SOVEREIGNTY, AUTHORITY, & POWER

Presentation Outline

1) Nation2) State3) Regime4) Government5) Sovereignty6) Legitimacy7) Political Culture

1) The Nation A nation is defined as a group with a

common language, culture, history, and or religion, residing in a specific geographic territory

Don’t confuse nation with country or state!

Does every nation have its own country or state?

Nation Country/State

Japan Japan

Korea South Korea, North Korea

Palestine ?

Tibet China

Inuit Canada

Quebec Canada

Basque Spain

Nations without states: The Kurds

Nations without states: Tibet

Nations without states: Palestine

2) The State

A state is defined as political body which has a monopoly of force over a territory

There are approximately 190 states in the world today. Many are nation-states such as Japan, South Korea, and Germany. Others, such as Canada, USA, Australia are NOT nation-states.

Not every nation has its own state. States last longer than regimes or

governments.

Strong States

States which have full control over their territories

Strong states are able to provide a wide array of government services (welfare, infrastructure, courts, etc.)

Generally high income states Examples: USA, Canada, Japan, France

Weak States

States which have a limited capacity to provide social services to its citizens

Weak states may not be able to protect property rights

Generally low income states Examples: Chad, Ethiopia, and a number

of other African states

Failed States•A state which is unable to maintain a monopoly of force over its entire territory cannot guarantee the security of its citizens.

•Afghanistan and Somalia are two such examples

3) The Regime

A regime is defined as the practices, norms, institutions, and rules created to organize the state

Regimes create the rules of the game: elections, constitution, rights, freedoms, etc.

Regimes last longer than governments but a state may go through several regimes

Regimes in Japanese History

Meiji Restoration (1868- 1912)

Taisho Period(1912-1926)

Showa Period(1926-1945)

Constitutional Monarchy (1947- present)

•Imperial•Modern•Authoritarian•Oligarchy

•Imperial•Democratic

•Imperial•Authoritarian•Militaristic

•Democratic•Parliamentary

Regime Types

Democracy Rule by the People Freedoms, civil liberties

Examples

Parliamentary: U.K., Canada, Japan

Presidential: US, France, Mexico, Russia

Absolute Monarchy Rule by the King/Queen Authoritarian Limited freedoms

Examples:

Chinese Dynasties, France and England before their revolutions

Totalitarian Dictatorships Authoritarian One Man/ One Party Limited freedoms Attempts to transform society

Examples:

Nazi Germany, Fascist Italy, China under Mao, the Soviet Union, North Korea

Theocracy Rule by religion Authoritarian Totalitarian

Examples:

Iran, Afghanistan under the Taliban

4) GovernmentA government is defined as the elites

(elected or unelected) who run and operate the regime

Governments come and go and are far less institutionalized than the regime or state

Japanese RegimeConstitutional Monarchy, 1947-present

Governments

Yasua Fukoda (Liberal Democratic Party), 2007-2008

Taro Aso (Liberal Democratic Party), 2008-2009

Yukio Hatayama (Democratic Party) 2009-2010

Naoto Kan (Democratic Party), 2010- 2011

Yoshihiko Noda (Democratic Party) 2011- present

5) Sovereignty

Sovereignty is defined as the ability of a state to exercise decisions internally (domestic) and externally (foreign)

For example: States in the midst of civil war have limited internal sovereignty

Unitary or Federal systems

State sovereignty can either be concentrated at the national level in a unitary state or distributed regionally in a federal state

Unitary State: most states are unitary states

the central or national government dominates decision making; provinces, or regions have limited power- examples: U.K., France, China, Japan

Federal State: provinces/ regions have constitutionally protected powers which the central government cannot take away- examples: Germany, Canada, USA, Nigeria, Mexico, Russia

Map of the world’s unitary states

Map of the world’s federal states

Factors limiting state sovereignty

Membership in a supranational organization such as the European Union (EU)

Civil war Military occupation by a foreign state Trade agreements such as the North American Free

Trade Agreement (NAFTA) Economic pressure particularly from larger states Military alliances United Nations actions (resolutions, sanctions,

interventions)

6) Legitimacy

Legitimacy is defined as the people’s belief in the government’s right to rule

Sources of legitimacy

Traditional: people follow the rules because it has always been that way

Example: Chinese dynasties

Charismatic: people follow a leader because they have been mesmerized, persuaded- Example: Nazi Germany

Rational-legal: people follow laws, rules and a constitution because they believe this system to be just and fair

Examples: Japan, South Korea, Canada, USA

Factors which weaken legitimacy

Anytime the government/regime uses coercion (violence) to put down protest

Corruption War Economic misery/depression Failure to reform

What happens when a government’s or regime’s legitimacy is gone?

In democratic states, citizens normally choose another party

In authoritarian states, however, this normally leads to: rebellion, revolution, or coup d’etat

7) Political Culture

Political culture is defined as the prevailing attitudes people in a state have toward government and authority

What rights and freedoms do citizens believe are important?

Who should or should not have power?

Political culture tells us a lot

American political culture: Values freedom and individual liberties Republican democracy Capitalist Christian traditions

Chinese political culture: Respects authority Values the group/community Communist one party system Authoritarian history Mixed economy

Source: Ronald Inglehart and Christian Welzel, "Changing Mass Priorities: The Link Between Modernization and Democracy." Perspectives on Politics June 2010 (vol 8, No. 2) page 554.

Mapping political culture

States with the highest self-expression values tend to be the most individualistic. What else do these states have in common?

Political culture and legitimacy

What is legitimate in one state might not be legitimate in another

Much of this (but NOT all) has to do with political culture For example: in the U.K. there is support and respect for

an unelected hereditary monarchy; there also tends to be more respect for unelected bureaucrats and government officials and a general belief that they will do what is best for the state

In the USA, on the other hand, nearly every government office is elected, and politicians tend to be mistrusted; the general belief is that their power must be restricted and checked by the people