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3a. Systems Approach To Politics

The document discusses David Easton's systems approach to political science. It defines a system as a set of interconnected elements that interact with each other. Easton viewed politics as a system embedded within a larger societal environment. He conceptualized the political system as having inputs (demands and supports), outputs (policies and decisions), and feedback loops with the external environment.

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868 views12 pages

3a. Systems Approach To Politics

The document discusses David Easton's systems approach to political science. It defines a system as a set of interconnected elements that interact with each other. Easton viewed politics as a system embedded within a larger societal environment. He conceptualized the political system as having inputs (demands and supports), outputs (policies and decisions), and feedback loops with the external environment.

Uploaded by

Onindya Mitra
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PPT, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Approaches to the Study of

Political Science

Dr. Avinash Samal


Assistant Professor
Hidayatullah National Law University
Raipur, Chhattisgarh
Systems Approach
2

 Systems approach considers politics as a set of


interactions taking place within an environment.
But the system is analytically distinct from the
environment.
 It is a particular method of describing and
analyzing political behaviour.
 David Easton sees it as an approach to the study
of political structures, institutions and processes.
What is a system?
2

 “Complex whole, set of connected things or parts,


organized body of material or immaterial things…”
Concise Oxford English Dictionary
 “Every organism represents a system by which term we
mean a complex set of elements in mutual interaction.” -
Ludwig von Bertallanfy
 A system is a whole consisting of parts or elements which
have some characteristic relationship with one another and
which interact with each other.
 A system is thus organized or connected, and refers to some
kind of patterned interactions among various elements.
Properties of a system?
2

 Set of Interactions
A system is a set of interactions taking place within itself. It
consists of all those elements or variables, which remain
interdependent on each other. It implies that a change or
manipulation made at some point brings about changes in other
parts, which has an impact on the whole system.
 Boundary
The very concept of a system implies that it has a boundary. It
ends at some point from where other systems begin. The
boundary sets one system off from the other.
 Environment
All these systems are included and absorbed in environment and
it is within an environment that a system operates.
David Easton
 The Political System: An Inquiry into
the State of Political Science (1953)
Put forth his general argument for the
need for a general theory
 A Framework for Political Analysis
(1965a)
Sets forth the general system model
 A Systems Analysis of Political Life
(1965b)
Elaborates on the general model and
attempts to make the model
empirically relevant
Easton’s Model of Systems
Analysis
 A given society is full of interactions of all kinds, but it is
a particular set of such interactions which constitute the
political system.
 What distinguishes political system from non-political
ones is the binding nature of political decisions.
 Politics as “Authoritative allocation of values for society”.
 Political decisions are of overriding validity and are
accepted as binding on all subject to the political system.
Easton’s Notion of Political Life
 “A system of behaviour embedded in an environment to the
influences of which the political system itself is exposed and in
turn reacts.”
 Coexistence of other systems such as social, economic, cultural,
physical, psychological, biological etc.
 All these outside systems constitute the environment of the
political system.
 The political system is in constant interaction with its
environment and yet it is different and distinguished by its
authoritative allocation values for the members of the society as
whole.
Environment: Extra Societal
and Intra Societal
 Intra-societal environment consists of social,
economic, cultural, physical, biological, etc. . They
shape and influence the conditions under which a
political system must operate.
 Extra-societal environment includes all those
systems, which lie outside a given society.
- Components of the emerging international society,
which may otherwise be called supra-society.
Systems Analysis:
David Easton (1965)
Feedback Loop
Social Economic
Environment Environment

F
INPUTS I
OUTPUTS
Demands L POLITICAL
Policy Decisions
Supports T SYSTEM
Laws & Rules
E
R

Cultural Physical
Environment Environment
Feedback Loop
Demands
Raw materials out of which finished products called decisions are
manufactured.
 Demands for allocations of goods and services such as wage and hour
laws, educational opportunities, housing and medical facilities, etc.
 Demands for regulation of behaviour such as control over markets,
provisions for public safety, rules relating to marriage, health and
sanitation etc. 
 Demands for participation in the political system such as right to vote, to
seek election, to hold office, to organize processions, to petition public
officials, etc. 
 Demands for communication and information such as communication of
policy intent from the political elites or display of the power of the
political system in periods of threats or ceremonial occasions.
Supports

Energy in the form of actions or orientations promoting a


political system, the demands arising in it, and the
decisions issuing from it.
 Material support such as payment of taxes 
 Obedience to law, rules and regulations 
 Participatory such as voting, political discussion, and other
forms of political activity 
 Attention paid to government communication and giving
respect to public authority, symbols and ceremonials.
Outputs
 Extractions such as taxes or personal services
 Regulations of behaviour
 Allocations or distribution of goods and
services, opportunities, honours and the like
 Symbolic outputs such as policy statements,
affirmation of values, display of political
symbols

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