Douglas V. Verney - The Analysis of Political Systems

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The International Library of Sociology

THE ANALYSIS OF POLITICAL SYSTEMS

Founded by KARL MANNHEIM

The International Library of Sociology

POLITICAL SOCIOLOGY

In 18 Volumes

I	The American Science of Politics	Crick
II	The Analysis of Political Behaviour	Lasswell
III	The Analysis of Political Systems	Verney
IV	Central European Democracy and its Background	Schlesinger
V	The Decline of Liberalism as an Ideology	Hallowell
(The above title is not available through Routledge in North America)
VI	Democracy and Dictatorship	Barbu
VII	Dictatorship and Political Police	Bramstedt
VIII	Federalism in Central and Eastern Europe	Schlesinger
IX	History of Socialism	Laidler
(The above title is not available through Routledge in North America)
X	How People Vote	Benney et al
XI	The Logic of Liberty	Polanyi
(The above title is not available through Routledge in North America)
XII	Pacifism	Martin
XIII	Patterns of Peacemaking	Thomson et al
XIV	Plan for Reconstruction	Hutt
XV	Politics of Influence	Wootton
XVI	Politics of Mass Society	Kornhauser
(The above title is not available through Routledge in North America)
XVII	Power and Society	Lasswell and Kaplan
(The above title is not available through Routledge in North America)
XVIII	Process of Independence	Mansur

THE ANALYSIS OF POLITICAL SYSTEMS

by
DOUGLAS V. VERNEY

First published in 1970
by Routledge

Reprinted in 1998, 1999, 2000
by Routledge

2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon, OX14 4RN

or

270 Madison Avenue, New York, NY 10016

First issued in paperback 2010

1969 Cyril S. Belshaw

Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilized in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.

The publishers have made every effort to contact authors/copyright holders of the works reprinted in The International Library of Sociology. This has not been possible in every case, however, and we would welcome correspondence from those individuals/companies we have been unable to trace.

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data

A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

The Analysis of Political Systems

ISBN 9780415175388 (hbk)

ISBN 9780415605243 (pbk)

Political Sociology: 18 Volumes
ISBN 9780415178204

The International Library of Sociology: 274 Volumes
ISBN 9780415178389

Publishers Note

The publisher has gone to great lengths to ensure the quality of this reprint but points out that some imperfections in the original may be apparent

PREFACE

T wo recent writers in particular have shown me the way towards the type of political analysis which this book favours. The late Mr. T. D. Weldon, especially in his The Vocabulary of Politics, exposed the vagueness of terminology in much theorizing about politics. Professor Maurice Duverger in his Political Parties has shown that the study of political institutions can be analytical as well as descriptive.

I should like to thank Professor Edvard Thermaenius of Stockholm for explaining to me that British Cabinet Government is not synonymous with what the Swedes call parliamentarism. I owe a special debt of gratitude to the Commonwealth Fund, New York, for enabling me to study the American type of presidential government at first hand and for introducing me to the interesting work being done in the United States in the field of political behaviour.

Several British colleagues were kind enough to give me their comments on portions of the manuscript and numerous students helped me to work out my ideas in lectures and seminars. To all of them, and to Miss Rita Turner who typed out the manuscript, I proffer my thanks.

I am especially grateful to Professors Wilfrid Harrison of the University of Liverpool and Manning J . Dauer of the University of Florida for their wise criticisms and helpful advice; and to my wife, Diana, for always insisting that I try to make my meaning as clear as possible.

D. V. V.

Gainesville, Florida.

I

INTRODUCTION

I N the spring of 1958 a crisis in France led to the resignation of the Prime Minister and the appointment of General Charles De Gaulle as head of Government. With his appointment the Fourth Republic came to an end after an existence of only twelve years.

These events raise some interesting questions. Was it the failure of government itself which was significant in France? Or is government merely the product or reflection of deeper social forces in a country? There are many today who regard the mechanics of government as of secondary importance to social pressures. To them, whether France has a parliamentary or presidential system of government is immaterial: what is important is the role of particular groups, the failure of liberal-democracy, the attitude of the general public, and the challenge of Communism.

In the academic world of political science a similar trend is also evident. Instead of attending to the structure of government many are focussing their interest upon popular participation, or what is sometimes termed the political process. There is concern for political dynamics, for the ways in which leaders, political parties and social groups achieve power, and a quest for the mainsprings of action unrevealed by a study of the more publicised formal structure of government.

Yet in an age when more people than ever before claim to believe in some form of democracy, that is government based on the consent of the governed, it is important that concern for free elections and the establishment of political parties should not lead to the assumption that the form of government which a state adopts is immaterial. The presidential form introduced by the Americans and the parliamentary system first developed in the United Kingdom are intricate pieces of machinery all too often imperfectly understood. They compare favourably, both in their mode of operation and in their capacity to survive, with the simple government by Assembly which so many radicals have at one time or another adopted instead. The weaknesses of Assembly government have often been ignored.

Indeed serious consequences may flow from the tendency to assume that participation, that is the political process, alone is basic. There have been numerous examples of political systems which have failed because the art of government was not mastered. This study therefore begins with the analysis of governmental structure in presidential, parliamentary and convention systems. In the two approaches to political systems are brought together and the problemsone might even say the dilemmapresented by anxiety for both maximum participation and firm, efficient government are considered.

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