Politics and Political System

Politics is a process by which groups of people make collective decisions. The term is generally applied to the art or science of running governmental or state affairs. It also refers to behavior within civil governments. However, politics have been observed in other group interactions, including corporate, academic, and religious institutions. It consists of "social relations involving authority or power"[1] and refers to the regulation of public affairs within a political unit,[2] and to the methods and tactics used to formulate and apply policy.

EtymologyThe word politics comes from the Greek word Πολιτικά (politika), modeled on Aristotle's "affairs of the city", the name of his book on governing and governments, which was rendered in English mid-15 century as latinized "Polettiques".[4] Thus it became "politics" in Middle English c. 1520s (see the Concise Oxford Dictionary). The singular politic first attested in English 1430 and comes from Middle French politique, in turn from Latin politicus,[5] which is the latinisation of the Greek πολιτικός (politikos), meaning amongst others "of, for, or relating to citizens", "civil", "civic", "belonging to the state",[6] in turn from πολίτης (polites), "citizen"[7] and that from πόλις (polis), "city".

HistoryThe history of politics is reflected in the origin and development of the institutions of government.

Political SystemA political system is a system of politics and government. It is usually compared to the legal system, economic system, cultural system, and other social systems. It is different from them, and can be generally defined on a spectrum from left, e.g. communism, to the right, e.g. fascism. However, this is a very simplified view of a much more complex system of categories involving the views: who should have authority, how religious questions should be handled, and what the government's influence on its people and economy should be.

OverviewThere are several definitions of "political system":    * A political system is a complete set of institutions, interest groups (such as political parties, trade unions, lobby groups), the relationships between those institutions and the political norms and rules that govern their functions (constitution, election law).
    * A political system is composed of the members of a social organization (group) who are in power.
    * A political system is a system that necessarily has two properties: a set of interdependent components and boundaries toward the environment with which it interacts.
    * A political system is a concept in which theoretically regarded as a way of the government makes a policy and also to make them more organized in their administration.
    * A political system is one that ensures the maintaining of order and sanity in the society and at the same time makes it possible for some other institutions to also have their grievances and complaints put across in the course of social existence.

Commonalities between political systems:    * Interdependent parts
          o Citizens Culture
          o Government
    * Boundaries
          o Citizenship
          o Territory
          o Property

Basic forms of political systems
The following are examples of political systems, some of which are typically mutually exclusive (e.g. Monarchy and Republic), while others may (or may not) overlap in various combinations (e.g. Democracy and Westminster system, Democracy and Socialism).

    * Anarchism (Rule by all/no one)
    * Democracy (Rule by majority)
    * Monarchy. (Rule by monarch) Monarchies are one of the oldest political systems known, developing from tribal structure with one person the absolute ruler.
    * Communism (Rule by all citizens) Classless with common ownership and decision making
    * Meritocracy (Rule by best)
    * Technocracy (Rule by scientist/intellectuals)
    * Republic. (Rule by law) The first recorded republic was in India in the 6th century BC (BCE).
    * Sultanates. (Rule by Allah) an Islamic political structure combining aspects of Monarchy and Theocracy.
    * Islamic Democracy. (Rule by majority in Islamic context) an Islamic and democratic political structure, which combines aspects of Theocracy (as the framework) and Democracy (as the decision making method under Islam's ethical system). Iran's constitution is based on such a system.
    * Theocracy (Rule by alleged representative of God)
    * Westminster system (rule by republic and representative democracy through parliament)
    * Feudalism (Rule by lord/king)
(http://en.wikipedia.org)