Political Organization of Societies
L'Estat
Definition: The State can be defined as a social formation in which a group of population is organized as a political and territorial unit with its own characteristics.
Main Characteristics of a State:
A territory defined by borders.
A population that is part of it.
A power with attributions to dictate the laws that regulate social relations, enforce these laws, and govern and establish relations with other states.
Funcions de l’Estat
Guarantee national security: The State is responsible for maintaining public order within the borders of its territory and protecting its territory from external aggressions.
Regulate the economy and labor relations: Establishes norms that regulate economic activities to avoid abuses and develops policies aimed at achieving economic growth.
Provide basic services: The State provides basic services to its inhabitants, such as health and education, that guarantee them a decent life and the opportunity to develop fully.
Establish international relations: Establishes embassies in other countries, integrates into international organizations, agreements with other states, etc.
L’exercici del poder
According to the participation of citizens in political systems, these can be classified as authoritarian and participatory.
Authoritarian Systems:
The power is in the hands of a person, a group of people, or a social class, who impose the rules on the rest.
Example: a dictatorship.
Participatory Systems:
The totality of citizens participate in the elaboration of the norms.
Example: a democracy.
Referendums in Switzerland are a clear example of citizen participation.
The participatory system emerged in 17th century England as opposition to absolutism.
At the end of the 18th century, with the independence of the United States and the French Revolution, modern democracy appeared, which spread throughout North America and Western Europe from the 19th century.
Today the democratic political system has spread throughout the world.
In America it is the generalized political system.
In Asia, among the states with a democratic regime, India and Japan stand out.
In Africa, the case of the Republic of South Africa is especially remarkable, which became a democracy in 1994, after, for decades, the white minority had discriminated against the black majority imposing a regime of apartheid.
In Oceania, Australia and New Zealand are democracies, among other states.
Today, most of the former communist states of Eastern Europe, such as Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, and Hungary, are also democratic states.
However, in some areas of the planet, such as sub-Saharan Africa, economic inequalities, extreme poverty, and lack of democratic tradition hinder the advancement of democracy.
In some countries, dictatorships still predominate, authoritarian regimes in which a person or an institution (such as the army or a political party) holds all the power without taking into account the popular will.
In dictatorships, therefore, the rights and freedoms of people are not respected.
In contemporary history there are examples of dictatorships, such as Hitler's Nazi regime or Franco's in Spain.
In communist states, power rests with the communist party as in Vietnam, China or Cuba.
Monarquia - República
Republic:
All state positions are elected by citizens.
The head of state is the president of the republic elected by parliament or by popular election, and has a mandate limited to a certain number of years.
Monarchy:
The head of state is the king or queen, and in some cases, as in Japan, it is the emperor.
The position is for life and hereditary among the members of a dynasty and normally passes from parents to children.
The current monarchies can be absolute or parliamentary.
L’organització
States can be classified according to the form they adopt in their internal organization, that is, according to the way power is distributed in the territory.
Thus, broadly speaking, we can find unitary or centralist states, federal and decentralized states.
L’estat unitari
The current unitary State has its origin in the French Revolution.
Based on the principle of equality of all citizens, it was intended to establish a form of political organization that was uniform for the entire country, in contrast to the plurality of jurisdictions and administrations that existed during the Old Regime.
The unitary form of State organization is based on the principles of unity (a single state), uniformity (the same laws and norms apply throughout the territory of the State) and centralization (there is a single parliament that elaborates the laws and a single government or political direction).
This unique power is exercised from what is called the center, which is usually the capital of the State.
All the organs of the different levels of the Administration depend on the central government, which correspond to divisions or circumscriptions of an administrative nature, such as the departments in France, and the municipalities.
At the head of these organs there is an authority that has, among other functions, that of executing the decisions of the government and the parliament.
Evidently, this application must be uniform throughout the territory of the State.
L’estat descentralitzat
The unitary State has been modified over time, mainly with the introduction of some level of political or administrative decentralization.
