The main features of a democratic regime. Democratic regime: concept and main features

Introduction

Conclusion

Bibliography

Introduction

Each state has its own political regime. The political regime means a set of techniques, methods, forms, ways of exercising political state power in society, characterizes the degree of political freedom, the legal status of the individual in society and a certain type of political system that exists in the country.

The problem of democracy and its role in social and political life occupies one of the central places in political science. The concept of "democracy" was mentioned both in the ancient world and in modern society. Herodotus, Plato, Aristotle, Rousseau, J. Locke, T. Hobbes, Bryce, Sherer, Girnshaw and other famous scientists. This problem worries many scientists now, and in the future it will occupy one of the main places in political science.

Based on this, the main goal of the work is to study the main features of democratic regimes. At the same time, the purpose of the work is revealed through the solution of the following tasks:

Reflect the concept of democracy, reveal its essence, criteria and principles;

Consider the main varieties of democratic regimes;

To identify what type of political processes prevail within the framework of democratic regimes and how they proceed;

draw conclusions on the topic.

When writing the work, monographic, educational and periodical literature on the research topic was used.

1. Democracy, its essence, criteria and principles

Democratic regime - characterized by a high degree of political freedom of a person, the real exercise of his rights, allowing him to influence the public administration of society. The political elite, as a rule, is rather narrow, but it relies on a broad social base.

Characteristic features of a democratic regime:

1) Sovereignty of the people: it is the people who choose their representatives of power and can periodically replace them. Elections must be fair, competitive, and regularly held.

2) Periodic election of the main bodies of the state. The government is born out of elections and for a definite, limited term. For the development of democracy, it is not enough to hold regular elections; it is necessary that it be based on an elected government.

3) Democracy protects the rights of individuals and minorities. The opinion of the majority, democratically expressed in elections, is only a necessary condition for democracy, but by no means insufficient. Only the combination of majority rule and protection of the rights of the minority is one of the basic principles of a democratic state. If, however, discriminatory measures are applied against the minority, the regime becomes undemocratic, regardless of the frequency and fairness of elections and changes in the legitimately elected government.

4) Equality of the rights of citizens to participate in government: freedom to create political parties and other associations to express their will, freedom of opinion, the right to information and to participate in competition for employment leadership positions in the state.

Democratic states are different, but they all have common unifying features: democracy - i.e. recognition of the people as a source of power, a sovereign; government is based on the consent of the governed; majority rule; minority rule; guarantees of fundamental human rights; free and fair elections; equality before the law; fair trial; constitutional limitation of government; social, economic, ideological and political pluralism; values of cooperation and compromise.

Modern democracy is the representation of interests, not estates. All citizens in a democratic state are equal as participants in political life. Equality is of two kinds - equality before the laws and equality of political rights. A modern democratic state is a state of law, in which the separation of three powers has been carried out in practice and real mechanisms have been created to protect the rights and freedoms of citizens.

2. Main varieties of democratic regimes

There are the following main varieties of democratic regimes.

Liberal democracies proceed from the priority of individual rights over the rights of the state. Therefore, they give priority to the creation of institutional, legal and other guarantees for individual freedom, preventing any suppression of the individual by power. To this end, liberal democracies seek to create mechanisms to ensure the rights of the individual by limiting the power of the majority. The sphere of activity of the state here is reduced mainly to the protection of public order, security and legal protection of the rights of citizens. In this form of democracy, great importance is attached to the separation of powers, improving the mechanisms of their mutual containment and balancing in order to prevent abuse of power, create conditions for the manifestation of individual autonomy.

It should be noted that liberal democracies are actually quite rare. For example, the United States of America gravitates towards this form of democracy. However, here, too, attempts to implement it in its “pure” form constantly run into the need to overcome the contradictions between individual, group, and common interests. The modern state is called upon to act not only as a guarantor of individual rights and freedoms, but also to regulate economic and social processes in order to harmonize the interests of various social groups.

