Summary
Summary Political Sociology 324 Section 2
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Section 2 summary of all lecture notes, class notes and prescribed articles.
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Section 2 o describes the state as a compulsory politicalorganization with a central government that
maintains a monopoly of the legitimate use of
Lecture 7: The State, Government and force within a certain territory.
Government Systems Michael Mann challenged this concept
Definition given at Montevideo Convention on Rights
Readings: Dobratz; Munzedzi and Duties of States in 1933.
o "[t]he state as a person of international law
should possess the following qualifications:
Power and influence of the state (infrastructural power) (a) a permanent population;
(b) a defined territory;
Michael Mann
(c) government;
o power of the state stems from its
(d) capacity to enter into relations with
“infrastructural power”
the other states."[20]
Where states lack infrastructural power, they tend to
And that "[t]he state shall constitute a
use despotic power to rule.
sole person in the eyes of international
Given that states, as identified by all the theorists we
law.
have examine, wield a lot of power over citizens, we
State has authority to act and exert its influence over
need to understand what the state is, and how it
citizens within its borders in accordance its laws, also
operated under different government systems.
international treaties.
Relationship between a government and its state is
one of representation and authorized agency.
What is the State?
modern-nation-state:
o Network of structures that enable the state to Difference between government and the state?
enforce laws and decisions through the state government =/= the state.
bureaucracy in a defined territory. A government refers to the specific regime in power
Weber’s definition
, o E.g. the ANC Government, that speaks on
behalf of the state.
What is the Separation of powers?
The state = organization
The government = particular group of people Constitution of the Republic of South Africa provides
o the administrative bureaucracy that controls for separation of powers between the legislature,
the state apparatus at a given time. executive and judiciary
o appropriate checks and balances to ensure
accountability, responsiveness and openness.
How does a state differ from a nation? o This constitutional provision is based on a
century old principle of trias politica,
Nation = a shared culture, identity and a desire for
stipulates that the power of the state
political self-determination,
must be divided among the three
The state = legal entity. It refers to a cultural-political
existing arms
community of people.
executive
A nation state, refers to a situation where a single
legislature
ethnicity is associated with a specific state. The
judiciary
problem is that within a state, there can be different
legislative authority:
national identities.
o In terms of Section (42) (3) of the 1996
Certain nation groups identify more with the state (and
Constitution, the National Assembly is the main
government in power) than others
house of parliament elected to represent the
o Nationalism is harmful in that it can polarize
aspirations of the people and to ensure that
society.
government represents the people.
Cohesion is important for political stability
o Parliament can have sittings of both houses
o also it is important to take into consideration
that of the National Assembly and the National
the various needs of the nation and the
Council of Provinces.
diversity within
fundamental roles of the legislative
To ensure this: democracies have instituted separation
authority, or parliament, is to hold the
of powers, in terms of how states are governed, to
executive arm of the state to account
ensure that the interests of the nation are taken into
for all executive functions.
consideration in decision-making
, The executive authority aim of trias politica (the separation of power) =
o consists of the Ministers of the various government should not control or interfere with the
Departments. É work of the other.
o he Cabinet (is the excutive authoirty) and Main objectives of separation of powers
consists of the President, Deputy President as o Main function of the separation of powers is to
well as the national ministers that represent prevent the abuse of power by any one arm of
the excutive arm of the different state state.
Departments (Health, Defence, Tourism etc). Each sphere must act within their own
o They have the power to execute the laws boundaries, within the confines of the
approved by the legislative authoirty. law.
o A key limit on the legislature’s authority, is the o Ensures that the different branches of
executive branch or cabinet’s ability to approve government control each other internally.
or dissaprove legislation passed by the E.g. the judiciary must ensure
legislature prior to the legislation becoming constitutional compliance and serve to
law. To counteract the abuse of power, we hold the executive to account.
have the Judiciary. Separation of powers and SA government
The Judiciary has the power to enforce the law and
how it should be applied in disputes. South Africa weak checks and balances of power between
o The Constitution states that the judiciary in the legislative and executive. We see this in terms of how
the legislature has been unable to hold the President
South Africa is vested in the hierarchical courts
accountable.
and that these courts ought to be ‘independent
o This is partly due to a culture of servitude, where
and subject only to the Constitution and the people in the legislature, which are quite junior,
law. don’t want to compromise their political careers.
o The law must be applied impartialy and without o Here we see Michel’s Iron Law of Oligarchy at play.
fear, favour and prejudice (So think about this Failure the executive to ‘corrupt’ the judiciary, has
in relation to State Capture). weakened South Africa’s democracy, increasing corruption
and the abuse of state power
o The reason why this can occur with relative
Objectives of the Separation of powers. impunity, is that those who serve on the National
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