L7 UCSP

• Politics


  Activities through which people make, preserve, and amend the general rules under which they live. It involves the dynamics of conflict resolution and cooperation, as well as the exercise of power.
• Power

  The ability to do something to achieve a desired outcome. It involves a relationship - there is one who exercises power and another who is subject to it.
• Authority


  Legitimate power, where the person who has authority has the right to exercise power.
• Aspects in maintaining social order

  • Creating formal norms (constitutional laws, statutory laws, common laws)
  • Applying sanctions
  • Settling disputes among individuals
  • Settling disputes between/among nations
• Political Organizations


  • Societies have political systems that function to manage public affairs, maintain social order, and resolve conflict
  • The forms of these political systems are diverse, sometimes embedded in other social structures
  • Political organization involves issues like allocation of political roles, levels of political integration, concentrations of power and authority, mechanisms of social control and resolving conflicts
• Band


  • Very small, oftentimes nomadic group connected by family ties and politically independent
  • Subsist through foraging
  • Little to no formal leadership
  • Decisions based on group consensus rather than one governing official
• Tribes


  • Group of people related through blood ties, sharing common culture, language, and territory, with a certain degree of social, economic, and political organization
  • Shared ancestry and kinship
  • Shared culture and traditions
  • Shared territory or resource base
  • Political and social organization
• Tribes


  • Igorots and Lumads of the Philippines
  • Maasai of East Africa
  • Huli of Papua New Guinea
• Chiefdoms

  • Political units with centralized leadership headed by a chief or a council of chiefs
  • Leadership holds significant power over a community or tribe, often extending to administrative, judicial, and religious spheres
  • Exhibit social stratification with clear hierarchies
  • Power and authority often based on kinship
  • Function through redistribution systems
  • Chiefs believed to be endowed with manna, a supernatural power that gives the right to rule
  • No bureaucracy or written laws to support the chief
• Chiefdoms


  • Maranao sultanate and T'boli of Mindanao
  • Maori (New Zealand)
  • Akan People (Ghana and Ivory Coast)
• Nation


  The people, created by a shared belief that the people inside a country are connected to each other. Aspects include shared history, culture, language, ethnicity, and territory.
• State


  A political unit that encompasses several communities, has a bureaucracy, and has leaders that possess legitimate powers. Elements include sovereignty, population, territory, and government.
• Types of states

  • Unitary (central government)
  • Federal (power divided between central and regional authorities)
  • Confederations (independent states cooperating on specific matters)
• Legitimacy


  Justification for a state's authority, can be based on history, tradition, consent of the governed, or effectiveness in providing security and well-being.
• Traditional Authority


  • Authority based on a system believed to have "always existed", legitimacy based on long-established customs and traditions
• Charismatic Authority


  • Authority based on the presumed special and extraordinary characteristics or qualities possessed by a certain individual
  • Leaders seen as "born leaders" and "heroes"
  • Charisma can be a gift or innate quality, or manufactured through propaganda
  • Unstable as leaders may "lose" their charisma
• Rational-legal Authority


  • Power and authority legitimized by a clearly defined set of written rules and laws
  • Leaders can rightfully wield authority if they obtain their positions according to established procedures
  • Highest degree of stability among the three types of authority
• Forms of Legitimate Government


  • Communism (based on Marxism)
  • Constitutionalism (law is supreme over private will)
  • Democracy (elected government is legally accountable to people)
  • Fascism (headed by a dictator)
  • Monarchy (ruled by a monarch)