Pluralistic democracies, which are characteristic of most Western European countries, proceed from the fact that the main subjects of politics are not individuals or people, but various groups of people. At the same time, it is believed that only with the help of a group does a person get the opportunity to politically express and protect his interests. And it is in the group, as well as in the process of intergroup relations, that interests and motives are formed. political activity individual. The people, on the other hand, are seen as a complex, internally contradictory entity, and therefore they cannot be the main subject of politics. In pluralistic democracies, the focus is on creating such a mechanism for political interaction that would provide an opportunity for all citizens to openly express and defend their interests. The dominant role in this mechanism is assigned to independent groups of political influence. There are many groups operating here - parties, public associations and movements - seeking to participate in the exercise of power or influence the activities ruling group. Great importance is also attached to balancing the interests of various social groups, creating counterbalances to the usurpation of power by the most powerful social groups or the majority of citizens.

Collectivist democracies, also known as People's Democracies, on the contrary, proceed from the premise that it is the people as a whole, and not individual individuals or groups of people, who have the indivisible and inalienable right to establish laws and determine the activities of the government. Collectivist democracies, one way or another, recognize the priority of the people or a large social subject identified with them in expressing the general will and exercising power. Such democracies actually proceed from the homogeneity of the people as a social subject, the infallibility of its will, and therefore they absolutize the principle of subordination of the minority to the majority, and also deny the autonomy of the individual. Attempts to implement collectivist democracy in its "pure" form actually led to rule on behalf of the "people" of a narrow group of people, to the suppression of political rights and civil liberties, to cruel repressions against other dissent. The experience of their implementation in a number of countries shows that the power of the people cannot be real without the simultaneous recognition and institutional and legal consolidation of the individual as the most important subject of politics.

Direct democracies proceed from the fact that the people themselves should make the most important political decisions, and representative bodies of power should be reduced to a minimum and made completely under the control of citizens. With the trend of development in a country of direct democracy, as is the case, for example, in Switzerland, the range of issues that are resolved directly by citizens is constantly expanding. This is the adoption of the most important legislative acts, and the choice of political decisions of a strategic nature, and the adoption of decisions of local importance. It is not difficult to see that plebiscitary democracy makes it possible to develop the political activity of citizens, ensure a strong legitimacy of power, and exercise effective control over the activities of state institutions and officials.

Representative democracies, on the contrary, proceed from the fact that the will of the people can be expressed not only directly by them during the voting, but also by their representatives in government.

With this approach, democracy is understood as a competent and responsible representative government to the people. The participation of citizens in political decision-making is not generally rejected, but it is limited to a very narrow range of issues. Relations between the people and their representatives are built on the basis of trust and control in the form of periodically held elections, the Constitutional limitation of the competences of authorities and officials with their complete independence within the law.

When assessed in accordance with its first, most important principle - the sovereignty of the people - democracy is classified depending on how the people are understood and how they exercise sovereignty. Such a seemingly obvious and simple concept as “the people” was interpreted in the history of political thought far from being the same. In contrast to the modern understanding as the entire population of the country, until about the middle of the 19th century, demos, the people were identified either with free adult men, or with owners who own real estate or other considerable values, or only with men.

The restriction of the people to certain class or demographic boundaries gives grounds to characterize states that subject certain groups of the population to political discrimination and do not grant them voting rights as socially limited democracies and to distinguish them from universal democracy - states with equal political rights for the entire adult population.

Until the beginning of the 20th century, none of the pre-existing democracies provided equal political rights to the entire adult population of the country. These were predominantly class and patriarchal democracies. In the history of political thought, the interpretation of the people as ordinary people, the poor lower strata, the mob, who make up the majority of the population, prevailed. Such an understanding of the demos is found even in Aristotle, who considered democracy to be an incorrect form of the state, interpreted it as the power of the demos, the mob, incapable of governing, weighed, rational decisions considering the common good. In modern political theory, this type of government reflects the concept of "ochlocracy", which in Greek means "the power of the mob, the crowd."

So, depending on the understanding of the composition of the people, its power can act as a universal or socially (class, ethnically, demographically, etc.) limited democracy, as well as an ochlocracy.

