9. Global politics

The “new world order” was going to be based not on ideological conflict and a balance of terror, but on a common recognition of international norms and standards of morality. Central to this emerging world order was the recognition of the need to settle disputes peacefully, to resist aggression and expansionism, to control and reduce military arsenals and to ensure the just treatment of domestic populations through respect of human rights. A bipolar world order had given way to a unipolar one with the USA, the only power with military capacity and political authority to intervene effectively, playing the role of the world’s “police force”. Further stresses within the new world order have been generated by the releasing of tensions and conflicts that the Cold War had helped to keep under control. Now the world seems to look like a “new world disorder”. And the central question is weather this order or disorder will come about through cooperation engineered by international bodies such as UN and the EU or weather it will be imposed through economic domination and military force. International organizations are transnational and exercise jurisdiction within international arena. Typically, they have been set up by a number of sovereign states to facilitate international cooperation. The principal reason for the growth in the number and importance of IO – is the recognition by states, that in some spheres (especially in national security and economic development) they provide a more effective means of pursuing national interests.

10. Political Culture and legitimacy.

Political socialization is the concept concerning the process by which individual acquires political beliefs, attitudes and behavior. It refers to a learning process by which norms and behavior acceptable to a well running political system are transmitted from one generation to another.  The idea of legitimacy is linked to the question of social and political obligation of the ruling classes. The classic contribution of the understanding of legitimacy as  sociological phenomenon was provided by Max Weber . His first type of political legitimacy is traditional authority – is based on long-established customs and traditions. Traditional authority is closely linked to hereditary systems of power.  Second type – charismatic authority – is based on the power of an individual’s personality, that is on his or her charisma. Third type – is legal-rational, links to a clearly and legally defined set of rules.

 

11. Representation, elections and voting.

There is no single theory of representation and that means that each region or country should choose what model of representation to use. Trustee model. That model assumes, that, once elected, people should exercise their own judgment, no matter what the electorate wants. Delegate model. Delegate is nearly the same as the trustee – however, delegates are thought not to have the opportunity to act on their own – all the activities are closely bound to the interests of their constituents. Mandate model. Is based on the idea that in winning on election a party gains a popular mandate that authorizes it to carry out whatever policies or programmes it outlined during the election campaign. Resemblance model. That model is based on the idea that government should be formed as a microcosm – resembling society structure. Electoral system is a set of rules that governs the conduct of elections. On the one hand, there are majoritarian systems in which larger parties typically win a higher proportion of seats than they  gain in the election. On the other hand, there are proportional systems, which guarantee an equal relationship. The defence of majoritarian systems is more commonly based on government functions and specifically on the capacity of such systems to deliver stable and effective rule.