Types of political processes and their brief characteristics. The concept of “political process”, its essence, forms, structure, types and stages. Modes of the political process
Political events in modern society occur quite often as rates change domestic policy, interrelations between states are increasing. The chain of regular political events is called the political process. Let us briefly study the essence, types of political processes and factors influencing their development.
Development of the political process
Considering the history of mankind, we can distinguish two stages in development political process.
- Stage 1. Traditional society;
The political process has not yet acquired an organized and clear character; it is developing spontaneously, “from below”: the initiative comes from all people who begin to need power, to establish relations with other tribes (states).
- Stage 2. Industrial and post-industrial society;
The political process is becoming more defined, purposeful, and is now developing “from above”: a layer of people is being formed for whom politics is their main occupation. Political actions are planned, tactically developed programs appear.
As a result of humanity passing through the two indicated stages, state power is formed, which is distributed between citizens and political forces (rulers, parties, government bodies).
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Classification
All types political regimes are usually divided into several groups:
- by importance for society: private and basic;
- by scale: domestic and international.
Speaking about the political process, it is necessary to understand that it emerges and is regulated by its participants.
In the structure of subjects (participants) of the political process the main positions are occupied by:
- initiators;
- performers.
The purpose of the political process is the problem. To solve it, the following sequence of actions is built:
1. the initiators state a political problem;
2. there is a search for performers who can solve the problem (bodies, officials);
3. methods and means, as well as resources to solve the problem are selected;
4. active actions, problem solving.
Stages
Any political process goes through several stages:
- formation political system(political forces create their program, fight for power, carry out their course);
In Russia there is a multi-party system, and different political forces offer their solutions to political problems, for example, some parties see the solution to the housing problem in providing financial assistance, others - in reducing interest rates on loans for purchasing real estate, and so on.
- repetition, renewal of established and existing policy mechanisms (regular elections, increase or decrease of functions government agencies and so on);
- making decisions on pressing issues, exercising power;
- exercising control over the actions of the authorities, assessing their activities (special bodies, media, referendums).
What have we learned?
From the moment of its inception, human society began to form a political system, which in modern society has acquired the most developed structure. Political processes are regulated by society, especially by its representatives (bodies, parties), who are given management functions, decisions internal problems and foreign policy tasks.
A more detailed assessment of the content of the political process is associated with the characteristics of its types and varieties. Political processes unfold both on a global scale and within the political system of society, a separate region, or a local territory. They can be classified by scale, nature of transformations, composition of participants, time duration, etc. Political processes act as global and national, national and regional (local), as interclass, intergroup, and within classes, social and other groups, outside or within political parties and movements.
We can say that political processes are divided into domestic political and foreign policy.
The internal political process takes place between political subjects (classes, other social groups, nations, parties, social movements, political leaders), the core of whose activity is the conquest, retention and use of political power. The internal political process covers various spheres of society - political, legal, economic, social, environmental, demographic, cultural, military, etc. Internal political goals can be achieved by both peaceful and violent methods.
The foreign policy process extends to relations with other states as the art of conducting international affairs. It is closely connected with the dominant economic structure, social and state system and expresses them on the world stage. At the same time, the foreign policy process has a number of features due to the existence in the world of many states with divergent interests and programs in various areas. IN modern conditions The foreign policy process is increasingly becoming the art of negotiations and achieving reasonable, mutually acceptable political compromises.
According to the importance for society of certain forms of political regulation social relations political processes are divided into basic and peripheral.
The basic political process is characterized by various ways of including broad social strata in relations with the state, forms of transforming the interests and demands of the population into management decisions, typical methods of forming political elites, etc. In this sense, we can talk about the processes of political participation in public administration (in decision-making, the legislative process, etc.).
Peripheral political processes reveal the dynamics of the formation of individual political associations (parties, pressure groups, etc.), the development of local self-government, and other connections and relationships in the political system that do not have a fundamental impact on the dominant forms and methods of exercising power.
