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12 - The political system

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 November 2009

Alberto Melucci
Affiliation:
Università degli Studi di Milano
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Summary

Political system and social relations

What is a political system? The present chapter is organized around this question and deals with both the relationship between the political system and the rest of the social structure, and the analysis of the internal mechanisms of such a system. One should note that everything. I will say refers to the analytical levels of social reality, not to a concrete society. It is extremely important not to confuse a system, which is a conceptual construct and an analytical tool, with the empirical reality of a society, which comprises superimposed, multiple historical and geographical features within itself which are analytically distinct from one another. Therefore, when addressing a political system, what we refer to is an analytical structure and a specific type of social relations.

Analytically, I define a political system as that level of the social structure where normative decisions are made. These decisions can be divided into three categories. First, there are decisions over the norms and regulations that govern exchanges among different groups or specific interests in a society. Next, there is the drawing up and adaptation of the rules and procedures that guide the decision-making process itself. Finally, the political system produces decisions which guarantee the maintenance and adaptation of the mode of production and the distribution of social resources.

Type
Chapter
Information
Challenging Codes
Collective Action in the Information Age
, pp. 229 - 242
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 1996

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  • The political system
  • Alberto Melucci, Università degli Studi di Milano
  • Book: Challenging Codes
  • Online publication: 23 November 2009
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511520891.014
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  • The political system
  • Alberto Melucci, Università degli Studi di Milano
  • Book: Challenging Codes
  • Online publication: 23 November 2009
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511520891.014
Available formats
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Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

  • The political system
  • Alberto Melucci, Università degli Studi di Milano
  • Book: Challenging Codes
  • Online publication: 23 November 2009
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511520891.014
Available formats
×