Understanding Authority and Political Participation
Authority
Authority: The power or right to give orders, make decisions, and enforce obedience, drawing on legality. It is the right to command, direct, be heard, and obeyed by all.
Stories
a) Institutions or organizations dating from more power: Military authorities, the military, state authority.
b) Faculty authority or jurisdiction of a charge: The authority of the Head of State, the Mayor of a town, or the Army General.
c) The very persons who have a fact: Esperanza Aguirre, JL. R. Zapatero.
Types
Read MorePower, Authority, and Legitimacy: A Political Analysis
Power, Authority, and Legitimacy
Force is the power of coercion used to exercise civilian control and domination over citizens. Authority is the reason or basis that justifies such force. Authority serves to legitimize and rationalize political power and those who wield it. Power and authority are two aspects of power.
On one hand, power is seen as absolutely necessary to regulate human society. On the other hand, it is perceived as a form of control and domination over citizens.
Legitimation of Political
Read MoreUnderstanding Federalism, Executive, and Legislative Powers
Federalism
Federalism is a system of government where a group of members are bound together by a covenant with a governing representative head. It involves a central authority; however, member states retain certain powers. This power distribution varies:
- Low Central Power: Spain
- Middle Central Power: US
- Strong Central Power: Germany
Federalism rests on certain principles:
- The concern that the legislature may have too much power.
- The concern that the executive may have too much power.
- A Bill of Rights should
Understanding Political Party Systems: Types and Factors
Understanding Political Party Systems
Party systems emerge from parties competing against each other as parts or sections of a social whole, expressing their diversity and differences. The term “party system” refers to the composition of this set and the pattern of relations that hold its components together. These systems are distinguished by the number of parties they contain and the format they adopt.
Factors Explaining the Diversity of Political Parties
- The existence of partitions or cleavages
Bureaucracy: Characteristics, Classification, and Modern Transformations
Read MoreBureaucracy
Features of Weber’s Rational-Legal Bureaucracy
- System of Rules: Requires equality in power between citizens and those who integrate the bureaucracy.
- Organizational Hierarchy: The chain of command is occupied by specific people and not by abstract structures.
- Formalized Division of Labor: Standardized procedures, free contests.
- Depersonalized Bureaucracy: Acts neutrally, without wrath or prejudice.
Historical Conditions for the Appearance of Weber’s Rational-Legal Bureaucracy
- Consolidation
Representative Office: Definition, History, and Function
Representative Office: Definition and Historical Context
A representative office is a mandate in which the representative can act and decide without being bound by the instructions of their principal. This concept is typical of constitutional courts and was prevalent in the Old Regime. The historical basis of representative offices stems from the representation of estates, where representatives often went to Parliament with specific instructions, making it difficult to reach agreements.