The political institutions of society in the modern world are a certain set of organizations and institutions with their own subordination and structure, norms and rules that streamline political relations between people and organizations. This is such a way of organizing the life of society, which allows you to implement certain political ideas, due to the specific situation and requirements. As you can see, the concept is quite extensive. Therefore, you should consider its features in more detail.
Classification
The political institutions of society are divided into institutions of participation and power. The second includes organizations that exercise state power at different hierarchical levels, and the first include civil society organizations. The institutions of power and participation are a political social system that has a certain integrity and organically interacts with political actors and other elements of political activity.
Power mechanism
The mechanism of political influence is determined through the activities of various actors, one of which is political institutions. The state is the main power body that exercises all power through the means and methods used by it. It is the state that, through its activity, embraces the whole society and its individual members, is fully capable of expressing the interests of different social groups and classes, forms the management apparatus and regulates various spheres of life. Law and order occupy a special place in the exercise of power by the state. And the rule of law ensures the legitimacy of policies, which is facilitated by the institutions of power.
The role of society
Another main institution of the political system is civil society itself, within whose framework the activities of parties and other organizations are carried out. In the New Age period, both the state and society were formed as such in Europe and the United States of America, which happened under the influence of modernization changes. Since that time, the main political institutions of society have been operating. The state here acts as a direct power, possessing an absolute monopoly for coercion and even violence in a certain territory. And civil society is a kind of antithesis.
Opinion Maurice Oriu
The founder of institutionalism, a law professor from France Maurice Oriou, considered society as a combination of a huge number of different institutions. He wrote that social and civic mechanisms are organizations that include not only people, but also an ideal, idea, principle. The political institutions of society extract energy from their participants precisely thanks to the above elements. If initially a certain circle of persons unites together and creates an organization, then by the time everyone entering it is imbued with ideas and awareness of unity with each other, it may well be called an institution. A directed idea is the hallmark of such a phenomenon.
Oriu classification
Institutionalists identified the following political institutions of society: corporate (which includes the state, trade associations and societies, trade unions, the church) and the so-called real (legal norms). Both of these species are characterized as original ideal models of social relations. These political social institutions are distinguished by the following: the former are incorporated into social collectives, and the latter can be applied in any associations and do not have their own organization.
The focus was on corporate institutions. They have many common features characteristic of autonomous associations: a guiding idea, a set of regulatory norms and hierarchies of power. The task of the state is to control and direct the economic and social life of society, while remaining a neutral nationwide mediation force, to maintain an equilibrium integrated into a single system. Today, Russia's policy follows precisely in this progressive direction.
System feature
The political institutions of society are the vehicle through which power is realized. They characterize the interaction of associations of the state and citizens, determine the effectiveness of the system of political organization of society. The political system is a combination of all these factors. Its functional characteristic is the political regime. What it is? This is a set of characteristic political relations for certain types of the state, the means and methods used, the existing and established relations of society and state power, existing forms of ideologies, class and social relationships. Depending on the degree of individual’s social freedoms and the relationship between society and the state, three main regimes are distinguished: authoritarian, democratic and totalitarian.
Democracy as the most popular mode
The main institutions of the political system of society and their interconnection are best seen on the example of democracy, which is a form of organization of social and political life, which is characterized by the possibility of the population choosing various alternatives to social development. Usually, all political institutions are included in the democratic process, since this particular regime requires maximum social and political activity from all segments of the population, and it is open to any options for social change. Democracy as such does not require a radical change of the ruling political parties, but such an opportunity undoubtedly exists. Political parties, social movements, and socio-political organizations in this regime are enormous in number and diversity; therefore, democratic societies are always characterized by uncertainty, since political and social goals in their essence and origin are constantly changing. They always turn out to be extremely controversial, generate resistance and conflicts, and are subject to permanent changes.
What is a rule of law?
This term can be found virtually everywhere in political science. But what does he mean? The rule of law is the most important democratic institution. In it, the actions of the authorities are always limited by the moral, legal and political framework. The political institutions of a society in a state based on the rule of law are focused on human interests, create equal conditions for all citizens, regardless of nationality, social status, status, religion, color, and so on. Constitutionalism within such a state occupies a special place and is a stabilizing factor that ensures a certain predictability of the policy pursued by the authorities. It is the priority of the principle of law, and not of such a factor as force, that is the starting point for constitutionality. We can say that the main institution of the political system of the rule of law is the law itself, which acts here as the only and basic tool and regulates different aspects of social life.
Institutional issues
Political institutions of society often experience a problem in interaction with public opinion, this is especially true during the period of transformation and changes in the system of the vertical of power. At this time, the question arises sharply about the need to recognize new and old institutions, and this rarely increases the role of the very opinion of society regarding the expediency and necessity of the existence of these institutions in general. Many political parties and social movements cannot cope with these problems.
The main trends of the problem
There are two directions in this issue. First, new institutions do not immediately gain recognition and support of public opinion. Secondly, without carrying out large-scale campaigns to explain their activities in the media, without a key factor of support from the already established and influential political elites and forces, new institutions cannot make their way. For post-authoritarian countries in their quest for democratization, the problem of the effectiveness of such phenomena as political institutions of society is also relevant. This creates a vicious circle. The new political democratic forces cannot immediately become effective, since there is no necessary support from the masses and elites, and they cannot receive support and recognition of legitimacy, because in the eyes of the broad masses they are ineffective and are not able to help solve the problems facing society. This is exactly what Russia's policy "sins" at this stage.
Analysis of the effectiveness of the democratic regime and its institutions
Analyzing the legal political institutions of society, it becomes clear that they become really effective as a result of a very long process of adaptation and development in conditions of compliance with the traditions of society. For example, it is worth talking about the high democratic nature of Western countries only since the twentieth century. The development and approval of new social and political institutions takes place in three main stages. The first is the formation and formation, the second is its legitimization and recognition by society, the third is adaptation and the subsequent increase in efficiency. It is the second phase that takes the longest time, and the probability of a rollback to the first phase is high. As the historical experience of "democratic construction" shows, the key problem is to give social direction and conformity with the interests of the general public.