3. What type of political processes prevail within democratic regimes and how do they proceed?

The political process can be defined as an ordered sequence of actions and interactions of political subjects associated with the implementation of power interests and goal achievement and, as a rule, creating and recreating political institutions. The political process is the deployment of politics in time and space as an ordered sequence of actions and interactions.

In Western political science, there are several systems of typology of political processes. The first of them was created within the framework of comparative political science by L. Pye, who, comparing the political development of Western and non-Western countries, connected their fundamental differences with the cultural “code” that determines the practical orientations of the population and its behavior. These differences are due to the civilizational features of the Western and non-Western world. Summarizing empirical observations, L. Pye created a classical ideal type capable of expressing the originality of the West and the uniqueness of non-Western societies. The contrasting of the Western world with the non-Western, based on the difference in cultures, makes it possible to understand why the ideas of democracy developed within the boundaries of the historical West and were alien to the non-Western world.

L. Pai distinguished between Western and non-Western political processes. In the article "Non-Western Political Process" he formulates 17 points on which political processes in Western and non-Western societies differ: 1. In non-Western societies there is no clear boundary between politics and the sphere of public and personal relations. 2. Political parties tend to claim to express worldview and represent a way of life. 3. The political process is dominated by cliques. 4. The nature of political orientation suggests that the leadership of political groups has considerable freedom in determining strategy and tactics. 5. Opposition parties and power-seeking elites often act as revolutionary movements. 6. The political process is characterized by a lack of integration among the participants, which is a consequence of the lack of c. society of a unified communication system. 7. The political process is notable for the significant recruitment of new elements to play political roles. 8. For the political process, a sharp difference in the political orientations of generations is typical. 9. Non-Western societies are characterized by little consensus on the institutionalized ends and means of political action. 10. The intensity and breadth of political discussion has little to do with political decision making. eleven. hallmark political process is a high degree of overlap and interchangeability of roles. 12. In the political process, the influence of organized interest groups playing functionally specialized roles is weak. 13. The national leadership is forced to appeal to the people as a single whole, without distinguishing between social groups in it. 14. The non-constructive nature of the non-Western political process forces leaders to take more definite views in foreign rather than domestic policy. 15. Emotional and symbolic aspects of politics overshadow the search for solutions specific issues and general problems. 16. The role of charismatic leaders is great. 17. The political process proceeds largely without the participation of "political brokers".

In domestic political science, depending on the socio-cultural and socio-economic characteristics of the process, technocratic, ideocratic and charismatic political processes are distinguished.

The political process of the technocratic type is genetically characteristic of the Anglo-Saxon and Romano-Germanic states. It is distinguished by the presence of traditions of evolutionism, the continuous and gradual adaptation of political institutions and mechanisms to changing environmental conditions, the priority of the technological (procedural) approach when making changes to the political system and role functions, and the exclusion from political practice of a radical breakdown of political structures that have been formed over the centuries.

The political process of the ideocratic type is characteristic of most states that are going through the initial stages of modernization. It is distinguished by the dominance of one idea, in respect of which there is a national consensus. The dominant idea determines the goals and direction of the political process, the type of state structure, the principles and mechanisms for the formation and renewal of the ruling elite, the forms and methods of citizens' participation in politics.

The political process of charismatic tin is characterized by the omnipotence of a charismatic leader, under whose political goals ideological doctrines and political institutions are adjusted. In many ways, he himself determines the goals and direction of the political process.

According to the scale of spatial and temporal parameters, political processes can be divided into global and local-regional ones. The former exert their influence on the general course of world politics. The latter affect the interests of the local community and its constituent groups. But, it should be borne in mind that often the result of a particular local process can have an impact on world politics.

Conclusion

The democratic state regime is the most progressive stage in the development of the state-legal regime. In all developed countries of the world, with various forms of government, forms of government, democracy has developed.

