The Mongol Origins of Muscovite Political Institutions

Slavic Review ◽  
1990 ◽  
Vol 49 (4) ◽  
pp. 525-542 ◽  
Author(s):  
Donald Ostrowski
Keyword(s):  
Fourteenth Century ◽  
Political Institutions ◽  
Political System ◽  
Punctuated Equilibrium ◽  
Institutional Structure ◽  
Evolutionary Development ◽  
The Political ◽  
Political Structure ◽  
Wide Scale ◽  
Military Institutions

Sources of the first half of the fourteenth century provide evidence that a sharp rift in institutional continuity occurred in Muscovy. This rift constituted a kind of "punctuated equilibrium" in the evolutionary development of the Rus' political system. The political institutional structure inherited from the Vladimir-Suzdal' component of Kievan Rus' ended abruptly, and, concomitantly, a new political structure similar to that of the Kipchak Khanate was established. I contend in this article that the Muscovite princes introduced Mongol political and military institutions into Muscovy on a wide scale during the first half of the fourteenth century.

Division de pouvoir et intégration social: de Montesquieu à la crise actuelle du parlementarisme

1968 ◽  
Vol 1 (3) ◽  
pp. 261-269
Author(s):  
André Vachet
Keyword(s):  
Political Institutions ◽  
Political System ◽  
Political Power ◽  
Social Groups ◽  
The Political ◽  
Social Forces ◽  
Parliamentary Democracy ◽  
Social Division ◽  
Western Democracy ◽  
Vital Forces

Division of power and social integrationExplanation of some of the recent challenges to western democracy may be found in a re-examination of Montesquieu's thought. Here we find the theory of the separation of power to be far more complex than is implied in the simple divisions of legislature, executive, and judiciary. For Montesquieu, the separation of power is more a social division than a political or juridical one. He contemplated returning the organs of political power to various social forces, e.g. monarchy, aristocracy, and bourgeoisie, and that then the self-assertion of forces would be restrained by the resistance of other social groups. The realization of its goals would require every important social group to integrate itself both to society and to the state and to seek its goals through realization of the general good.Since Montesquieu's time, political structures would seem to have been very little changed even though social structures have been greatly altered by the rise of economic powers. Political institutions have been losing touch with the vital forces of society and these have had to find other channels of expression. The personalization of power, the rise of the executive, violence, and increasing paternalism may be viewed as phenomena of compensation by which attempts are being made to bridge the gap between the structures of political power and those of a society which has been restructured.Revigoration of parliamentary democracy would seem to require that all vital social forces be reintegrated into the political system and be given meaningful channels of political expression. Failure to make such changes opens the way to identification of the political powers with technocracy and the increasing general use of violence in the resolution of social problems.

Some Reflections on the Institutions of Muslim Spain

2004 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
pp. 26-56
Author(s):  
Roberto Marín-Guzmán
Keyword(s):  
Political Institutions ◽  
The Political ◽  
Military Institutions ◽  
The Military ◽  
Muslim Spain

This essay analyzes the major political, military, and administrative institutions of al-Andalus (Muslim Spain) and explains how they gave a sense of unity to the Abode of Islam (dar al-Islam) by replicating the same institutions used in the East (al- Mashriq). The military institutions (e.g., jund, thughur, and husun) helped to keep Muslim Spain safe from enemy attacks, both Christian and Muslim, and to suppress all revolts, while the political institutions enabled the authorities to keep al-Andalus unified, levy taxes, administer the cities (sahib al-madinah), supervise the markets (sahib al-suq), and, finally, to administer the region’s provinces (kuwar).

Fascism or Illusionism of Capitalist Dominance in Brazil?

2020 ◽  
pp. 77-97
Author(s):  
Raphael Lana Seabra
Keyword(s):  
Political System ◽  
Social Classes ◽  
The Political ◽  
Political Structure ◽  
Political Situation

This chapter aims to debate the pertinence of fascism as a concept for analyzing the recent socio-political situation in Brazil. It confronts the fact that there has been, in the last few years, a rise of politicians and movements that seem to reproduce elements typical of fascism: a tendency towards authoritarianism, leadership strength, the decimation of minorities, and a hatred towards the left and differences in general. Confronting the emergence of these phenomena, the chapter will examine certain facts, tendencies, and social classes in contemporary Brazil. The particularities of the political system of domination in dependent capitalism will be highlighted. The power and exploitation structure of dependent capitalism presents significant obstacles for the emergence of a minimally cohesive fascist movement. The country has, however, a repressive and political structure that is not very democratic.

