Chapter 23 Politics, Power, and Violence

Kinds Of Political Systems Uncentralized systems –Bands –Tribes Centralized systems –Chiefdoms –States

Types Of Political Organization: Membership MembershipNumber of peopleSettlement pattern BandDozens and upMobile TribeHundreds and up Mobile or fixed: 1 or more villages ChiefdomThousands and up Fixed: 1 or more villages State Tens of thousands and up Fixed: Many villages and cities

Types Of Political Organization: Membership MembershipBasis of relationships Ethnicities and languages BandKin1 TribeKin, descent groups1 Chiefdom Kin, rank and residence 1 StateClass and residence1 or more

Types Of Political Organization: Government Membership Decision making, leadership Bureaucracy Band“Egalitarian”None Tribe Egalitarian” or Big- Man None Chiefdom Centralized, hereditary None, or 1 or 2 levels StateCentralizedMany levels

Types Of Political Organization: Government MembershipConflict resolution Hierarchy of settlement BandInformalNo TribeInformalNo ChiefdomCentralized No Paramount village or head town StateLaws, judgesCapital

Types Of Political Organization: Economy Membership Division of labor Exchanges BandNoReciprocal TribeNoReciprocal ChiefdomNo -> Yes Redistributive (“tribute”) StateYes Redistributive (“taxes”)

Types Of Political Organization: Society MembershipStratifiedSlavery BandNo TribeNo Chiefdom Yes, ranked by kin Some small-scale State Yes, by class or caste Some large-scale

Types Of Political Organization: Society Membership Luxury goods for elite Indigenous literacy BandNo TribeNo ChiefdomYesNo ->Some StateYesOften

Bands Small group of politically independent, though related, households. The least complicated form of political organization. Found among nomadic societies. Small, numbering at most a few hundred people.

Bands No need for formal political systems. Decisions are made with the participation of adult members, with an emphasis on achieving consensus. Those unable to get along with others of their group move to another group where kinship ties give them rights of entry.

Tribes Tribes consist of small, autonomous local communities, which form alliances for various purposes. Economy based on crop cultivation or herding. Population densities generally exceed 1 person per square mile. Leadership among tribes is informal.

Tribes Shown here is a meeting of the Navajo Tribal Council, a nontraditional governing body created in response to requirements set by the U.S. government in order for the Navajo to exercise national sovereignty.

The Big Man This Big Man from New Guinea is wearing his official regalia.

Question Bands and tribes are both A.centralized. B.associated with industrialism. C.dependent on age groups for political organization. D.uncentralized and egalitarian. E.hierarchical in social organization.

Answer: D Bands and tribes are both uncentralized and egalitarian.

Question In the band, disputes are settled informally through ___________ A.gossip. B.ridicule. C.direct negotiation. D.mediation. E.all of these choices

Answer: E In the band, disputes are settled informally through gossip, ridicule, direct negotiation and mediation.

Question The form of social organization typical of hunter- gatherers is the _________, whereas horticulture and pastoralism are usually associated with the form of social organization called the _________. A.tribe/chiefdom B.tribe/state C.tribe/band D.band/chiefdom E.band/tribe

Answer: E The form of social organization typical of hunter-gatherers is the band, whereas horticulture and pastoralism are usually associated with the form of social organization called the tribe.

Chiefdoms The chief is at the head of a ranked hierarchy of people. The office of the chief is usually for life and often hereditary. The chief’s authority serves to unite his people in all affairs and at all times. Highly unstable as lesser chiefs try to take power from higher ranking chiefs.

Chiefdoms A Kpelle town chief in Liberia, West Africa, listens to a dispute in his district. Settling disputes is one of several ongoing traditional tasks that fall to paramount chiefs among Kpelle people.

State The most formal of political organizations. Political power is centralized in a government, which may use force to regulate the affairs of its citizens and its relations with other states. Since their first appearance 5,000 years ago, states have shown a tendency toward instability and transience.

A Nation without a State The Kurds, most of whom live in Iran, Iraq, and Turkey, are an example of a nation without a state.

Political Leadership and Gender Women have enjoyed political equality with men in a number of societies: Iroquoian tribes of New York State - men held office at the pleasure of women, who appointed them and could remove them. Igbo of Nigeria - women held positions that paralleled and balanced that of the men.

Visual Counterpoint Iran and Great Britain permit a closer relationship between political and religious affairs. Shiite Muslim religious leader Ayatollah Khamenei is Iran’s supreme spiritual leader and his country’s highest political authority. In England, Queen Elizabeth is her country’s nominal head of state and head of the Anglican Church.

Gender and Politics Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf inspects members of the Liberian police after taking the presidential oath in January The first female president on the African continent, Sirleaf is a Harvard-educated economist who took the world by surprise when she won the head office in her war-torn and poverty- stricken country.

Internalized Controls Self-imposed by individuals. Rely on such deterrents as shame, fear of divine punishment, and magical retaliation. Although bands and tribes rely heavily upon them, they are generally insufficient by themselves.

Externalized Controls Mix cultural and social control. Positive sanctions reward appropriate behavior. Negative sanctions punish behavior.

Formal Sanctions Formal sanctions may involve some form of regulated combat, seen here as armed dancers near Mount Hagen in New Guinea demand redress for murder.

Functions of Law Defines relationships among a society’s members and behavior under different circumstances. Allocates authority to employ coercion to enforce sanctions. Redefines social relations and aids its own efficient operation by ensuring it allows change.

Settling Disputes A dispute may be settled in two ways: 1.Negotiation - the parties to the dispute reach an agreement with or without the help of a third party. 2. Adjudication - An authorized third party issues a binding decision.

Song Duels Having a song duel is the traditional approach to dispute resolution among the Inuit of northern Canada.

Question A method of resolving disputes in which the disputing parties voluntarily arrive at a mutually satisfactory agreement is called A.negotiation. B.mediation. C.adjudication. D.use of sanctions. E.law.

Answer: A A method of resolving disputes in which the disputing parties voluntarily arrive at a mutually satisfactory agreement is called negotiation.

Question In _____________, two parties present their grievances, but do not take part in the resolution of the dispute. A.deception. B.the development of a court system. C.negotiation. D.mediation. E.adjudication.

Answer: E In adjudication, two parties present their grievances, but do not take part in the resolution of the dispute.

Visual Counterpoint A display of human skulls commemorate victory over enemies on this stone wall in the ancient Maya city of Chichen Itza in southeastern Mexico. A display may also serve as a monument of violence as in this Cambodian map made of skulls belonging to victims of the Khmer Rouge regime that claimed the lives of 1.7 million innocent Cambodians in the 1970s.

Child Soldiers Today, there are more than 250,000 child soldiers, many as young as 12 years old. Among them are these boys training to be guerrillas in Sahel, Eritrea.

Warfare in Multinational States