The experience of history teaches that democracy is good only when it corresponds to the political culture and mentality of the people. A necessary condition for its social effectiveness is the presence in society of a consensus on the fundamental issues of living together in the state, the recognition by the overwhelming majority of citizens of the “democratic rules of the game”, the predominance of individualistic consciousness, based on the value priority of the individual in relation to the team, moral readiness for compromise, self-restraint and self-discipline, out of respect for other people, the law, the opinion of the majority.

Democracy is unacceptable in extreme situations during periods of wars, acute crises, etc. The transition to it requires gradualness, a long period of time.

Modern socio-economic progress largely stimulates the development of democracy, nourishes the democratic mentality and democratic value orientations of citizens, requires the social emancipation of the individual, respect for his dignity, fundamental rights and freedoms, and independence of thought. It needs freedom of information and pluralism public life generally. And in this sense, for those peoples who are ready for individual freedom and responsibility, democracy really creates the best opportunities for individual and social development, the realization of humanistic values: freedom, equality, justice, social creativity.

Bibliography

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Which reflects the relationship of power and society, the level of political freedom and the nature of political life in the country.

In many ways, these characteristics are due to specific traditions, culture, historical conditions for the development of the state, so we can say that each country has its own unique political regime. However, many regimes in different countries show similarities.

In the scientific literature there are two kinds political regime :

democratic;
antidemocratic.

Signs of a democratic regime:

the rule of law;
separation of powers;
the existence of real political and social rights and freedoms of citizens;
election of public authorities;
existence of opposition and pluralism.

Signs of an anti-democratic regime:

domination of lawlessness and terror;
lack of political pluralism;
absence of opposition parties;

The anti-democratic regime is divided into totalitarian and authoritarian. Therefore, we will consider the characteristics of three political regimes: totalitarian, authoritarian and democratic.

Democratic regime based on the principles of equality and freedom; The main source of power here is the people. At authoritarian regime political power is concentrated in the hands of an individual or a group of people, but outside the sphere of politics, relative freedom remains. At totalitarian regime the government strictly controls all spheres of society.

Typology of political regimes:

Characteristics of political regimes

Democratic regime(from the Greek demokratia - democracy) is based on the recognition of the people as the main source of power, on the principles of equality and freedom. The features of democracy are:

electivity - there is an election of citizens to the bodies of state power by universal, equal and direct elections;
separation of powers - power is divided into legislative, executive and judicial branches, independent of each other;
civil society - citizens can influence the authorities with the help of a developed network of voluntary public organizations;
equality - all have equal civil and political
rights and freedoms, as well as guarantees for their protection;
pluralism- respect for other people's opinions and ideologies, including oppositional ones, prevails, full transparency and freedom of the press from censorship are ensured;
agreement - political and other social relations are aimed at finding a compromise, and not at a violent solution to the problem; All conflicts are resolved by legal means.

Democracy is direct and representative. At direct democracy decisions are made directly by all citizens who have the right to vote. Direct democracy was, for example, in Athens, in the Novgorod Republic, where people, gathering in the square, took common decision for every problem. Now direct democracy is implemented, as a rule, in the form of a referendum - a popular vote on draft laws and important issues of national importance. For example, the current constitution Russian Federation was adopted by referendum on December 12, 1993.

In a large area, direct democracy is too difficult to implement. Therefore, government decisions are made by special elected institutions. Such a democracy is called representative, since the elected body (for example, The State Duma) represents the people who elected him.

Authoritarian regime(from the Greek autocritas - power) occurs when power is concentrated in the hands of an individual or group of people. Usually authoritarianism is combined with dictatorship. Political opposition is impossible under authoritarianism, but in non-political spheres, for example, in the economy, culture or privacy, personal autonomy and relative freedom are preserved.

Totalitarian regime(from lat. totalis - the whole, whole) occurs when all spheres of society are controlled by the authorities. Power under a totalitarian regime is monopolized (by a party, leader, dictator), a single ideology is obligatory for all citizens. The absence of any dissent is ensured by a powerful apparatus of supervision and control, police repressions, and acts of intimidation. The totalitarian regime forms a non-initiative personality prone to submission.