In this way, new state models have emerged such as the Regional State or Autonomous State.
In these states, as is the case of Spain, the regional or autonomous bodies have the capacity to approve some own laws and have their own governing bodies.
Decentralization is the transfer of a part of the competences of the central administration to autonomous or regional entities.
L’estat federal
The current federal state model has its origin in the independence of the United States of America.
The old British colonies, once they became sovereign states, decided to create a new entity: the federation.
In the Constitution of 1787, the states delegated to the federation and retained others.
Thus, the federal State appears as a state of states.
In a federal state, power is exercised by two instances:
Federation or central level
Federal state
Own constitution: The different states have their own constitution that establishes the political organization in that state.
It has its own governing bodies, such as the parliament (legislative power), the government (executive power) and the courts of justice (judicial power), which have competences over the entire federal territory in what the federal constitution establishes. They are usually competences in the army, the economic system, customs and external representation.
Thus, a fundamental characteristic of the Federal State is the existence of a plurality of centers of power, to the point that some laws may be different depending on the State.
Currently there are 23 federal states, with variations between them; thus, for example, the United States, Germany, Mexico and Brazil are unions of states, while Canada and Pakistan are formed by provinces, and Belgium, by regions.
Regarding the evolution of the Federal State, in many states the federation or central power has been claiming more competences to achieve more centralization.
La democràcia
The word democracy comes from the Greek words demos 'people' and kratos 'power'.
Democracy means, therefore, 'power of the people'.
For a government to be democratic, it must meet several conditions.
Funcionament del sistema democràtic
The operation of the democratic system is based on the separation of powers:
Legislative Power:
Parliament.
Elaborates the laws.
Controls the executive power.
Executive Power:
Government.
Executes the laws.
Establishes the objectives of government.
Judicial Power:
Tribunals.
Applies the law.
Punishes those who break the laws.
In a democracy of parliamentary type, the parliament is who chooses the head of the executive power (president or prime minister):
People (universal suffrage) -> Parliament -> President of the government.
Instead, in a democracy of presidential type, the head of the government is chosen directly in some elections:
People (universal suffrage) -> President of the government.
Parliament.
LES BASES DEL SISTEMA DEMOCRÀTIC
Sovereignty national
Universal suffrage
Individual rights
Equality before the law
Division of powers
BASES DEL SISTEMA DEMOCRÀTIC
SOBIRANIA NACIONAL (National Sovereignty):
Power comes from the people.
Only the people, directly or through their representatives, can establish the fundamental laws of the State and its system of government.
EL SUFRAGI UNIVERSAL (Universal Suffrage):
All men and women of legal age have the right to vote.
The vote is individual and secret.
LA DIVISIÓ DE PODERS (The Division of Powers):
Power cannot be concentrated in a single person or institution.
The legislative power (the power to elaborate laws) corresponds to the parliament.
The executive power (the capacity to govern according to the law) corresponds to the Government and the Administration that depends on it.
The judicial power (the power to apply the law and punish those who break it) corresponds to the independent judges and courts.
All three institutions (parliament, government and courts) must control each other.
ELS DRETS INDIVIDUALS (Individual Rights):
Everyone has rights, which the State must respect.
The most important right is freedom (of conscience, expression, assembly, association and demonstration).
The only limit to the freedom of each one is the freedom of others.
Individual freedoms allow each person to be subject of rights.
The most important rights - in addition to the aforementioned freedoms - are the right to life and physical integrity, the right to security and the right to privacy.
The constitutions also usually include economic and social rights, such as the right to work, the right to strike and the right to education.
LES ELECCIONS (Elections)
A basic element of the democratic system is the periodic holding of elections.
The elections are carried out through universal suffrage.
Each representative in parliament, or deputy, represents a similar number of voters.
To get the support of the population in the elections, the candidates who present themselves are grouped into political parties.
These are associations that gather people with common ideas and that present an action program in the parliament.
Sometimes, different parties come together in an electoral coalition.
