The political and legal environment of IB (topic 5) Flashcards
PESTLE
Political Economic Social Technological Legal Environmental factors
Political system
A country’s system of politics and government. The fundamental goal of a political system is to integrate elements of a society.
Failure = instability, insurrection, national disintegration.
Democratic
A democracy calls for participation by citizens in a fair and just decision-making process.
Republic
rule by law
Anarchic
no rules
Democracy
rule by majority
Representative democracy
Protects individual freedoms; elected representatives act in the peoples’ interests.
E.g. USA, Japan.
Multiparty democracy
Three or more parties govern either separately or in a coalition.
E.g. Canada, Germany.
Parliamentary democracy
Representatives are elected into parliament.
E.g. India, Australia.
Social democracy
Applies democratic means to guide the transition from capitalism to socialism.
E.g. Norway, Sweden.
Pure democracy
based on the belief that citizens should be directly involved in decision-making.
Representative democracy
Citizens periodically elect individuals to represent them.
Totalitarianism
A totalitarian system consolidates power in a single agent who then controls political, economic, and social activities.
Communist totalitarianism
Communist party monopolises power.
Theocratic totalitarianism
Power is monopolised by a party, group, individual that governs according to religious principles.
Tribal totalitarianism
Found in states where a political party that represents the interests of a particular tribe monopolises power.
Right-wing totalitarianism
Permits some individual economic freedom, but restricts individual political freedom.
Authoritairanism
No deviation from state ideology.
E.g. North Korea.
Facism
A single-party state that controls through force and indoctrination.
Secular
Single-party government controls elections and grants limited individual freedoms.
E.g. China.
Institutional theory
Seeks to make sense of organisations as part of complex social systems. Institutions establish the ‘rules of the game’ when working, buying, and selling in a country.
Formal rules (regulative)
Created, communicated, and enforced through official channels (e.g. courts, bureaucracies, constitutions). Formal institutions include the government (e.g. laws, regulations, rules).
Informal restraints (cognitive and normative)
Socially shared customs, codes, traditions - usually unwritten and are communicated, created and enforced outside of official channels (e.g. culture, norms, ethics).
‘Good’ institutions
Promote economic and social progress by providing the incentive structure for an economy.