According to the nature of the participation of the masses in political life democratic ones can be distinguished, where they combine various shapes direct and representative democracy and non-democratic, the internal content of which is determined by the presence of totalitarian or authoritarian regimes; activities of the relevant political parties and public organizations and leaders, the existence of an authoritarian political culture and mentality of citizens.
In political science, there are also such types of political processes as open and hidden (shadow). An open political process is characterized primarily by the fact that the political interests of groups and citizens are systematically revealed in electoral preferences, programs of parties and movements, as well as in other forms of public claims of people to government power. On the contrary, the hidden (shadow) process is based on political institutions and centers of power that are not publicly formalized, as well as on such power claims that, for various reasons, do not involve appeal to official bearers of power. The centers of power to which citizens then appeal can be prohibited, illegal and not recognized by society structures (for example, mafia clans) operating in a given political space. Control over the ruling elites is completely absent.
The nature of the transformation of power gives grounds to talk about revolutionary and evolutionary political processes.
The revolutionary type of political process develops in an environment of a revolutionary situation or close to it (according to V.I. Lenin: the “tops” cannot, and the “bottoms” do not want to live in the old way, high political activity of the masses). This type is characterized by a relatively rapid qualitative change in power, a complete revision of the state constitution; the use of both peaceful and violent means to overthrow the previous regime; electoral preferences give way to spontaneous arbitrary forms of mass political movements; at all levels of government there is a lack of time for adoption management decisions; the declining role of advisory and expert bodies, the increasing responsibility of political leaders; increasing conflict between the traditional and new elites.
The evolutionary type of political process is characterized by a gradual resolution of accumulated contradictions and rationalization of conflicts; separation of functions and roles of various political subjects; stability of the formed decision-making mechanisms; joint activities the elite and the electorate, mutually controlling each other and having freedom of action within the framework of their acquired statuses; legitimacy of power, unity of socio-cultural values and guidelines of managers and managed; consensus and the presence of constructive opposition; a combination of management with self-government and self-organization of political life.
From the point of view of the sustainability of the main forms of interconnection between social and political structures, the certainty of the functions and relationships of subjects of power, stable and unstable political processes can be distinguished.
A stable political process is characterized by stable institutionalized forms of political mobilization and behavior of citizens, as well as functionally developed mechanisms for making political decisions. This process is based on a legitimate regime of government, appropriate social structure, high efficiency prevailing legal and cultural norms in society.
An unstable political process usually arises in a crisis as a manifestation of the need to change the political course. This can lead to a whole series factors: decline in production, social conflicts caused by changed conditions of vertical and horizontal mobility, complications international relations. The instability of the political process is most clearly manifested in the sharp fluctuations in electoral preferences for development paths.
Question 1. Concept and types of political process
Lecture 7. Political process
Lecture questions:
1. Concept and types of political process.
2. Political change and political development.
3. Theories of political modernization.
1.1. Political process - is a set of sequential actions various subjects policies aimed at gaining, maintaining, strengthening and using political power in society.
The term ʼʼprocessʼʼ ( from lat. "processus"- promotion) usually characterize a certain movement that has its own direction; sequential change of states, stages, evolution; a set of sequential actions to achieve a result.
Main types of political processes:
a) formation of bodies of the political system;
b) reproduction of the components and features of the political system in the process of its functioning:
c) adoption and execution of political decisions.
The interconnection of these processes gives rise to a complex combination of actions aimed at ensuring the constancy, inviolability of political relations and their changes, at giving them dynamics and renewal.
Special emphasis is placed on extreme types of political process:
a) rebellion;
Anyone uprising There is a certain level of organization, and managers play a big role here, putting forward certain goals. These goals are justified in a simple program and slogans.
By the presence of a certain degree of organization and purposefulness, an uprising differs from riot - mass action, which is even more limited by the time of its occurrence, as well as by the problem, the cause that caused it.
