THEORY OF DOMINATION AND DETERMINATION
Democracy attains authority through people. It is a way by which civil society uses
social capital to build trust. In
democracies people validate each other through “bonding capital” which are
based on the density of social ties.
Further, “bridging capital” are actioned to extend networks to other
people and places (Dickovick 2016). Both
of the aforementioned are part of the idea of “social capital”. Democracy can be defined as a type of
government ruled by the people and for majority as a form of social
equality. Democracy is said to create trust
and it also promotes value systems. The mens
rea in democracy is the use of others as a periphery in an attempt to maintain
hegemony. Polity on the other hand attains
authority through literature which essentially creates legitimization. Polity is actioned because of the proponents
of path dependence. Path dependent means
that “future developments are shaped or partially determined by events at
previous stages” (Dickovick 2016). In
this accountability and trust are created, both of which are part of values
that promote polity. Polity can be
defined as political organization that seeks to manage public or civil affairs
such is the case with a state or an advocacy firm. Through this, a form of civic responsibility
occurs in an effort to maintain a civil society. Civic is defined as duties or actions
performed with relation to a state. And
civil can be defined as relating to the ordinary citizen and their rights. Both of these are actioned via social
contract which is then based on a foundation of a legal framework, for example,
the Constitution gives the citizens rights and freedoms while the Criminal Code
stipulates the actions of these individuals.
The mens rea in polity is corruption to maintain hegemony. Both democracy and polity have been subjects
of contention since ancient Greece. In
fact, Aristotle claimed that “democracy” is the perversion of “polity” but what
was not seen however is he fact that “polity” can also be the perversion of
“democracy”. Aristotle believed that the
perversion in democracy is that it serves the interest of those in power while
polity serves the common interest (FS 2022).
The perversion of polity through democracy occurs through the group
think method. The Group Think Theory
states that the individual that does not concur with the group gets ostracized
despite him or her being correct (Sens 2005).
There is a constant contention with relation to these two concepts and
it’s the constant struggle between the two which serve as a method by which to
ascertain authority in any state.
The breakdown of democracy occurs through democratic decay. When an individual is elected, and the person
is an authoritarian this causes a break down in democracy. Further democratic regimes can also collapse
because organized actors move against democracy. And lastly, a revolt can create democratic
decay (Dickovick 2016). The breakdown of
polity occurs through what is referred to the “breakdown of social order.” This occurred in recent history when the
Washington Capital was invaded by rioters in Trumps presidency. Many people were injured and many of the
government officials were taken out of the building with armed guards. Further, the “breakdown of social order” also
occurs through such methods as corruption and both mentioned examples leads
people to question the legitimacy of the polity and it serves to reduce the
trust that is placed on its institutions as is the case with China and
Russia.
Both democracy and polity are subject to discreditation, slander and
libel via the process of the “break down of democracy” and the “break down of
social order”. As was mentioned, the
good faith and good will and the two concepts (democracy a social construct
and polity a social structure) becomes scrutinized resulting in breakdown
essentially damages in which misfeasance is revealed through publications via
the media to determine legitimacy and these affect public trust. Modern democracy sells via marketing as many
political parties have used marketing to convey their platform in an effort to
gain votes. Polity on the other hand
encapsulates and uses propaganda to affect the value system of the citizens in
a bid to make social changes. Both
marketing and propaganda can be used by either however, what is clear here is
that both democracy and polity aim to increase the political participation of
the society (the common objective) so that the process of Structural
Functionalism can occur in that the demands of society can be met. Political participation is a main tenant of
political modernization, and these occur through voting, protesting,
advertising, amongst others, these are forms of direct action by which people
can affect democracy and or polity (Powel 2012).
Based on the presented information it becomes clear that democracy is a
realist approach to politics while polity is a positivist approach. The idea of realism states that people are
self serving and power corrupts them (Sens 2005) such is the case with the
perversion of democracy per Aristotle.
Positivism can be defined as examining the world as it is and how its
imagined and talked about (Sens 2005) meaning that reason and logic are used to
explain phenomena. Per the statement
above the perversion of polity through democracy occurs when unjust or unfair
legislations arise serving to oppress and repress people. The connection between democracy and realism
is the desire or the self interest of influence. Positivism and polity are intertwined by the
creation of infostructures via reason and logics. Realism and democracy rely mostly on conventions. Through the people, the social construct of
democracy and its proponents are validated via social contracts essential
established by a legal framework under the rule of law. This results in apparent authority. Positivism and polity rely mostly on customs
rather than convention. Polity creates infostructures by which to erect its
social structure. The fact that they
rely on books of authority and literatures to action subsequent works results
in apparent authority. Actual authority
is granted when a principle recognizes either and the principle can be a
government or a state of which then both are subject to absolute authority of
the land.