EL PARLAMENT I EL GOVERN (The Parliament and the Government)
The parliament has the legislative power, which is the capacity to elaborate and approve laws.
In addition, in the case of a parliamentary democracy, it proposes to the head of state who can be head of government, who will later have to submit to the election of the same parliament.
The head of state (king or president of the republic) designates the head of government, called president or prime minister.
This and the ministers he designates constitute the government, that is, the executive power.
Each minister deals with a specific aspect of the governance of the country.
In a parliamentary democracy, the government must have the confidence of the parliament.
In this way, the party or coalition of parties that obtains the absolute majority of deputies (half plus one) governs.
The rest of the deputies form the opposition.
The parliament controls the action of the executive power and thus can question the actions of the government and even present a motion of censure.
L’ORGANITZACiÓ DE L’ESTAT ESPANYOL (The organization of the Spanish State)
According to the Constitution, Spain is a parliamentary monarchy, that is, the head of state is the king, a lifetime, hereditary position that is not elected by suffrage.
The king has the maximum representation of the State, but does not have legislative capacity, which falls on the Parliament.
The current Spanish head of state is Felipe VI.
The current Spanish head of government is Pedro Sánchez.
Head of state: Person who represents or exercises the supreme authority of the state.
Head of government: Person who exercises the direction of the executive power.
LA SEPARACIÓ DE PODERS (The separation of powers)
Legislativo (Legislative): Rests with the General Courts formed by two chambers, the Senate and the Congress of Deputies. Its members are chosen by suffrage every 4 years.
Ejecutivo (Executive): It is exercised by a Government designated by a president, who is chosen by simple majority in the Congress. The Government directs internal and external politics, the civil and military Administration, and the defense of the State.
Judicial: It is exercised by judges and courts organized hierarchically. The highest judicial body is the Supreme Court, the components of which are chosen by the so-called General Council of the Judicial Power, an organization formed by twenty members and a president chosen by the Congress and the Senate.
LA CONSTITUCIÓ I TRIBUNAL CONSTITUCIONAL (The Constitution and Constitutional Court)
The Spanish Constitution is the highest written law of the Spanish legal system.
Not all democratic countries have a constitution, but in the case of Spain the laws approved by the Courts and the autonomous parliaments must conform to what this norm establishes.
To ensure this, there is the Constitutional Court, formed by twelve jurists proposed by the Courts (4), the Senate (4), the Government (2) and the General Council of the Judicial Power (2).
The judgments of the Constitutional Court are often surrounded by controversy, because the judges that form part of it have political orientations close to the parties that have proposed them.
L’AMBAIXADA (The Embassy)
An embassy is the representation that a state has in another state.
It is normally established in the capital and constitutes the maximum authority of the state abroad.
Apart from representing its country, the embassy has other fundamental functions:
Promotes relations between both states and organizes official visits
Negotiates bilateral agreements
Informs of the relevant matters that happen in this state.
Protects and assists the national population that lives there.
Contributes to spreading the language and culture of its country.
The embassy forms part of the territory of the state that it represents, so the headquarters are inviolable and the staff is not subject to the laws of the country where it is located.
L’ORGANITZACIÓ TERRITORIAL (The territorial organization)
Municipi (Municipality): Basic association of people and goods represented by the City Hall. In Spain there are 8131. They have various competences and have to offer a set of services to their citizens.
Província (Province): It is an entity with legal personality formed by the grouping of several municipalities. There are 50 and its administration is carried out through a provincial council. From the province, the State applies the policies of its competence through a delegate or a sub-delegate. In addition, it is an electoral circumscription in the general elections
Comunitat Autònoma (Autonomous Community): There are 17 throughout the State, plus the autonomous cities of Ceuta and Melilla. They are entities regulated legislatively by a statute of autonomy that establishes the competences ceded by the State that correspond to them. Each community has a parliament with legislative functions, a government with executive functions and a president elected by the parliament among its members.