A riot is almost always a response to any extraordinary actions of representatives of dominant political groups or government bodies, without outgrowing the limited tasks of resistance to individual government actions.
Mutiny in terms of intensity, emotional tension, it is close to a riot, but unlike it, it has a more limited number of participants. A rebellion arises as a result of thoughtful, purposeful preparation of a certain group of people. It is armed in nature, the emphasis is on military force, and the main core of the rebels is usually the army.
With the addition of a wider range of participants to its initiators, the rebellion quickly loses the quality of an organized, purposeful action. A person here is subject to emotions, and his actions increasingly lose touch with the real conditions and capabilities of society. This logic of development quickly gives the rebellion the quality of rebellion; it exhausts its transformative potential and fades away.
If the masses do not join the rebels, then the rebellion becomes putsch , that is, it is expressed in armed actions that are not based either on broad support, or on taking into account the situation, or on a well-thought-out program.
According to the methods of achieving dynamic equilibrium of the political system during its transformations, which presuppose a certain sequence of political changes, we can distinguish three types of political processes:
a) technocratic;
b) ideocratic;
c) charismatic.
This classification is the result of a theoretical assumption, the identification of certain ideal types, which in political practice are closely interrelated and intertwined.
The political process is of a technocratic type. Participants strictly adhere to those political roles and functions that are prescribed to them by law and political traditions.
This type developed in countries with a relatively high homogeneity of the cultural environment - in Anglo-Saxon countries. The adherence of the majority of the population to traditions ensures the stability of the political system and the preservation of the high efficiency of its political institutions, since leaders act as bearers of the interests of those institutions that they directly represent.
Political process of ideocratic type typical for traditional societies, where there is no autonomous personality, developed differentiation of political roles and functions, which are at the initial stage of modernization. It is possible to integrate an ethnoculturally and socioeconomically diverse society on the basis of a national idea.
Political process of charismatic type. This type is typical for eastern cultural tradition, within the framework of which the role and status of the political leader are absolutized, and often he is simply deified. But a political leader is not always a leader by position. He should also be an informal leader.
The charismatic type of political change can be effective if it is complemented by technocratic and ideocratic political processes. A leader's charisma can be based either on his official status or on his ability to express the aspirations of the vast majority of members of society, using discontent, protest and promising to change the situation for the better.
Question 1. Concept and types of political process - concept and types. Classification and features of the category "Question 1. Concept and types of political process" 2017, 2018.
Political relations, their subjects and objects.
Types and stages of development of the political process.
The concept of the political process, its content and structure.
Plan.
TOPIC 12. Political processes and political relations.
Characteristics of politics as a process, i.e. the procedural approach allows us to see the special facets of interaction between subjects regarding state power. However, due to the fact that the scale of the political process coincides with the entire political sphere, some scientists identify it either with politics as a whole (R. Dawes), or with the entire set of behavioral actions of subjects of power, changes in their statuses and influences (C. Merriam ). Proponents of the institutional approach associate the political process with the functioning and transformation of government institutions. (S. Huntington). D. Easton understands it as a set of reactions of the political system to challenges environment. R. Dahrendorf focuses on the dynamics of group rivalry for status and power resources, and J. Mannheim and R. Rich interpret it as a complex set of events that determines the nature of activity state institutions and their impact on society.
All these approaches, one way or another, characterize the most important sources, states and forms of the political process.
The political process is a set of all dynamic changes in the behavior and relationships of subjects, in the performance of their roles and the functioning of institutions, as well as in all other elements of the political space, carried out under the influence of external and internal factors.
The political process excludes any predetermination or predetermination in the development of events and places emphasis on practical modifications of phenomena. Thus, the political process reveals the movement, dynamics, evolution of political phenomena, specific changes in their states in time and space.
