Drivers of Change: Refining the Analytical Framework

A Framework for Political Analysis

By Greg Kleponis, PhD Candidate,University of Bolton, UK

Human Collectivities

• Politics is a necessary and pervasive feature of all human collectivities.

• “Economic systems” -- to generate and sustain livelihoods

• “Political Systems”-- a set of processes and institutions, whether formal or informal which shape how decisions are made about the use, reduction and distribution of resources.

Political Systems

• Some Successful/Some not- some enhance growth and development –some do not. Some function to create stability- some do not

• All are embedded in wider environments of economic, social and cultural structures (internal & external)

• Agents/Agencies formed which promote policies and programs in pursuit of collective goals and interests.

• Power defines interactions between agents & agencies

Political SchematicThe Components

• Conceptualize the political system as a series of components and the interaction among them.

• Analyze the relations between a political system and its structural environment

• Identify: – Agents of change– Agents of resistance

• Key: Address and organize the relations of power. The political system as a set of linked processes – Decisions are taken about how resources are used, produced and

distributed will explain where stagnation, crisis and collapse have occurred.

Political Systems in Developing StatesDeveloping the Analytical Framework

• Considerations in the analytical framework:– Countries, polities, political practices and the developmental

trajectories– Must be “Regime Neutral”– Able to address successful, ailing and failed polities– How both formal and informal institutions interact in the political

process and decision making– How informal sources of power impact on the political process– Applicable to sub-national, regional or local level politics (sectoral

domains)

• This should provide us a framework for tracing how and where social and economic interests operate on, in and through the political system. How do the ‘political system’ , ‘economic system’ and ‘social system’ interact with each other

Further Considerations Countries, States & Regions

• Challenges for Comparative Political Science – Variety of political, socio-economic, cultural and ideological characteristics

of countries being studied.– Level and form of economic development– Characteristics of their social and political structures– Prevailing cultural patterns and ideas– Ethnicity – Regionalism – Religion– Revenue sources?

• Single source export resources)• Agriculture• Broad Based diversified economies – industrial /services

Assumption Underlying All Frameworks

• Activities of cooperation• Conflict & Negotiation involved in:

– Decisions about the use, production and distribution of resources– Politics is and essential, necessary and unavoidable process or set of

processes in all collective human activity.

• Political processes are formally differentiated from other ‘non-political’ processes

• ‘Public’ is more sharply marked off from the ‘Private’• Some systems facilitate cooperation, integration and stability• Some systems are pathological and have led to failure,

disintegration or collapse

Rational Choice Institutionalism

• Concerned with explaining the patterns of micro-political behavior as shaped by the prevailing institutional arrangements and incentive structures which influence it.

• Has dominated contemporary academic thought in comparative political system analysis.

• Uncovers the ‘micro-foundations’ of macro-processes and events

• Offers little or no guidance about how different institutional spheres relate to one another.

Economic, Social & Economic Agents

• How do they interact?• How do they advance their agendas?• What role do institutions play in moderating potentially

competing agendas• Dynamics that produce outcomes?• How do some ideas rather than others prevail?• What are the processes that produce those outcomes?

The Political System in Broad Terms

• Political system represents a stylized abstraction of the political process – it is not an independent , isolated realm

• Human society must have a set of institutional arrangements to regularize and make predictable human interaction

• These institutions, formal and informal, consist of procedures or processes for making rules and deciding how resources are used, produced and distribute.

• The political system serves that function

Political System & Environments

• Economic• Social• Cultural• Ideological systens• Regional & International Contexts

• Process– Populated by agents and agencies who drive the dynamic

of the political process in, through and behind the institutional arrangements

The Political System

Legitimacy ?

InputsInfluencesDemandsOppositions

INPUTSSupports Withdrawals

Modes

Modes

Policy Formation Power Map

GATEKEEPERS

DECISIONMAKING

Capacity & PoliticsOf Implementation

OUTPUTS

Feedback Loop

LobbyingLegitimate/Non-Legitimate

National EnvironmentEconomy Social System International Environment Cultural System Ideologies

Political Systems & Legitimacy

• Legitimacy- is the acceptance of the rule s of the game or general support for the process whereby decisions are made and implemented by the broad parameters of the socio-economic system.

• Seldom sustained by a monopoly of force in the hands of the dominate elite.

• Inputs- socially disaffected groups, communities, or regions may withhold or withdraw legitimacy by refusing to accept the rules of the game and the state itself with far-reaching implications for continuity, stability and development. – Secessionists– Irredentists – Revolutionaries

Gatekeepers

• Critical figures at a number of points and in a number of institutions who may encourage, discourage, allow or deny access of people, ideas, demands and influences

• Need to be alert to interests and ideas which may not get heard, aired or through because of these structures of power (ideological power) and the role of gatekeepers in the process– Politicians– Civil Servants

• Easton’s “Withinputs” – when the gate keepers and internal agents input on their own to the system.

