Chapter 1

Political System

1 mark question answers

True / False:

1. Aristotle was the writer of the book titled” Human Nature in Politics”.

2. The term Political System was used for the first time by David Easton.

3. Use of coercive power is not characteristic of Political System.

4. According to Almond, Political System converts inputs into outputs.

5. There is no difference between state and Political System.

6. Political System has the quality of adaptation

ANSWERS:- 1. False 2. True 3. False 4. True 5. False 6. True

Multiple Choice Type Questions:

7. The Author of the book Titled “Process of Government” is:

A. Robert A. Dahl B. David Easton

C. Arthur Bentley D. Bluntschli

8. “System is a whole which is compounded of many parts” Whose

statement is this.

A. Almond and Powell B. Robert A. Dahl

C. Max Webber D. Colin Cherry

9. Which of the following is the Characteristic of Political System.

A. Equal Distribution of Political Resources.

B. Equal Distribution of Political Influence.

C. Multi Functionality of Political Structures.

D. Absence of Boundaries.

10. Which of the following is not the output function of Political System
according to

David Easton?

A. To regulate the behaviour.

B. Allocation of Goods and Services.

C. Proclamation of policies and objective.

D. Protection of the boundaries of the State.

11. When the book titled “Political System” written by David Easton was
published

for the first time?

A. 1947 B. 1953 C. 1960 D. 1965

12. Who made the use of the term Political System for the first time?

A. Robert A Dahl B. Almond& Powell

C. Max Webber D. David EASTON

ANSWERS:- 7. C 8. D 9. C 10. D 11. B 12. D

FILL IN THE BLANKS:-

13. The name of the book written by Graham Wallace was……………

14. The………. of Political System separate it from other systems.

15. Use of legitimate power is the characteristic of…….

16. Political System converts ………into outputs.

17. The scope of Political System in comparison to that of the state is………

18. …………… In Political System is inevitable.

19. Almond and Powel are the writers of the book ……………

20. The book titled …………. written by Arthur Bentley was published in 1908.

ANSWERS:-

13. Human Nature in Politics 14. Boundaries 15. Political system

16. Inputs 17. Wider. 18. Change 19. Modern Political Analysis

20. Process of Government

2 marks question answers

1. Write down the meaning of the word political.

Ans. Word political is concerned with power and authority. Any organization
having

the quality of power and authority can claim to be political.

2. Write down the meaning of word system.

Ans. System is complete whole made of different parts which are
interdependent

and influence one another Human body is an example of system.

3. Write down any one definition of Political System.

Ans. According to Robert A Dahl," A Political System is any persistent pattern

of

human relationships that involves to a significant extent power, rule or

authority. "

4. Write down input functions of a Political System.

Ans. 1. Political Socialization and recruitment. 2 Interest aggregation 3.

Interest

Articulation and 4. Political Communication are the Input function of Political

System.

5. Write down output functions of Political System?

Ans. 1. Rule making 2. Rule application and 3. Rule adjudication are the
output

functions of Political System.

6. What do you mean by a formal structure of Political System?

Ans. Legislature, Executive and Judiciary at etc. are the formal structures of

political system and these are fixed by constitution and law.

7. What do you mean by informal structures of Political System?

Ans. All those in formal structures like Political Parties, Pressure Groups,
Caste

Groups etc are the informal structures of Political System.

8. What do you mean by a Political Recruitment according to Almond?

Ans. Political recruitment is a function by which the persons are recruited to

perform various role in a Political System.

4 marks question answers

Q.1. What do you mean by a Political System?

Ans. The concept of Political system the corollary of the new revolution in
politics

became popular in the beginning of twentieth century and especially after

the Second World War for the first time this concept was used by David

Eastern noted American Political scientist in his book " Political System "

Which was published in 1953. The political system is a set of interaction and

structures which has the ultimate control over legitimate physically coercive

powers and its decisions are legally binding .According to Almond and

Powell when we speak the political system we include all interactions which
affect the use of or threat of legitimate coercion.

Q.2. What is feedback loop Mechanism of David Easton?

Ans. According to David Easton Political System is a process to convert

inputs into

outputs and there is a close relationship between inputs and outputs.

whatever decisions are made by the Political System in the form of outputs,

these again take the form of raw material for inputs and this process

continues. According to David Easton this process is “Feed Back Loop

Mechanism.

Q.3. Write down any four differences between State and Political System?

Ans. The main differences between State and Political Systems are.

(i) The State is an abstract concept where as political system is a reality and
all

those interactions which are of political nature or its parts.

(ii) The State consists of four elements population, fixed territory,

government

and sovereignty, but political system comprises of political processes

Political behaviour, Political structures etc.

(iii) Boundaries of the State or territorial whereas the boundaries of the
political

system are determined by its functions which keep on changing

(iv) All States are alike where as Political Systems are of different types.

Q.4. What are the boundaries of political system?

Ans. According to Almond and Powell every political system has its own

boundaries which separate it from other systems. The boundaries of Political

Systems are not territorial rather these are of functions which keep on

changing from time to time. ln order to clarity the point Almond and Powell

give the example of war. They are of the opinion that during war the

boundaries of the functions of Political system expand and when the war is

over the boundaries of the function's shrink and this way the boundaries of

critical systems keep on changing.

Q.5. What is the function of a Political Socialisation and Recruitment of

Political

System?

Ans. Political Socialization is the process by which the political values and
beliefs

of the people are formulated so that the people's belief in the political
system
gets established. Political Socialization is a continuous process the Political

parties, Pressure groups, Newspapers, Radio, Television, Educational

Institutions, Peer groups and Public Relations department etc. are the main

agents of political socialization along with it. Political system perform the

function of recruitment which means to recruit persons for different roles and

offices.

Q.6. Write down the names of four modern political scientists who
popularized the

concept of political system?

Ans. David Eastern, Robert A Dahl, Almond and Charles E Merriam or those

political scientists, who popularized the concept of Political System.

Q.7. Explain the interest articulation function of Political System?

Ans. Interest articulation is an important input function of Political System

the

people living in every Political Systems have some demands interest or goal

and the process to present these demands before the political system is

known as interest articulation. In case the interest of demands etc. are not

properly presented before the Political System. These cannot be properly

taken care of political rallies newspapers radio television protest rallies strike

petitions at sea or the means of interest articulations.

Q.8. What is the main differences between Political System and Other
Systems?

Ans. According to Almond and Powell the political system has the right to use

'Legitimate physical coercive powers' whereas no other system has this

right.

the decision made by the political systems are binding and everybody is

bound to accept these whereas to accept or not to accept the decision of

other systems depends on the sweet will of individual.