Political Systems. Kinds Of Political Systems Uncentralized systems – Bands – Tribes Centralized systems – Chiefdoms – States.

Political Systems

Kinds Of Political Systems

• Uncentralized systems– Bands– Tribes

• Centralized systems– Chiefdoms– States

Bands

• Small group of politically independent, though related, households.

• The least complicated form of political organization.

• Found among nomadic societies.• Small, numbering at most a few

hundred people.

Bands

• No need for formal political systems.• Decisions are made with the

participation of adult members, with an emphasis on achieving consensus.

• Those unable to get along with others of their group move to another group where kinship ties give them rights of entry.

Tribes

• Tribes consist of small, autonomous local communities, which form alliances for various purposes.

• Economy based on crop cultivation or herding.

• Population densities generally exceed 1 person per square mile.

• Leadership among tribes is informal.

TribesThe Big Man

• Big Man from New Guinea wearing his official regalia.

• Has informal authority, but “can’t tell people what to do”

Question

• Bands and tribes are bothA. centralized.B. associated with industrialism.C. dependent on age groups for

political organization.D. uncentralized and egalitarian.E. hierarchical in social organization.

Answer: D

• Bands and tribes are both uncentralized and egalitarian.

Question

• In the band, disputes are settled informally through ___________

A. gossip.B. ridicule.C. direct negotiation.D. mediation.E. all of these choices

Answer: E

• In the band, disputes are settled informally through gossip, ridicule, direct negotiation and mediation.

Question

• The form of social organization typical of hunter-gatherers is the _________, whereas horticulture and pastoralism are usually associated with the form of social organization called the _________.

A. tribe/chiefdomB. tribe/stateC. tribe/bandD. band/chiefdomE. band/tribe

Answer: E

• The form of social organization typical of hunter-gatherers is the band, whereas horticulture and pastoralism are usually associated with the form of social organization called the tribe.

Chiefdoms

• The chief is at the head of a ranked hierarchy of people.

• The office of the chief is usually for life and often hereditary.

• The chief’s authority serves to unite his people in all affairs and at all times.

• Highly unstable as lesser chiefs try to take power from higher ranking chiefs.

Chiefdoms

• A Kpelle town chief in Liberia, West Africa, listens to a dispute in his district.

• Settling disputes is one of several ongoing traditional tasks that fall to paramount chiefs among Kpelle people.

State

• The most formal of political organizations.

• Political power is centralized in a government, which may use force to regulate the affairs of its citizens and its relations with other states.

• Since their first appearance 5,000 years ago, states have shown a tendency toward instability and transience.

A Nation without a State

The Kurds, most of whom live in Iran, Iraq, and Turkey, are an example of a nation without a state.

Nation (review): A people who share a collective identity based on a common culture, language, territorial base, and history

Gender and Politics

• Above Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf inspects members of the Liberian police after taking the presidential oath in January 2006.

• The first female president on the African continent, Sirleaf is a Harvard-educated economist who took the world by surprise when she won the head office in her war-torn and poverty-stricken country.