POLITICAL INSTITUTION : Is defined as the systems of norms, values and roles responsible for

maintaining social order in the society.

“The government of the political institution is another institution that is Universal”

DIFFERENT ASPECTS IN MAINTAINING SOCIAL ORDER

CREATING FORMAL NORMS

 It is the political institution that has created formal norms or laws that guide our behaviour
Three types of laws depending on their origins:

A. CONSTITUTIONAL LAWS: formalized norms. The written plan of any government.

The constitution describes broad duties of the government
as well as the right and responsibilities

B. STATUTORY LAWS: Laws that have been enacted by a legislative body of

the government like congress and city councils.

C. COMMON LAWS: unwritten laws built over centuries on local custom and precedent and further
developed by judicial decisions.

SETTLING DISPUTES AMONG INDIVIDUALS

 One of the duties of the political institution

 Types of disputes
Inheritances
Divorce
Property Rights
Personal Liability
Bankruptcy

APPLYING SANCTIONS: It is the responsibility of a political institution to apply sanction to those who
fail to follow or obey certain norms.

SETTLING DISPUTES BETWEEN NATIONS

 It is done to evade wars between nations. Representatives from both nations will meet and
settle the problem peacefully.

Different types of Political Organization and Characteristics

TRIBES

 More complex than band

 Headed by a village headman
 Shift in subsistence pattern from foraging horticultural or pastoralism
 Hundreds of people and multiple communities

Leaders/Leadership:
 1.Pantribal associations

These are limited number of people, typically at least one from each family of the same
age set, warrior societies, religious cults, or secret societies.

(Papua New Guinea- Big house)

2. Big man
A local entrepreneur who successfully mobilizes and manipulates wealth on behalf of
his group in order to hold feasts and enhance the status and rank relative to other leaders in
the region.
-no formal authority or power
- resolves conflict
-relies on authority and influence

CHIEFDOMS

 Forms of hierarchical political organization in non industrial societies usually based on kinship

Types of chiefdom

1. Simple Chiefdom: characterized by a central village or community ruled by a single family

2.Complex chiefdom : composed of several simple chiefdoms ruled by a single paramount chief

3.Tributary System : “Tributaries” liable to tax. The elites demand tributes in the form of
agricultural crops from the commoners or the ordinary people not belong to nobility

NATION: group of people that shared common history, language, traditions, customs, habits and
ethnicity

STATE: the highest form of political organization and having the following elements:

 Territory
 People
 Government
 Sovereignty

 Characteristics:

 -define citizenship and right

 -maintain law and order

 -maintain standing armies

 -have a power to tax

  -hierarchical and patriarchal

BANDS: a very small , oftentimes nomadic group that is connected by family ties and politically
independent

 Associations of family living together. They are loosely allied by marriage, descent, friendship,
and common interest

 Often perceived to be:

 1.acephalous- without a well-defined system of leadership.

 2. foragers- a nomadic societies (gatherers)

 3. egalitarian- all families are essentially equal.

Quarrel split the bands along the family lines, the reason are:

 Quarrel over food

 Same woman or man
 Fight over space