Due to this interpretation of the political process, its central characteristic is change, which means any modification of the structure and functions, institutions and forms, constant and variable features, rates of evolution and other parameters of political phenomena. Changes mean both a transformation of properties that do not affect the basic structures and mechanisms of power (for example, leaders, governments, individual institutions may change, but leading values, norms, methods of exercising power remain the same), and a modification of the supporting, basic elements that together contribute to the achievement of a new qualitative state by the system.
Science has developed many ideas about the sources, mechanisms and forms of change. For example, Marx saw the main causes of political dynamics in the influence of economic relations, Pareto associated them with the circulation of elites, Weber with the activities of a charismatic leader, Parsons with the performance of various roles by people, etc. However, conflict is most often cited as the main source of political change.
Conflict is one of possible options interactions of political subjects. As a source of the political process, conflict is a type (and result) of competitive interaction between two or more parties (groups, states, individuals) challenging each other's distribution of power or resources.
This concept emphasizes the objectivity and natural historical nature of the development of political events. It shows the real interaction of political subjects, includes the subjective intentions of political leaders, groups, elites, etc., but the result, as a rule, is something very far from the consciously proclaimed goals. In other words, the concept of “political process” is neutral in relation to any political doctrines. It excludes any bias or predetermination of the evolution of political life.
In general, the political process includes mechanisms for the formation and functioning of political relations and institutions, forms of interaction between numerous political subjects, technology for the exercise of political power, etc.
It is customary to distinguish at least four significant components in the structure of the political process:
1) subjects (actors) of the political process (institutionalized and non-institutionalized);
2) political interests of these subjects;
3) political activity of people (professional political activity and political participation of citizens);
4) political relations that develop as a result of the activities of subjects of the political process.
From the point of view of the significance for society of certain forms of political regulation of social relations, political processes can be divided into basic and peripheral. The first of them characterize those various changes in various areas of political life that concern the modification of its basic, systemic properties. These include political participation, which characterizes the ways in which broad social strata are included in relations with the state. In the same sense we can talk about the process public administration, which determines the main directions of the targeted use of the material power of the state. At the same time, peripheral political processes express changes in areas that are not so significant for society. For example, they reveal the dynamics of the formation of individual political associations (parties, pressure groups), the development of local self-government.
Political processes can reflect changes that occur in overt or hidden forms. An explicit political process is characterized by the fact that the interests of groups and citizens are systematically identified in their public claims to state power, which in turn makes the phase of preparation and adoption of management decisions accessible to public control. The hidden process is based on the activities of political institutions and centers of power that are not publicly formalized, as well as the non-powerful claims of citizens that are not expressed in the form of an appeal to official government bodies.
Open and closed political processes. Closed processes are the type of changes that can be fairly unambiguously assessed within the criteria of best/worst, desirable/undesirable, etc. Open - changes that do not allow us to assume what kind of character - positive or negative for the subject - the existing transformations have or which of the possible strategies in the future is more preferable.
Stable and transitional political processes. Stable ones express a clearly defined direction of change, the predominance of a certain type of power relations, forms of organization of power that presuppose the stable reproduction of political relations even with the resistance of certain forces of trends. Outwardly, they can be characterized by the absence of wars, mass protests, etc. In transition processes there is no clear predominance of certain basic properties of the organization of power, which exclude the possibility of qualitative identification of changes.
Science also presents attempts to typologize political processes on a civilized basis. Thus, L. Pai singled out the “non-Western” type of political process, attributing to its features the tendency of political parties to pretend to express a worldview and represent a way of life; greater freedom for political leaders in determining the strategy and tactics of structures and institutions, etc.
Within the cycle of the political process, one can distinguish several phases or stages of the implementation of the main functions of politics in it, as was done, for example, by G. Almond and G. Powell. They postulate the presence of systemic (socialization, recruitment and communication) and procedural functions of politics, which include the functions of articulating interests, their aggregation, as well as the development of specific political measures and their implementation. Each procedural function can be associated with a certain stage in the development of an integral political process.
