The State and Its Three Levels: Regime, Governance and Polity

This article is not simply a summary of the analytical framework already presented in the earlier, principal theoretical works of the author. It goes beyond the simple exercise of schematic brevity by adding some new elements: the notion of collective action groups between those of social classes and interest groups; a first transposition of a schema conceived for the classical unitary state to one applicable to the federal, or “multiple,” state; and a new formulation of the three analytical levels, specifically those characterizing this theoretical framework, which go by the labels of “regime,” “governance,” and “polity.”

The article is divided into three parts corresponding to the study of the three levels and connected by an equal number of “thresholds” of levels. The conclusion points out the lines of transposition for the study of a federal state and the directions of research for the analysis of political change.

Recent studies addressing the origins of political orientations raise questions concerning the level of generality at which it is appropriate to conceptualize such orientations. In traditional treatments of the subject, the assumption is implicit that one’s orientation to government is a generalized disposition that has application across various levels of government–for example, that a citizen’s particular degree of trust (or distrust) in public officials to represent the public interest usefully characterizes his orientations to national, provincial and urban legislatures alike.