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Political and Leadership Structures: Lesson 3

This document discusses different political and leadership structures throughout history. It begins by explaining how humans naturally form social groups and the need for defining power structures to manage conflicts. It then describes the simplest structures of bands and tribes, which were based on family ties and informal leadership. More complex structures included chiefdoms, which were ruled by a select family, and complex chiefdoms with a paramount chief. The document goes on to define nations as groups sharing a common identity, and states as political units with sovereignty over people and land. It concludes by discussing the importance of political legitimacy and authority, and Max Weber's three types of legitimate authority: traditional, charismatic, and rational-legal.

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Felipe Mensorado Grande
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223 views

Political and Leadership Structures: Lesson 3

This document discusses different political and leadership structures throughout history. It begins by explaining how humans naturally form social groups and the need for defining power structures to manage conflicts. It then describes the simplest structures of bands and tribes, which were based on family ties and informal leadership. More complex structures included chiefdoms, which were ruled by a select family, and complex chiefdoms with a paramount chief. The document goes on to define nations as groups sharing a common identity, and states as political units with sovereignty over people and land. It concludes by discussing the importance of political legitimacy and authority, and Max Weber's three types of legitimate authority: traditional, charismatic, and rational-legal.

Uploaded by

Felipe Mensorado Grande
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PPTX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Lesson 3:

POLITICAL AND LEADERSHIP


STRUCTURES
INTRODUCTION

Human beings are considered social animals. Being such, they


have a natural tendency to join groups. However, considering
that individuals have different interests, the tendency towards
conflict is as natural as the tendency to join social groups. Thus,
there is a need to establish to a political system where power
structures are defined to ensure that conflicts are managed. It is
in this regard that it is important to understand how individuals
have organized themselves into social and political groups or
communities.
BANDS AND TRIBES
 BANDS AND TRIBES are considered as the simplest political systems.
 BAND is typically formed by several families living together based on marriage ties, common
descendants, friendship affiliations, and members usually have a common interest or enemy.
 Informal leadership is accorded to members who passes certain skills and knowledge such as
the gift of memory, hunting or healing skills, or those other special ability.
 Tribe are organized is through the presence of pantribal associations, or what anthropologist
refer to as “sodalities”. These come in the form of councils or tribal elders. It was noticed that
the emergence of more complex ways of organizing a tribes eventually led to the eventual
displacement of women leaders. Tribe are also seen as economically self-sufficient and are
larger and more integrated than bands.
CHIEFDOMS

 A Chiefdom, is defined as a political organization that more defined. In a


chiefdom, formal leadership exists and authority rests solely on the members of a
select family.

Chiefdoms can either be simple or complex.

 A Simple Chiefdom is characterized by a central village or community ruled by a


single family.
 A Complex Chiefdom is composed of several simple chiefdoms ruled by a single
paramount chief residing in a single paramount center. This is a highly structured
and hierarchical political system
characterized by a class system where the elites demand tributes in the form of
agricultural crops and produce from the commoners to a system that is called a
“tributary system”.

NATIONS AND STATES


The advent of modernity has made the process of consolidating
different individuals into one political community more difficult and
complex. Out of the breakdown of political organizations, what
emerged was the presence of groups of people that shared a common
history, language, traditions, customs, habits, and ethnicity. These
groups are conscious of their identity and of their potential to become
autonomous and unified. These groups are collectively referred to as
nations.
Scholars refers to nations as either “imagined” or “abstract”

Benedict Anderson consider a nation as imagined in the sense that nations can
exist as a state of mind, where the material expressions seen in actual residence
in a physical territory becomes secondary to the common imagined connections
emanating from a common history and identity.
Paul James considers a nation as abstract. He argues that a nation is objectively
impersonal even if each individuals is able to identify with others.
A nation, despite its being historically constituted and having a common sense of
identification among its members, as well as the consciousness of having the
potential to be autonomous , nevertheless do not possess political sovereignty.
A state, on the other hand, a political unit consisting of a government that has
sovereignty presiding over a group of people and a well-defined territory and is
thus the highest form of political organization.

POLITICAL LEGITIMACY AND AUTHORITY


The task of organizing a political community requires the existence of leaders.
Leaders, on order to be effective, need to possess authority that is considered
legitimate by the members of the community.
AUTHORITY VIS-À-VIS LEGITIMACY
Authority is the power to make binding decisions and issues commands.
Legitimacy is a moral and ethical concept that bestows one who possesses power
the right to exercise such power since such is perceived to be justified and proper.
WEBER AND THE TYPES OF LEGITIMATE AUTHORITY
Max Weber identifies three types of authority based on the source of
their legitimacy.
Traditional authority whose legitimacy is derived from well-
established customs, habits, and social structures.
Charismatic authority whose legitimacy emanates from the charisma
of the individual, which for some cam be seen as a “gift of grace” or
the possession of “gravitas” or an authority derived from a “higher
power”, such as those that are associated with the divine rights of
kings.
Rational-legal or bureaucratic authority this kind of authority draw
its legitimacy from formal rules promulgated by the state through its
fundamental and implementing laws.

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