At the first stage there is an “articulation of interests” of various social groups, realizing that without impact on political power they can't solve their problems. Their design and expression are undertaken by numerous interest groups (trade unions, associations of entrepreneurs, etc.).
The second stage is characterized by “aggregation of interests,” that is, the process of consolidation, reduction of relatively small, partial interests into a certain generalized political interest, the spokesman of which is already large political parties, associations, movements, etc.
At the third stage of the political process, the consent of the main interested forces is achieved in one way or another and a certain policy is developed, which is the result of the activities of mainly representative (legislative) authorities. Although in many cases (as, for example, in today's Russia), the direction of the developed political course depends to a large extent on the executive branch.
The fourth stage of the usual cycle of political processes consists in the implementation of collective political decisions, their “translation” into the language of specific practical activities of the state such as the mobilization of economic resources, budget execution, etc. This is already almost the exclusive prerogative of the executive power, whose actions should, in principle, be controlled by the legislative power. In practice, the nature and depth of such control each time depend on the prevailing situation. at the moment balance of political forces controlling the main branches of government.
The political process can be defined as an ordered sequence of individual actions and interactions of political actors, usually creating and recreating political institutions. You can give another definition of the political process - different in form, but close to the essence: The political process is the unfolding of politics in time and space in the form of an ordered sequence of individual actions and interactions, which is connected by a certain logic or meaning.
Coinciding in scale with the entire political space, the political process extends not only to conventional (contractual, normative) changes that characterize behavioral actions, relationships and mechanisms of competition for state power that meet the norms and rules of the political game accepted in society. Along with this, political processes also involve those changes that indicate a violation by subjects of their role functions recorded in regulatory framework, exceeding their powers, going beyond their political niches. Thus, the content of the political process also includes changes that take place in the activities of subjects who do not share generally accepted standards in relations with state power, for example, the activities of illegal parties, terrorism, criminal acts of politicians in the sphere of power, etc.
Reflecting actually existing, and not just planned changes, political processes have a pronounced non-normative character, which is explained by the presence in the political space of various types of movement (wave, cyclical, linear, inversion, i.e. return, etc.), which have their own forms and ways of transforming political phenomena, the combination of which deprives the latter of strict certainty and stability.
From this point of view, the political process is a set of relatively independent, local transformations political activity subjects (relations, institutions) that arise at the intersection of a wide variety of factors and whose parameters cannot be accurately determined, much less predicted. At the same time, the political process is characterized by discrete changes or the possibility of modifying some parameters of a phenomenon and at the same time maintaining unchanged its other features and characteristics (for example, a change in the composition of the government can be combined with maintaining the previous political course). The uniqueness and discrete nature of changes excludes the possibility of extrapolation (transferring the values of modern facts to the future) of certain assessments of the political process, complicates political forecasting, and sets limits to predicting political prospects.
At the same time, each type of political change has its own rhythm (cyclicality, repetition), a combination of stages and interactions of subjects, structures, and institutions. For example, the electoral process is formed in connection with election cycles, therefore the political activity of the population develops in accordance with the phases of nominating candidates for legislative or executive bodies, discussing their candidacies, electing and monitoring their activities. The decisions of the ruling parties can set their own rhythm for political processes. During periods of qualitative reformation of social relations, the decisive influence on the nature of the functioning government agencies and the methods of political participation of the population do not provide solutions higher authorities management, and individual political events, changing the alignment and balance of political forces. Such a “ragged” rhythm can be set in the political process by military coups, international crises, natural disasters, etc.
Reflecting real, practically established changes in political phenomena, the political process certainly includes in its content the corresponding technologies and procedures of action. In other words, the political process demonstrates the nature of changes that are associated with the activities of a specific subject using, at one time or another and in one place or another, the methods and methods of activity familiar to him. Therefore the application different technologies solving even homogeneous problems involves changes of different nature. Thus, without this technocratic link, political changes acquire an abstract character, losing their specificity and concrete historical design.
