Political Regimes and Sovereignty

Posted on Sep 7, 2024 in Law & Jurisprudence

POLITICAL REGIMES

Political Regime

  • A political regime is the set of institutions that regulate the struggle for power and the exercise of power, including the values that make up those institutions.
  • It is also understood as the organizing structure of power, which establishes the criteria of selection of the members of the ruling class and assigns the roles in it.
  • It sets the rules and procedures for access to and management of power.
  • Each type of regime is associated with certain values and limits the freedom of action of the rulers.

CLASSIFICATION OF POLITICAL REGIMES

  • The oldest – and perhaps the best known – is that of Aristotle: monarchy, aristocracy, and democracy, with their corresponding corrupt forms: tyranny, oligarchy, and demagogy.
  • Montesquieu raised another: republic, monarchy, and despotism (whose “principles” are respectively virtue, honor, and fear).
  • Marx linked them with the forms of production: to the mode of slave production, corresponding to the city-state; to the agro-managerial found in the eastern empires; to the feudal represented by the monarchies, señoríos, and communes; the capitalist, representative of democracies, fascisms, and socialism.
  • The most modern theories classify the types of regime according to their system of political parties: pluralistic constitutional regimes and single-party regimes.

1. MONARCHY

  • Form of government in which the head of state resides in one person, a king or a queen.
  • It is usually a lifelong post which is accessed by right and is hereditary.

2. TYRANNY

  • Form of government in which the ruler has total or absolute power, not limited by laws, especially when he obtains it by illicit means, and abuses it.

3. REPUBLIC

  • Form of government in which the office of head of state is in the hands of a temporary president who is elected by vote, either through elections or by a meeting of leaders.
  • From the Contemporary Age on, republican states are recognized by the following characteristics:
  1. Sovereignty resides in the people.
  2. The government accepts the division of powers (Executive, Legislative, and Judicial).
  3. Citizens enjoy equality before the law.
  4. The rulers exercise their power elected by the people, and for a limited period.
  5. The rulers are responsible for their actions before the sovereign people.
  6. Acts of government are public.
  7. It is based on the rule of law, which should govern the actions of rulers and the governed.
  8. Who holds the Executive Power is a President or other equivalent position, but not a King.

4. ARISTOCRACY

  • Many thinkers of the ancient world like Plato or Cicero saw in the aristocratic republic the best system of government for man. Such power would be led by an intellectual elite and based on their knowledge and studies.

5. OLIGARCHY

  • System of government in which power is in the hands of a few people belonging to a privileged social class.
  • Strictly, the oligarchy arises when the succession of an aristocratic system is perpetuated without the ethical and leadership qualities of the best emerging as merit recognized by the community.

6. THEOCRACY

  • It is the form of government where state administrators coincide with the leaders of the dominant religion, and government policies are identical or are heavily influenced by the principles of the dominant religion.
  • Generally, the government claims to rule in the name of the divinity.

7. DEMOCRACY

  • Political system that defends the sovereignty of the people and the right of the people to choose and control their rulers.
  1. Indirect or representative democracy
    1. The people are limited to electing their representatives so that they deliberate and make decisions with the power that the people give them through the vote.
  2. Semi-direct or participatory democracy
    1. In semi-direct democracy, the people express themselves directly in certain particular circumstances, basically through four mechanisms:
      1. Referendum: The people choose “yes or no” on a proposal.
      2. Plebiscite: The people decide to grant or not grant the final approval of a rule (constitution, law, treaty).
      3. Popular initiative: By this mechanism, a group of citizens can propose the sanction or repeal of a law.
      4. Popular dismissal, revocation of mandate, or recall: Through this procedure, citizens can dismiss an elected representative before the end of their term.
  3. Direct Democracy
    1. The decisions are taken by the sovereign people in the assembly.
      1. There are no representatives of the people.

SOVEREIGNTY

DEFINITION

  • Authority in which the political power resides.

NATIONAL SOVEREIGNTY

  • National sovereignty is a concept that gives all power to the nation, that is, to the citizens.
  • Through the constitution, the citizens cede power to the state.
  • National sovereignty translates into a representative regime because the nation cannot govern itself directly.

POPULAR SOVEREIGNTY

  • It defends an organization of the State in which power effectively rests upon the consent of the people and that the people can determine the action of the State.
  • Characteristics:
    • Elective representative bodies, in particular of the Legislative Assemblies.
    • Rule of Law, expression of the general will with full submission to the laws of administrative and judicial bodies.
    • The head of the monarchical state is not incompatible with the principle.

SUFFRAGE

DEFINITION

  • Election by voting of an option among several candidates or ideas.
  • Can be public or private.
  • It is a synonym of vote.

ACTIVE SUFFRAGE

Right to participate in elections.

PASSIVE SUFFRAGE

The right to run for a political post or office.

RESTRICTED SUFFRAGE

Suffrage in which only citizens that meet certain criteria can participate.

UNIVERSAL SUFFRAGE

Suffrage in which all citizens have the right to participate, except in certain circumstances.