Totalitarian political regime

Totalitarian political regime- this is the regime of "all-consuming domination", which infinitely interferes in the life of citizens, including all their activities in the scope of its control and coercive regulation.

Signs of a totalitarian political regime:

1. Availabilitythe only mass party led by a charismatic leader, as well as the actual merger of party and state structures. This is a kind of “-”, where the central party apparatus occupies the first place in the power hierarchy, and the state acts as a means of implementing the party program;

2. Monopolizationand centralization of power when such political values as submission and loyalty to the "party-state" are primary in comparison with material, religious, aesthetic values in motivation and evaluation of human actions. Within the framework of this regime, the line between political and non-political spheres of life (“the country as a single camp”) disappears. All life activities, including the level of private, personal life, are strictly regulated. The formation of authorities at all levels is carried out through closed channels, bureaucratically;

3. "Unanimity"official ideology which, through massive and targeted indoctrination (media, education, propaganda) is imposed on society as the only true, true way of thinking. At the same time, the emphasis is not on individual, but on “cathedral” values (state, race, nation, class, clan). The spiritual atmosphere of the society is distinguished by fanatical intolerance towards dissent and "other action" on the principle "who is not with us is against us";

4. Systemphysical and psychological terror, the regime of a police state, where the principle prevails as a basic "legal" principle: "Only what is ordered by the authorities is allowed, everything else is prohibited."

Totalitarian regimes traditionally include communist and fascist.

Authoritarian political regime

The main features of an authoritarian regime:

1. ATpower is unlimited, beyond the control of citizens character and concentrated in the hands of one person or group of people. It can be a tyrant, a military junta, a monarch, etc.;

2. Support(potential or real) for strength. An authoritarian regime may not resort to mass repression and may even be popular among the general population. However, in principle, he can afford any actions in relation to citizens in order to force them into obedience;

3. Monopolization of power and politics, prevention of political opposition, independent legal political activity. This circumstance does not exclude the existence of a limited number of parties, trade unions and some other organizations, but their activities are strictly regulated and controlled by the authorities;

4. Pthe replenishment of leading personnel is carried out by co-optation, and not by pre-election competitive struggle; there are no constitutional mechanisms for succession and transfer of power. Changes of power often occur through military coups and violence;

5. Orenunciation of total control over society, non-intervention or limited intervention in non-political spheres, and, above all, in the economy. The authorities are primarily concerned with issues of ensuring their own security, public order, defense and foreign policy, although it can also influence the strategy of economic development, pursue an active social policy without destroying the mechanisms of market self-regulation.

Authoritarian regimes can be divided into rigidly authoritarian, moderate and liberal. There are also types such as "populist authoritarianism", based on equalization oriented masses, and also "national patriotic", in which the national idea is used by the authorities to create either a totalitarian or a democratic society, etc.

Authoritarian regimes include:

absolute and dualistic monarchies;
military dictatorships, or regimes with military rule;
theocracy;
personal tyranny.

Democratic political regime

Democratic regime is a regime in which power is exercised by a freely expressing majority. Democracy in Greek means literally "rule of the people" or "rule by the people."

Basic principles of the democratic regime of power:

1. Folksovereignty, i.e. The people are the primary holder of power. All power comes from the people and is delegated to them. This principle does not involve making political decisions directly by the people, as, for example, in a referendum. It only assumes that all holders of state power received their power functions thanks to the people, i.e. directly through elections (deputies of parliament or the president) or indirectly through representatives chosen by the people (a government formed and subordinated to parliament);

2. Free elections representatives of the authorities, who presuppose the presence of at least three conditions: the freedom to nominate candidates as a consequence of the freedom to form and function; freedom of suffrage, i.e. universal and equal suffrage on the principle of "one person - one vote"; freedom of voting, perceived as a means of secret ballot and equality for all in receiving information and the opportunity to carry out propaganda during the election campaign;

3. Subordination of the minority to the majority with strict observance of the rights of the minority. The main and natural duty of the majority in a democracy is respect for the opposition, its right to free criticism and the right to change, following the results of new elections, the former majority in power;

4. Implementationseparation of powers. The three branches of power - legislative, executive and judicial - have such powers and practices that the two "corners" of this kind of "triangle" can, if necessary, block the undemocratic actions of the third "corner" that are contrary to the interests of the nation. The absence of a monopoly on power and the pluralistic nature of all political institutions is a necessary condition for democracy;

5. Constitutionalismand the rule of law in all spheres of life. The law prevails regardless of the person, everyone is equal before the law. Hence the "frigidity", "coldness" of democracy, i.e. she is rational. Legal principle of democracy: “Everything that is not prohibited by law,- permitted."

