FUNCTIONS OF POLITICAL SYSTEM ACCORDING TO ALMOND

Topic Cover –BA Sem-II Modern Political Theory

Submitted By

Dr. Jiwan Devi

Dept. of Political Science

HMV Jalandhar, Punjab, India

INTRODUCTION

• The concept of political system is central to the modern view points of political science.
• It was a result of behavioral revolution in the beginning of the 20^th century. Graham Wallas wrote a book called “Human nature in Politics” and Arthur Bentley wrote a book called “The Process of Government”.
• The political scientists of modern approach such as David Easton, Almond and Powell, Robert A. Dahl, etc.
• The concept of political system was introduced by David Easton in his book “The Political System”.
• In the study of political systems, both formal and informal institutions are included.

​

MEANING OF POLITICAL SYSTEM

• “POLITICAL” refers to power or authority. Aristotle, the father of political science, regards political associations as ‘most sovereign and inclusive association’.

​

• “SYSTEM” refers to the inter dependency of sub-systems. It is a complete entity or identity or an identifiable unit comprising of distinct parts that influence each other.

​

• Therefore, POLITICAL SYSTEM means an organization whose rules and orders are obeyed out of the fear of the legitimate coercive authority.

​

DEFINITIONS

• According to Robert A. Dahl “A political system is any persistent pattern of human relationship that involves to a certain extent power, rule or authority.”

​

• According to Almond & Powell “when we speak of political system, we include all interactions which affect the use of or threat of legitimate action.”

​

FUNCTIONS OF POLITICAL SYSTEM ACCORDING TO ALMOND AND POWELL

POLITICAL SYSTEM FUNCTIONS

​

​

​

INPUT OUTPUT

INPUT FUNCTIONS

Input functions are performed by non governmental structures such as political parties, pressure groups, newspapers, magazines, etc.

1)Political socialization and recruitment: Political socialization is that process by which the values and beliefs of people are formulated and incorporated into the state’s political culture.

• Political socialization is a regular process which goes on continuously.
• Political culture undergoes a change in accordance with the situations and people are kept well informed about the success and failures of the governments to aid the process.

• The pace of political socialization depends upon the type of government.
• There is a greater degree of political socialization in democracies as there is more freedom of expression of views. In dictatorship or totalitarianism, there is a political socialization, but on a slow degree.
• In a political system, apart from political socialization, there is recruitment as well.
• Recruitment refers to assigning different roles for different purposes.

​

2) Interest Articulation: in every political system, people have some interests, demands or goals.

• The process of presenting those to the decision making power or the government is called interest articulation.
• This is a very important function of a political system as only an efficient relay of interests, goals and motives of people can ensure the fulfillments of those interests.

​

• Interest articulation finds its outlets in written petitions, PILs, political meetings, newspapers, magazines, strikes, protests, etc.
• Sometimes the process of interest articulation, violent methods such as damaging or setting to flame public property, taking out violent demonstrations, killing political leaders, etc.

​

3) Interest Aggregation: the different interest groups claim upon the political system different demands, for their fulfillment.

• The process by which all such different demands are combined or aggregated and common policies for their realization are evolved, is known as interest aggregation.

​

• Interest aggregation is an important function in a political system because without aggregation of different interests, suitable policies cannot be framed.
• The government frames out a general acceptable programme keeping in view the interests of different castes, communities and sections.
• Legislature as well as executive promote interest aggregation.

4) Political Communication: political communication means to transmit information.

• Political system has to rely on interest articulation for the purpose of policy framing.
• A healthy interest articulation is only possible when there are adequate means of communication available.

• Political communication interlinks the various parts of the political as well as non-governmental systems.
• Political communication is a two-way process.
• The government wants to know the demands and interests of people and on the other hand, communicate to the people about the policy framing for promotion.

​

OUTPUT FUNCTIONS

• Political communication goes on continuously through both formal as well as informal ways of communication.
• It includes radio, television, magazines, discussions, and the role of political leaders as well.
• even in states where the government holds unlimited powers and authority, the role of political communication cannot be overlooked.
• Through secret agencies, the government continues to assess the public sentiment towards the administration and communicate to them their policies.

​

• Output functions are the functions of the government.
• The output functions of a state include rule making, rule application and rule adjudication.
• Rule Making Function: The existence of rules in a state is necessary to ensure a healthy relationship among the individual.
• Without them, anarchy will prevail in a society.

​

• Thus, rule making is an essential function of the state. New rules are framed to cope with the changing needs.
• In traditional approach, rule making was regarded as a law making or legislative function.
• But, rule making is considered a better term for the function as using the word law limits it to an extent while rule making allows it to be seen as a broader concept.

2) Rule Application Function:

• Despite their relevance or plausibility, rules lose their utility if they aren’t properly implemented.
• The rule application is carried out by the civil servants, or bureaucrats.
• The traditional thinkers regarded this function as an executive function.
• Proper structures are, therefore, necessary in political system for the purpose of rule application as they maintain the impact of a political system.

​

​

3) Rule Adjudication Function:

• There is always a possibility of breach of laws. If adequate mechanisms to punish the violation do not exist, then individuals will violate rules and interpret them according to their own personal convenience.
• Political system, thus, performs the function of rule-adjudication. rules are firstly interpreted and then violators are punished.
• It is rightly determined if a rule has been infringed, and if it has, is it intentionally or accidentally.

• In traditional approach, this was called the judicial function. This function is performed by the judiciary.
• In order to impart fair and impartial justice, independent judiciary is set up.
• this strengthens the belief of people on the judiciary of the state and the impartial justice served to all.

​

CONCLUSION

• Thus, according to Almond and Powell, the political system runs on the fundamental inter-dependency and communication of both input as well as output functions.
• They both, in togetherness, impact the rule- making and implementation, as well as determine the scale of political participation of civilians in the political systems.

THANK YOU!