Lobbying

• Policy formation influenced by this – “outputs”• By the way – does anyone know where the term came from?• Legitimate & Open:

– Interest Groups• Multi-national and National Corporations ( Big oil, Big Tobacco etc)• Interest Groups• NGOs• Registered Groups (AMA, ABA, Etc)

• Behind the Scenes:– Wealthy Individuals– In less open political systems influential persons drive outputs

• Outputs – precipitate both support and opposition and can affect levels of legitimacy.

Political Systems- Formal & Informal

• Political System needs to be understood as a set of processes– Formal Institutions– Informal Institutions

• Interactions• Processes• Pressures• Practices

– Which collective and binding decisions are made.Power is not a single source phenomenon, it is an expression of a relationship between parties each disposing of a certain power resource.

– Caciques– “Big Men”

Politics Defined

• All activities of cooperation, conflict and negotiation involved in decisions about the use, production and distribution of resources, the political system (at least for a given unit of analysis) is that set of dynamic, formal and informal institutionally-shaped interactions, practices and processes through these activities occur.

Constitutionalist (Old Institutionalist) Approach

• Approach to politics in that it provides space for the impact and interaction of both formal and informal sources and forms of power and influence

• Provides a framework for identifying where and how they are deployed.

• Different to a ‘political economy’ approach in that it starts from the premise that political systems and processes need, first to be conceptualized independently of economic ones, but only so that the way in which they interact with each other can be much more directly traced and illustrated.

Conceptual Blocks of the Political System

• A system or structure, practical or theoretical is by definition a set of relations of the parts that constitute it.– Political systems – no exception

• Applicable in all societies – irrespective of political or socio-economic structures

Political Systems (Basic Elements)

• Environment• Legitimacy (geographical, constitutional, political)• Inputs

– Demands, influences and oppositions– Supports and withdrawal

• Modes (of demand and action by agents)• Gatekeepers • Policy formation power map• Lobbying• Decision – making• Outputs • Feedback Loop• Capacity and politics of implementation

Environment

• Refers to the overall structural context of the political system and includes both national and international features.– Socio-economic– Cultural– Ideological– Political cultural environment

• Can include:– Natural environmental features

• Climate• Location

• Complex when considered in combination

Legitimacy

• Refers to the general level of acceptance of the rules of the political game– Not the exclusive monopoly of democratic politics– Found in all political systems from African Chiefdoms to Monarchies

• Geographical Legitimacy: – Acceptance of the boundaries within which they live

• Constitutional Legitimacy:– Acceptance of rules of the political game (formal and informal)

• Political Legitimacy:– Refers to the acceptance that the rules are fairly applied. For example

Secessionist or irredentist movements indicate low or zero legitimacy

Demands, Inputs and Influences

• Examples of demands:– Lower taxes– Land Reform– Accessible clean water– Fewer Regulations– Nationalization– Trade regimes – Better schools

• Influences – As previously discussed- politicians, lobbyists, interest groups,

influential individuals, voters etc

Legitimacy ?

External AgentsIMF/World BankEUCorporationsWTORegional

Internal AgentsParties, NGOs, MediaPatronsBusiness/Unions

Modes

Modes

Policy Formation

Power Map

GATEKEEPERS

DECISIONMAKING

Capacity & PoliticsOf Implementation

OUTPUTS

Feedback Loop

LobbyingLegitimate/Non-Legitimate

Supports Withdrawals

Legitimacy ?

External AgentsMilitaryPoliticalFinancialAlliancesTrade BlocsCorporate

Internal AgentsPopularity/UnpopSecessionismIrredentismMilitary

Modes

Modes

Policy Formation

Power Map

GATEKEEPERS

DECISIONMAKING

Capacity & PoliticsOf Implementation

OUTPUTS

Feedback Loop

LobbyingLegitimate/Non-Legitimate

Influences DemandsOppositions

Supports Withdrawal

Environment

Modes

• Means and methods by which and through which demands, oppositions and influences may be expressed.– External: sources may use conditionality, threats, terms of admission

to organizations (e.g. EU and it’s condition with Turkey on Civil rights)– Internal: agents and agencies have a wide range of modes – depends

on the freedom and autonomy of the political culture• Voting• Campaigns • Public discussions of issues and ideas• Stikes, sit-ins, go-slows, • Riot & Rebellion

Gatekeepers

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