Democracies include:

presidential republics;
parliamentary republics;
parliamentary monarchies.

Democracy was understood as a form of state in which power belongs to all or the majority of free citizens who obey the law. This idea of democracy persisted until the end of 1868, and since the time of the French Revolution, the concept of democracy has been applied not to the forms, but to the principles of the political structure of the state.

There are two main democratic principles: freedom and equality.

One of the fairly simple, widespread, classifications of political regimes is their division into totalitarian, authoritarian and democratic. Typology of political regimes:

a) democratic political regime;
b) liberal political regime;
c) authoritarian political regime;
d) a totalitarian political regime.

Democracy - (from the ancient Greek DEMOS - people and CRUTOS - power) - democracy - this is one of the main forms of organization of any organization based on the equal participation of its members in management and decision-making by the majority; the ideal of social organization: freedom, equality, respect for human dignity, solidarity, etc.; social and political movement for democracy. Since its inception, democracy has been associated with the state, and therefore with coercion, and is at best the rule of the majority over the minority, and most often the form of government of a well-organized privileged minority, more or less controlled by the people. Democratic regime - characterized by a high degree of political freedom of a person, the real exercise of his rights, allowing him to influence the public administration of society. The political elite, as a rule, is rather narrow, but it relies on a broad social base. Characteristic features of a democratic regime:

1) Sovereignty of the people: it is the people who choose their representatives of power and can periodically replace them. Elections must be fair, competitive, and regularly held. By "competitive" is meant the existence of various groups or individuals free to stand as candidates.

Elections will not be competitive if some groups (or individuals) have the opportunity to participate, while others do not. Elections are considered fair if there are no frauds, but there are special mechanisms for fair play. Elections are not fair if the bureaucracy belongs to one party, even if that party is tolerant of other parties during elections. Using a monopoly on the media, the party in power can influence public opinion to such an extent that elections can no longer be called fair.

2) Periodic election of the main bodies of the state. The government is born out of elections and for a definite, limited term. For the development of democracy, it is not enough to hold regular elections; it is necessary that it be based on an elected government. AT Latin America, for example, elections are held frequently, but many Latin American countries are outside of democracy, because. the most common way to remove a president is a military coup, not an election. Therefore, a necessary condition for a democratic state is that the persons exercising supreme power are elected, and they are elected for a certain, limited term, the change of government should take place as a result of elections, and not at the request of a certain general.
3) Democracy protects the rights of individuals and minorities. The opinion of the majority, democratically expressed in elections, is only a necessary condition for democracy, but by no means insufficient. Only the combination of majority rule and protection of the rights of the minority is one of the basic principles of a democratic state. If, however, discriminatory measures are applied against the minority, the regime becomes undemocratic, regardless of the frequency and fairness of elections and changes in the legitimately elected government.
4) Equality of citizens' rights to participate in government: freedom to create political parties and other associations to express their will, freedom of opinion, the right to information and to participate in competition for leadership positions in the state.

