In order to understand what the institutions of the political system are, what constituents are divided and what essentially the political systems are, you must first understand the terminology.
The political system is the set of actions of all political entities related to the exercise of government, their relations and interaction, based on the value-normative foundation. A synonym for the concept of “political system” is the term “political organization of society”.
To put it simply, the political system is the unity of state, legal, public, political institutions and norms, as well as the mutual activities of political actors contributing to the exercise of power and government.
Despite the fact that the political system is an indivisible whole, it, like any structure, is divided into constituent elements, which are called subsystems or spheres.
Subsystems of the political system:
- Institutional. The state occupies the main place in it, in addition to it, the subsystem includes the main political institutions, the media, the church, social groups, and relations between them. It should be remembered that the institutions of the political system are historical, stable formations, a set of norms, rules (formal and informal), attitudes, etc., designed to organize the political system. Political institutions are not political organizations.
The institutions of the political system, in turn, are divided into relational, regulatory, and cultural. The relational ones determine the role division of the political system, the regulatory ones determine the legal framework, the cultural ones are responsible for the interests of certain layers or groups as a whole. Cultural institutions are closely linked to the concept of “political roles”.
- The normative sphere (subsystem) is responsible for the cultural, legal, moral life of society, regulates political life, and supports cultural traditions.
- A functional subsystem is a set of methods for exercising power.
- Communicative implies all types of political interaction.
- Ideological defines political ideas and worldviews.
- The cultural subsystem is a set of political models characteristic of society, values, orientations, behaviors, goals. It is political culture that contributes to the stability of the social system, the continuity of political life, the continuity of political generations.
If we consider the types of political systems, then we can distinguish:
- Totalitarian political systems. These are closed systems based on the power of the dominant party, which is the core of the system. The state is represented by officials who are fully responsible for the distribution of labor products. Distribution corresponds to the place of position in society, and the individual is in total subordination of the collective. Public organizations conduct only the policies of the dominant party. Any dissent is severely suppressed.
- Liberal-democratic types of political systems are characterized by openness. They allow private property, market relations in the economy, pluralism and the presence of a multi-party system in politics, legal behavior and the existence of democratic institutions. These types of political systems imply relations of all political entities on the basis of the constitution. The goal is to ensure the broad interests of the whole society.
- Transitional types of political systems are distinguished by a mixture of contradictory (and sometimes mutually exclusive) phenomena and processes. In the transition period, there may be a neighborhood of pluralism and political intolerance, a desire for reform and attempts to maintain the old order. The state in transition systems can either promote new ideas, striving for the evolution of the state, or impedes this phenomenon.
There are some other classifications of political systems. Some political scientists distinguish authoritarian-conservative, traditional, communist. Others divide them into continental European, Anglo-American, totalitarian. Different classifications are based on different approaches: political, managerial, economic.