Democracy aims to affect social normativity. Through the validation of the majority,
social norms can be affected such that trends and cultures can emerge. It is these that serve to affect the value
systems of the population at large. Polity on the other hand aims to affect social
innovation. According to Merton’s strain
theory, innovation occurs when there is social decay (Akers 2013). Polity through the process of Structural
Functionalism creates policy and works in order to be able to socially innovate
in a bid to mitigate or manage social decay henceforth the result are bills,
acts and statutes or advocacy.
Politician dominance is rooted to social control. A politician seeks to dominate because of
Control Theory. Control Theory explains
that behaviour conforms to social normativity which is the expectation in
society. Social Control focuses on the
external factors by which “a shared value or belief in social
norms” can stipulate the actions of another.
Social Control Theory is the “process by which people are socialized to
obey the rules”. There are three
types of social control according to Nye, direct control, indirect control and
internal control (Akers 2013). Direct
control is punishment imposed or threatened for noncompliance and compliance is
rewarded; indirect on the other hand is the refraining of actions because of
possible pain and suffering; and internal control can be defined as the
conscious preventing actions (Akers 2013).
These aforementioned social controls affect social normativity which is
based on the principles of democracy, and social control theory under the proposed Theory of Dominanation and Determination seeks to appeal to
the democratic populace in an effort to attain dominance via conventional
means. It is a legal realist approach
wherein the individual “must be aware of the political, economic, and social
contexts in which law arises, changes and persists” (Boyd 2015). Social control uses peripheries to attain
strain. Through authoritarian practices
sufficient conditions are met to ascertain strain. This is the actus reus if any. The mens rea is the repression and the
oppression of the subordinated, essentially a “political crime.” Politician determinism relies on a cause and
effect. In determinism there are
necessary conditions and sufficient conditions whereby phenomena are
explained. Causality is determined in
that X must “precede and produce the effect Y”.
Determinism is a positivist approach.
Positivism says that societies can be explained using science and
laws. Politician determinism uses path
dependence and in that he or she relies on customs to provide rational
explanations to phenomena. Hence, he or
she creates polity, and through this process social innovation are the result. Therefore, through Merton’s Strain Theory,
determinism of a politician can be explained.
Determinism can also result in social control. And it can also result in oppression and
repression. Regardless, the works create
apparent authority through rationale and reason displayed in published
works.
The conflict between democracy and polity is an ongoing issue
of contention. The conflict is rooted to
democratization in which democracy is used to gather the attention of the
people for public participation. Through
the process of politicization, polity is used to affect the structure of the
state so that citizen demands can be met.
Democratization and politicization then compete for marketization and
globalization through the national economy and global economy as a method
whereby homogeny is controlled.
Democratization and politicization henceforth serve to affect the global
homogeny wherein cultures converge with one another in a bid to affect the
social equity of people. Democratization
and politicization conflict because they serve to be the hegemon to affect
homogeny in their favor. Hegemony can be
defined as dominance using powers to establish rules in accordance with his or
her self-interest (Sens 2005). Hegemony
can be differentiated from hegemonic stability in that hegemonic stability says
that the determinist takes on the functions of a government to stabilize or
influence to become the hegemon.
Through Dependence Theory democracy and polity become an
issue of contention as each serve to avoid being a periphery or privy to the
other. That whomsoever attains the
status of “hegemony” has a higher probability of using the other as a periphery. Regaurdless, through Merton’s Strain Theory,
further social innovation can occur despite who becomes the periphery and
through ascertaining hegemony social normativity can be achieved.
WORK CITED
Akers,
R., et al. (2013). Criminological Theories. New York, USA. Oxford University Press.
Dickovick,
eta l. (2016). Comparative Politics. New York, USA. Oxford University Press.
Powell, et al.
(2012). Comparative Politics
Today. Illinois, USA. Pearson.
FS.
(2022).
Tyranny, Democracy, and the Polity: Aristotle's Politics - Farnam Street. Retrieved from: https://fs.blog/aristotles-politics/
Sens, et al.
(2005). Global Politics. Ontario, Canada. Thomson Nelson.
Yates,
R., et al. (2017). Business Law in Canada. Ontario, Canada. Pearson.
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