Depending on how the people participate in governance, who directly performs power functions and how, democracy is divided directly, plebiscitary and representative In direct democracy, all citizens themselves are directly involved in the preparation, discussion and decision-making. Such a system can only be practical with a relatively small number of people, such as community or tribal councils or local trade union bodies, where all members can meet in one room to discuss issues and decide by consensus or majority vote. The first democracy in the world in Ancient Athens carried out direct democracy through meetings in which 5-6 thousand people participated. An important channel for the participation of citizens in the exercise of power is plebiscitary democracy. The difference between it and direct democracy lies in the fact that direct democracy involves the participation of citizens at all the most important stages of the process of ruling (in the preparation, adoption of political decisions and control over their implementation), and in plebiscitary democracy, the possibilities of political influence of citizens are relatively limited, for example, referenda. Citizens are allowed to vote to approve or reject this or that draft law or other decision, which is usually prepared by the president, government, party or initiative group. Opportunities for the participation of the bulk of the population in the preparation of such projects are very small. The third most common form in modern society political participation is a representative democracy. Its essence is that citizens elect their representatives to the authorities, who are called upon to express their interests in making political decisions, in adopting laws and implementing social and other programs. Election procedures can be very diverse, but whatever they are, elected persons in a representative democracy hold their posts on behalf of the people and are accountable to the people in all their actions. Democracies are different, but they all have common features:

* Democracy - i.e. recognition of the people as a source of power, a sovereign (from the French SOUVERFIN - the bearer of supreme power in the state);

* Government based on the consent of the governed;

* Majority rule;

* Minority rule;

* Guarantees of fundamental human rights;

* Free and fair elections;

* Equality before the law;

* Fair trial;

* Constitutional limitation of the government;

* Social, economic, ideological and political

pluralism;

* Values of cooperation and compromise.

A democratic political regime is such a way of exercising power, such a state-political structure of society in which the people are recognized as a sovereign source of power, have the right to participate in solving state affairs and have the necessary conditions for this. A democratic political regime is not only the political power of the majority, but also a power that respects the rights of the majority.

The following main features of a democratic regime can be distinguished:

1. Election of representative bodies of state power and local self-government by universal, equal and direct elections by secret ballot

2. The existence of the exclusive right of Parliament to issue national laws

3. Separation of legislative, executive and judicial powers

4. Multi-party system, the presence in the party system of parties that deny the existing system, but operate within the framework of the Constitution

5. Political decision-making by the majority while respecting the interests and rights of the minority

6. Absence of direct public-power relations among political parties

Under a democratic regime, fundamental rights and freedoms of citizens are guaranteed, political parties, organizations, institutions that defend the interests of various social strata, as well as the opposition, operate freely. Political life here unfolds on a broad democratic basis: political problems are openly discussed, mechanisms have been created to prevent excessive concentration of power in one center, optimal political rights and freedoms of citizens, forms of their political expression of will have been determined, and universal suffrage has been established.

Democracy is impossible without alternative elections of leaders at all levels of political life. Random people cannot participate in alternative elections. Candidates for future leaders are pre-selected by groups, organizations, parties that represent the main political forces. Together with their candidates, political organizations put forward binding programs or platforms. Otherwise effective political life cannot be organized. The strong foundation of democracy is the multi-party system.

8. State: the meaning of the concept; origin; signs and functions.

It is known that in the system of social institutions of power, the highest and most developed is the power of the state.

The abstract general concept of "state" ("stato"), outside the characteristics of its structure and forms of government, was introduced into the science of politics by N. Machiavelli (1469 - 1527). The term "stato"* means special condition(status) of a society in which any form of organization of supreme power exists and operates, regardless of whether it is a monarchy or a republic. The significance of this interpretation of the concept of "state" lies in the fact that it denies the identity of the state and society, separates these phenomena, filling them with qualitatively different content. This position was later (in the 17th - 19th centuries) developed and rooted in political science by T. Hobbes, J. Locke, J.J. Rousseau, G. Hegel, K. Marx, and in modern political science has become the basis for the concept of "state in the narrow sense", which refers to the organization of public authority, which has the status of sovereignty in a certain territory. In other words, here the “state” is the system that forms the institution of supreme power in a particular society.

State signs.

The multiplicity of factors in the origin of states, the dissimilarity of the historical conditions for their development, led to the diversity of forms of statehood and significant differences between them. And yet, all states have features that are more or less inherent in each of them.

