The political institutions of society in the modern world are a certain set of organizations and institutions with their own subordination and structure, norms and rules that streamline political relations between people and organizations. This is a way of organizing the life of society, which allows you to embody certain political ideas, due to a specific situation and requirements. As you can see, the concept is quite broad. Therefore, its features should be considered in more detail.
Classification
The political institutions of society are divided into institutions of participation and power. The latter include organizations that exercise state power at different hierarchical levels, and the former include civil society structures. The institutions of power and participation represent a political social system that has a certain integrity and organically interacts with the subjects of politics and other elements of political activity.
Mechanism of power
The mechanism of political influence is determined through the activities of varioussubjects, one of which are political institutions. The state is the main power body that exercises full power through the means and methods used by it. It is the state that, through its activities, embraces the entire society and its individual members, is fully capable of expressing the interests of different social groups and classes, forms the administrative apparatus and regulates various spheres of life. Law and order occupy a special place in the exercise of power by the state. And the rule of law ensures the legitimacy of the policy pursued, which is facilitated by the institutions of power.
The role of society
Another main institution of the political system is civil society itself, within whose framework the activities of parties and other organizations are carried out. During the Modern Age in Europe and the United States of America, both the state and society were formed as such, which happened under the influence of modernization changes. Since that time, the main political institutions of society have been operating. The state here acts as a direct power, which has an absolute monopoly for coercion and even violence in a certain territory. And civil society is a kind of antithesis.
Maurice Oriou's opinion
The founder of institutionalism, French law professor Maurice Auriou, considered society as a combination of a huge number of different institutions. He wrote that social and civic mechanisms are organizations that includenot only people, but also an ideal, an idea, a principle. The political institutions of society draw energy from their members precisely because of the above elements. If initially a certain circle of people unites together and creates an organization, then by the time all its members are imbued with ideas and awareness of unity with each other, it can be fully called an institution. It is the directional idea that is the hallmark of such a phenomenon.
Oriou classification
Institutionalists singled out the following political institutions of society: corporate (which include the state, trade associations and societies, trade unions, church) and the so-called real (legal norms). Both of these types are characterized as peculiar ideal models of social relations. These political social institutions differ in the following: the former are incorporated into social collectives, while the latter can be used in any associations and do not have their own organization.
The focus was on corporate institutions. They share many of the common features that are characteristic of autonomous associations: a guiding idea, a set of regulatory norms and hierarchies of power. The task of the state is to control and direct the economic and social life of society, remaining a neutral nationwide intermediary force, in order to maintain a balance integrated into a single system. Today, Russian policy follows this progressive direction.
System characteristics
The political institutions of society are the conductor through which power is exercised. They characterize the interaction of associations of the state and citizens, determine the effectiveness of the system of political organization of society. The political system is the totality of all these factors. Its functional characteristic is the political regime. What it is? This is a set of characteristic political relations for certain types of state, the means and methods used, the established and established relations between society and state power, existing forms of ideologies, class and social relationships. There are three main regimes depending on the degree of social freedoms of the individual and the relationship between society and the state: authoritarian, democratic and totalitarian.
Democracy as the most popular regime
The main institutions of the political system of society and their relationship are best seen in the example of democracy, which is a form of organization of social and political life, which is characterized by the ability of the population to choose various alternatives to social development. The democratic process usually includes all political institutions, since it is this regime that requires maximum social and political activity from all segments of the population, and it is open to any options for social change. Democracy as such does not require a radical change in the ruling political parties, but suchthe possibility certainly exists. Political parties, social movements and socio-political organizations in this regime are of great number and variety, therefore democratic societies are always characterized by uncertainty, since political and social goals, by their nature and origin, are constantly variable. They always turn out to be extremely controversial, give rise to resistance and conflicts, and are subject to permanent changes.
What is the rule of law?
This term can be found virtually everywhere in political science. But what does he mean? The rule of law is the most important democratic institution. In it, the actions of the authorities are always limited by moral, legal and political frameworks. The political institutions of society in a state governed by the rule of law are focused on human interests, create equal conditions for all citizens, regardless of nationality, social status, status, religion, skin color, and so on. Constitutionalism within the framework of such a state occupies a special place and is a stabilizing factor that ensures a certain predictability of the policy pursued by the authorities. It is the priority of the principle of law, and not such a factor as force, that is the starting point for constitutionality. We can say that the main institution of the political system of the rule of law is the law itself, which acts here as the only and main instrument and regulates various aspects of social life.
Problemsinstitutions
Political institutions of society often experience a problem in interacting with public opinion, this is especially true during the period of transformation and changes in the system of the power vertical. At this time, the question arises of the need to recognize new and old institutions, and this rarely increases the role of the opinion of the society itself regarding the expediency and necessity of the existence of these institutions in general. Many political parties and social movements fail to cope with these problems.
Main trends of the problem
There are two directions in this issue. First, new institutions do not immediately win the recognition and support of public opinion. Secondly, without conducting large-scale campaigns to explain their activities in the media, without a key factor of support from already established and influential political elites and forces, new institutions cannot make their way. For post-authoritarian countries, in their striving for democratization, the problem of the effectiveness of such phenomena as the political institutions of society is also relevant. This creates a vicious circle. New political democratic forces cannot immediately become effective, since there is no necessary support from the masses and elites, and they cannot receive support and recognition of legitimacy, since in the eyes of the broad masses they are ineffective and unable to help solve the problems that arise before society. This is exactly what Russia's policy is "sinning" at this stage.
Analysis of the effectiveness of the democratic regime and its institutions
Analyzing the legal political institutions of society, it becomes clear that they become really effective as a result of a very long process of adaptation and development in accordance with the traditions of society. For example, it is worth talking about the high democracy of Western countries only starting from the twentieth century. The development and approval of new social and political institutions occurs in three main stages. The first is the formation and formation, the second is its legitimization and recognition by society, the third is adaptation and subsequent growth in efficiency. It is the second phase that takes the longest time, and the probability of a rollback to the first phase is high. As the historical experience of "democratic construction" shows, the key problem is giving a social orientation and meeting the interests of the general public.
Importance of Parliament
The sovereignty of the whole people is embodied in the state through a certain representative body that expresses the collective will of all voters. It is the parliament that is the most important democratic institution within the rule of law, without which democracy is unthinkable in general. Characteristic features of the parliament: collegial decision-making and elective composition. The deputies who are elected to its composition are direct representatives of the will of the people and are guided by state and public interests. Parliament performs a lot of important functions, but the main ones can be called:
- legislative, since onlyParliament has the power to make laws that are binding and universal;
- controlling, which is expressed in monitoring the government and regulating its actions (approval of members, listening to reports, etc.).