Inestabilidad política y presidencialismo en México

1994 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 187-216 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rogelio Hernández Rodríguez
Keyword(s):  
Political Institutions ◽  
Political System ◽  
The Political ◽  
Partido Revolucionario Institucional

This article analyzes the principal political acts of the Carlos Salinas administration--elections, the removal of state governors, and the reforms of the Partido Revolucionario Institucional (PRI)--and their consequences on the political system. Such measures, far from being democratic improvements, have accentuated presidencialismo at the expense of political institutions.

Some Social Requisites of Democracy: Economic Development and Political Legitimacy

1959 ◽  
Vol 53 (1) ◽  
pp. 69-105 ◽  
Author(s):  
Seymour Martin Lipset
Keyword(s):  
Political Institutions ◽  
Political System ◽  
Political Legitimacy ◽  
Social Institutions ◽  
The Political ◽  
Government Agencies ◽  
Political Systems ◽  
Existence And Stability ◽  
Political Philosopher ◽  
Determinants Of Action

The conditions associated with the existence and stability of democratic society have been a leading concern of political philosophy. In this paper the problem is attacked from a sociological and behavioral standpoint, by presenting a number of hypotheses concerning some social requisites for democracy, and by discussing some of the data available to test these hypotheses. In its concern with conditions—values, social institutions, historical events—external to the political system itself which sustain different general types of political systems, the paper moves outside the generally recognized province of political sociology. This growing field has dealt largely with the internal analysis of organizations with political goals, or with the determinants of action within various political institutions, such as parties, government agencies, or the electoral process. It has in the main left to the political philosopher the larger concern with the relations of the total political system to society as a whole.

Dimensions of Political Alienation

1970 ◽  
Vol 64 (2) ◽  
pp. 389-410 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ada W. Finifter
Keyword(s):  
World War Ii ◽  
Political Institutions ◽  
Political System ◽  
System Stability ◽  
Civic Culture ◽  
The Political ◽  
Political Systems ◽  
Marked Rise ◽  
Citizen Support ◽  
The Individual

In recent years there has emerged in this country a radical questioning and rejection of established political institutions unparalleled since the Civil War in its intensity and scope. One objective indicator of this trend since World War II is the marked rise in voluntary renunciation of American citizenship, an act which represents the formal and final estrangement of the individual from his former political ties. Available evidence suggests that estrangement from the polity is also widespread in countries throughout the world as fundamental questions are being raised about the legitimacy of political institutions and political leadership.Attitudes toward the political system have long been a concern of political scientists. Major orienting theories of the political system suggest that citizen support plays a crucial role in determining the structure and processes of political systems. Almond and Verba, for example, use the concept “civic culture” to refer to a complex mix of attitudes and behaviors considered to be conducive to democratic government. Easton underscores the fundamental importance of attitudes for system stability, focusing especially on “diffuse support” as a prerequisite for the integration of political systems. He suggests that “(w)here the input of support falls below [a certain] minimum, the persistence of any kind of system will be endangered. A system will finally succumb unless it adopts measures to cope with the stress.”The conversion of these general theoretical ideas into systematic empirical theory requires further rigorous and comprehensive analyses of types of citizen support and the development of empirical indicators for this domain.

scholarly journals Political culture as a factor of civilized lobbying establishment in contemporary Russia

2019 ◽  
Vol 24 (4) ◽  
pp. 135-150
Author(s):  
N. V. Karpova
Keyword(s):  
Political Culture ◽  
Political Institutions ◽  
Political System ◽  
The Political ◽  
Institutional Structures ◽  
Political Orientations ◽  
Legal Foundations ◽  
And Behavior ◽  
Representation Of Interests ◽  
The Impact

