, or otherwise take into account the interests. Political parties, the ruling class, or even the government itself could carry out this action. Additionally, these interests might be compiled by the organizations responsible for articulating interests and presented to those in charge of formulating policy. It can be illustrated by the fact that women's organizations and other associations articulated concerns about women's lower status in society and pushed the government to develop policies for women's development. However, the government created the National Perspective Plan for Women's Development after realizing the urgency of the situation. The roles of articulation and aggregation are typically combined in societies where political functions are not as clearly segregated. This is a result of inadequate specialization of tasks. Aggregations and articulation functions become more fragmented as political functions mature. Modern societies have associations at the national level that compile the local unit's demands and present them to the ruling body for review. These top bodies serve both as an interest articulation and an exclusive interest aggregation in this situation. The two roles, however, must be distinguished from one another. The first is the expression of interest, whereas the second is the synthesis of various interests into a workable form.

Actually, other polity-wide systems could carry out the aggregative tasks. As a result, the institutions and associations were able to formulate their demands, organize them, and present them to the political system. In their manifestos, they even pick up on the demands of people and organizations. or in such a political structure. Associations with ties to one or more political parties would enlist the aid of the latter in assembling their action requests.

This is especially true if the associations have trouble getting the government to agree to their demands. Such instances abound in our own nation. Many trade unions that appear to be independent join forces with the labor fronts of the political party in power, and some trade unions with a political background also join forces with the ruling party. The political system's role of interest aggregation is crucial. It enables the various and, in many cases, conflicting demands of groups to be sorted out and consolidated into one set of demands, or into several sets of demands, that are realistic if the political authority takes them up seriously. It serves the purpose of ensuring that all significant demands are met in multi-party systems where there is competition between parties.

Interest aggregation is challenging in a political system with one dominant party and competing small parties. If the party has a strong traditional element, trouble will result because this element will undoubtedly fight against any modernization initiatives. The same would apply even if there were little to no traditional influence, provided that there was a high degree of individual diversity. As a result, it is difficult for the political party in power to represent the interests of all groups in a society where the population is divided along ethnic, linguistic, and communal lines. The cohesion of the party would then be compromised. Splits within the party and the creation of new parties are potential outcomes of the situation. Even then, better interest aggregation would not be achieved by doing this. However, it would also give another subsystem (like the immune system) a stronger hand. g. ) to which the interest groups will look for assistance.

Any social system relies on communication to function. Relationships between people and among the elite mass are maintained through communication. This is equally important in a political system because it is the foundation for all political functions, including socialization, recruitment, articulation, aggregation, and the entire rule-making, enforcement, and adjudication process. Communication provides the information that is a necessary input for any rational action. Once more, the political system functions effectively and responsibly thanks to the communication channels that exist.

The creation and maintenance of an engaged and productive electorate and citizenry depend on an autonomous, impartial, and deeply penetrating communication system. Only in a developed democracy is this feasible. Many forms of communication, particularly electronic media (radio and television), will be under government control in developing nations. Because interest groups will be in charge of the press in these nations, the information that comes out of it will be biased and selective. Low levels of literacy and inadequate transportation will limit the reach of newspapers and other print media, while poverty will limit the reach of radio and television. Political parties publish their own newspapers in many contemporary political systems in an effort to inform and educate their supporters, but the news that gets through will be biased.

The importance of interpersonal communication cannot be overstated, even in today's modern society where mass media is pervasive. Opinion leaders and elites play a significant role in screening the available information in developing societies and disseminating the desired information to other followers. This is one of the reasons the government in India asks opinion leaders for assistance with its family welfare programs. In order to reach the rural masses in developing nations—the majority of whom are illiterate and outside the mainstream media’s purview—political parties have turned to person-to-person communication. In contemporary societies, the volume of political information flowing from the government to the populace is much greater than that of information flowing the other way. As a result, the government utilizes the communication network extensively, whether it be through newspapers, government-controlled electronic media, official communications sent as circulars and orders through the bureaucracy, or other channels.

Political processes can be defined as the exchanges that occur both within and between political systems. In the polity, these interactions between people and groups include, for example. , as well as the executive, legislature, judiciary, bureaucracy, political parties, the media, and other state-level organizations. A component of the political system are interest groups whose actions have an impact on political choices. These procedures would vary depending on what kind of political structure was in place. For instance, in democracies, the legislature will be in charge of making laws, the executive will answer to the legislature, and the courts will operate independently of the ruling party or the executive. Political parties and the media will have a lot of freedom to act and could ingratiate themselves deeply into society. However, the freedom that exists in full democracies will not be possible in a controlled or guided democracy. The various agencies may exist, but they will be subject to the whims of the ruling elite or, more frequently, a single ruler, and will be controlled by them. The three different oligarchies' political systems will also be reflected in their three distinct forms. In a totalitarian state, for example, there will not be much difference between executive, legislative and judicial functions. In the control of the ruling party or person, everything combines.

Legal, logical authority is the foundation of modern political systems. Every component of the system operates in accordance with clearly defined rules, and those in positions of authority are entitled to carry out all duties related to those positions. They have a legal duty to obey those they have affected. Again, there are legal and constitutional remedies for him if he has a complaint or grievance that an official has acted arbitrarily or outside the scope of his authority. e. , he has the option of going to court. The official in question must accept the ruling, though, if the court also rules that he is correct.

There have been coups d'etats and revolutions that have brought people to power in the modern political system. Law does not allow for such practices, and those who use them to gain power are not regarded as legitimate authorities. Therefore, these people are feeling an increasing amount of pressure to prove their authority. If the public is not convinced by their self-proclaimed role as saviors (an appeal to charisma), they may also offer to run for office in an effort to seize power legally. In the long run, none of these leaders feel secure without establishing some sort of pretext for their claim to be in charge.

A modern society is defined by a high rate of literacy and a relatively high per capita income. It has high rates of urbanization, industrialization, geographic mobility, and social mobility. Additionally, it makes use of mass media, and its residents actively engage in social and political processes.

Modern society's political structure evolves in tandem with the modernization of the broader society. The social system includes the political system as a component. A modern political system is characterized by the effectiveness, functional specificity, and high degree of differentiation of the government and non-government structures.

Ideology, structure, function, process, and the foundation of legitimacy are the five components of a political system. The objectives and strategies of a political system are determined by its ideology. The dominant ideology affects a society's political system as well. The political structure of a society, however, may take any of the following forms, depending on its political culture: tutelary democracies, political democracies, modernizing oligarchies, and traditional oligarchies.

In order to keep the systems functioning, a political system must carry out specific tasks. Political socialization and recruitment, interest articulation, interest aggregation, political communication, rule making, rule application, and rule adjustment are some of a political system's primary functions.

An important component of a political system is the political processes that result from interactions between and within the political system. These processes do, in fact, vary depending on the kinds of political structures. Political authority can be justified in three different ways. They are the following: 1) traditional); 2) charismatic; and 3) rational-legal. Based on a rational-legal authority, a modern political system. People in this place hold government positions and carry out all duties in accordance with the established norms and laws.