3 State+Institutions+&+Values 09

7/29/2019 3 State+Institutions+&+Values 09

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State Institutions andPolitical Values

Building National Unity andUnderstanding Variance within

Regime Types


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Role of Constitutions

Relationship between the state and its citizens Define citizenship Political rights & civil liberties

Relationships of power among state institutions Executive/legislative

Judiciary Bureaucracy Military


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Does changing a constitution

indicate regime change? Yes: when fundamental changes in the

relationship between the state and societyare implemented Example: South Africa, 1996

No: when changes are limited torelationships among state institutions Example: France, 1958


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Degree of Centralized Power:

Unitary & Federal States Unitary state: Central (national) government

holds ultimate authority over localadministrative units

Federal state: Combines a relatively strongcentral government with meaningful(autonomous) authority granted to localgovernments


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United States: A Federal State

Article 1, Section 9 : Limits on Congressional power

Article 4, Section 1 : Recognition of the power and

autonomy of states over federal government

Amendment 10 :The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution,

nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States

respectively, or to the people.

Amendment 14 : Limits states on restricting federally-mandated individual rights


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Uzbekistan: A Unitary State

Article 15 :Mandates the unconditional supremacy of the

Constitution and national state

Article 78 :Parliament can abolish any region at any time

Article 102 :Governors of the regions are appointed and dismissed by

the President


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Institutionalizing Executive

Functions Head of State

Primarily ceremonial office

Some (very) limited powers Serves as a symbol of national unity

Head of Government Chief political officer--sets political agenda Often commands armed forces


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Executive-Legislative Arrangements

Parliamentary system

Presidential system

Semi-presidential/ hybrid system


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Parliamentary Arrangements

United Kingdom Queen of England (hereditary not elected)

Prime Minister (Queen appoints, Parliament ratifies) No separation of powers

Italy President (appointed by Parliament) Prime Minister (President appoints, Parliament ratifies) No separation of powers


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Presidential Arrangements

United States US President (elected by Electoral College) Serves as both head of state and head of

government

Separation of powers employed


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Semi-Presidential Arrangements

(Dual Executive)

France French President (directly elected by people) Prime Minister (appointed by President, ratified

by parliament)

Separation of powers depends on electoraloutcomes


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Power of the Civil Service

Distance of civil service heads to chief politicalofficers varies among countries

US President: 10,000+ appointments (6,500 directly)

UK Prime Minister appoints fewer than 1,000 offices

Instability in government increases bureaucratic

power Japan under the LDP (1950-93) Argentina under the junta (1966-73)


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Size of Bureaucracy as an Indicator

of Power As percentage of labor force

Denmark and Sweden (just over 30%)

UK and France (approximately 20%)

US and Germany (approximately 15%)

Japan (approximately 6%)


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When does the military become an

active, autonomous actor? Circumstances:

Weak institutions allowing for personal ambition Severe social divisions present within society

Vehicles: Active role for the military institutionalized through the

constitution

Active role based on cultural understandings of traditional authority

Examples: Turkey and Pakistan


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Defining a Nation

Political community, imagined as bothlimited and sovereign (Anderson 1991)

State institutions give our imaginationsstructure

Emotional/ psychological components: past, present, future


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Multinational States are the Norm

Japan (99% Japanese)

Russia (79.8% Russian)

Belgium 58% Fleming 31% Walloon 11% Mixed or other

Bosnia-Herzegovina 48% Bosnian/ Muslim 37% Serb/ Orthodox 14% Croat/ Catholic


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Three Hypotheses on Ethnic Conflict

The more homogeneous a states citizens, the lesslikely ethnic conflict will occur

Ethnic conflict is more likely in states with polarized (as opposed to cross-cutting) socialcleavage structures

Ethnic conflict is more likely to occur in newdemocracies rather than in consolidateddemocracies OR undemocratic regimes


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Lijpharts Hypothesis on

Divided Societies

Assumption: ethnic conflict can only beovercome through a democratic regime

Constitutional choices are causally relatedto the level of conflict in divided societies


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Lijpharts Recommendations

Electoral System How votes are translated into seats

Recommends Proportional Representation

Parliamentary Organization of the Executive

Local governing authority (federalism or specialautonomy zones)

Power-sharing outside Cabinet & Parliament


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Political Values & Procedure:

Majoritarian Model Institutions consolidate majority power

strong executive

few political parties few restrictions on civil society multiple access points for participation

Compatible with cross-cutting cleavages


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Parliamentary Systems may also

advance majoritarian values1. Electoral laws that favor two-party competition

(regularly return a majority government)

2. Prime minister independence with appointments

3. Difficult vote of confidence rules

United Kingdom follows (1) and (2) while Germany follows (1) and (3)


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Political Values & Procedure:

Consociational Model Institutions designed for power-sharing

divided or weaken executive

incentives for multiple parties regulated civil society few access points for participation

Compatible with polarizing cleavages


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Presidential Systems may also

advance consociational values1. Electoral laws that favor multi-party systems

2. Special provisions for minority parties/ voices

3. Divided head of government office

Bosnia-Herzegovina follows all three whileSwitzerland follows (1) and (3)


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Presidential-Parliamentary

Systems Allows fluctuation between the two sets of values

IF parliament reflects a majority of presidents party:majoritarian

IF parliament reflects a majority not of the presidents party: consociational

IF no majority sits in parliament, political processensues and determines values

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3 State+Institutions+&+Values 09

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