The article is devoted to the study of civilized lobbyism formation in contemporary Russia in the context of the political culture peculiarities. The author explains the use of the concept of “civilized lobbyism” from the standpoint of the presence of various interpretations of lobbying in political science, which prevents a clear separation of legitimate and illegitimate forms of interests’ representation, while the object of research is primarily the legal technologies of influence on power. Political culture is regarded as one of the subjective factors determining the functioning of the mechanisms of interests’ representation in the political system, as well as the specifics of lobbying activities in each particular state. The influence of political culture on the process of lobbying in Russia is analyzed not only at the level of political orientations and behavior of individuals and groups, but also at the level of institutional structures. To study the impact of the political culture on the formation of social practices of lobbying, the author refers to the institutional concept of D. North, in which the mechanism of functioning of social and political institutions is revealed through the correlation of formal and informal rules, norms, attitudes and behaviours. In the context of the development of the democratic representation of interests in contemporary Russia particular attention is given to the problem of preserving and dominating historically established authoritarian orientations in the relations of society and power, as well as the traditions of paternalism and clientellism. However, the author believes that it is not correct to reduce the influence from the political culture mostly to the national traditions. It is concluded that the fundamental condition for the development of civilized lobbying in present day Russia is the is the parallel formation of legal foundations and the corresponding matrix of political culture, both at the level of subjects of lobbying relations and at the level of interests’ representation institutions.

scholarly journals Democratic institutes in the countries of the Arab East: features of development and transformation

2017 ◽  
Vol 1 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 29-34
Author(s):  
Islam Almughid
Keyword(s):  
Political Participation ◽  
Political Institutions ◽  
Political System ◽  
Central And Eastern Europe ◽  
Arab Countries ◽  
The Political ◽  
The Social ◽  
Social Interests ◽  
Democratic Transformation ◽  
Former Ussr

The article examines the leading centers of democratic transformation in Arab countries and the formation of an institutional base for democratization processes. It is emphasized that the parameters of the political system of the Arab East are comparable to the some countries of Central and Eastern Europe and the countries of the former USSR, which reveals a problem beyond the limits of purely regional research. The attention has been focused on the socio-cultural specificities of the Arab countries as a factor requiring special attention to consider the social environment of the political system, which affects the organization of power and the specifics of political participation. It is noted that such traditional democratic institutions as active political participation, political leadership, and public activity should be considered through the prism of the traditional guidance of political Islam. It is argued that attempts to realize their own model of modernization of the political system are faced with the failure of political institutions. It is substantiated that in the Arabian countries the level of representation and realization of social interests of citizens has proved to be insufficient. The importance of the national Arab model of political adaptation of society to the conditions of globalization is considered.

scholarly journals THE ISSUE OF LEGITIMACY OF THE LATVIAN POLITICAL SYSTEM

2017 ◽  
Vol 4 ◽  
pp. 313
Author(s):  
Gunārs Ozolzīle
Keyword(s):  
Political Institutions ◽  
Political System ◽  
Political Regime ◽  
The Political ◽  
Sociological Research ◽  
Political Systems ◽  
Conceptual Approach ◽  
The Past ◽  
Diffuse Support ◽  
Sufficient Resource

A democratic political system can be sustainable and stable only if it has society’s support that is based on legitimacy. So far, the attention of Latvian researchers has mostly been devoted to the so-called “ratings” of separate political institutions and politicians, but no attempt has been undertaken to investigate the political system as a whole through the prism of legitimacy. The aim of the present article is to explore whether there is a sufficient resource of legitimacy of the Latvian political system in order to provide stability and efficiency of the regime. The empirical basis of the research mostly consists of the results of the sociological research conducted in Latvia during the past six years (2011–2016). The data analysis of the present research is based on David Easton and Pippa Norris’ conceptual approach to the study of legitimacy of political systems. One of the conclusions that can be made is that the political system of Latvia is characterised by insufficient diffuse support, which then indicates that the political system experiences the problem of legitimacy. As there is a divided society in Latvia, both communities lack a shared national identity, which could connect the society. In addition, it can be stated that around half of the society is not satisfied with the functioning of the political regime. The analysis performed in the article allows concluding that the trust in political institutions is extremely low and the assessment of the political authority performance is highly negative.

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