Common (generic) features that distinguish the state from other political organizations include:

1. the presence of a special class of people professionally engaged in management and forming an organization of the highest public authority, separated from society and not coinciding with the organization of the entire population;

2. sovereignty, i.e. the status of supreme and independent power. State power is supreme, one and indivisible in the sense that under no circumstances can it "allow another power standing above it or next to it." The sovereignty of the state also includes such principles as the unity and indivisibility of the territory, the inviolability of territorial borders and non-interference in internal affairs;

3. monopoly right to levy taxes and issue laws binding on the entire population;

4. the monopoly right to the legal use of armed forces for physical coercion and suppression in order to preserve one or another political order and law abidance. This right is ensured by the presence of a coercive apparatus in the state - the so-called "power structures" (army, police, security services, prosecutor's office, etc.).

5. prerogative (exclusive right) to express, represent and protect the interests of society.

Possessing these features, the state as an organization of the supreme public authority performs the following main functions:

1. integrates and preserves the integrity of society;

2. manages social and economic processes, defining the goals of the development of society;

3. mobilizes material and human resources to achieve them;

4. regulates social relations through the authoritarian distribution of values in society;

5. ensures state security and certain public order.

Thus, the state, being an organization that performs the most important functions for the life of society, does not replace or cancel society. The state acts in society, manages it and is an organization - an instrument with which society preserves and protects itself.

9. Modern states: forms of government and territorial and political structure.

There are more than 200 states in the modern world, and in order to understand the mechanisms for the implementation of their universal functions, it is necessary to know the forms of government and the territorial organization of state power.

The form of government characterizes the method of formation and organization of the supreme bodies of state power, their sources, the system of interaction with each other and with the population. According to these criteria, two main forms of government are distinguished - the monarchy and the republic, moreover, each of these forms has varieties.

Monarchy (autocracy) is a form of government in which the actual or formal source of supreme power, its bearer (sovereign) and head of state is one person - the monarch. The power of the monarch as head of state is primary, exercised for life, inherited and does not depend on the population.

There are the following types of modern monarchies:

Absolute monarchy (Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Oman, Bahrain, Brunei), which are characterized by the omnipotence of the head of state, whose will is the basis of laws and cannot be limited by other institutions of power;

A constitutional monarchy is a form of government in which the power of the monarch is limited by the constitution. Constitutional monarchies in turn are divided into dualistic and parliamentary.

Dualistic monarchies (Jordan, Kuwait, Morocco) are characterized by the division of power between the government, which is formed by the monarch and is responsible only to him, and the parliament, elected by the people. Parliament exercises legislative powers, but the monarch has the right of suspensive veto, the right to dissolve parliament, and is the commander-in-chief of the army.

The parliamentary monarchy (Great Britain, Spain, Sweden, Norway, Japan, etc.) is distinguished by the complete anarchy of the monarch. He is the head of state, but actually performs only representative and ceremonial functions.

A republic is a form of government where the source of state power is the people, and it is exercised by elected bodies, the personal composition of which is elected for a certain period directly by the population.

Depending on who (parliament or president) forms the government, to whom it is accountable and controlled, the republics are divided into presidential, parliamentary and semi-presidential (mixed).

Presidential Republic (USA, Argentina, Brazil, Bolivia, Venezuela, Philippines, etc.) is a form of government characterized by the following main features:

Presidential and parliamentary elections are carried out separately by universal suffrage for clearly defined and independent terms;

The president is simultaneously head of state, chief executive, and commander-in-chief of the armed forces;

The President independently forms the government and personally manages its activities. MPs cannot be members of the government at the same time;

The composition of the government is approved with the consent of the parliament, but it is responsible and controlled only by the president and cannot be dismissed by the parliament;

The President has the right to legislative initiative, as well as the right of suspensive veto on any bill approved by Parliament.

Parliamentary republic. This form of government is characterized by the following features:

The government is formed by the parliament and is responsible to it. A vote (decision expressed by voting) of no confidence in the government leads either to the resignation of the government, followed by the formation of a new one, or to the dissolution of parliament and the holding of early parliamentary elections;

The head of state is the president, who is elected by parliament, but, like the monarch in a parliamentary monarchy, has no real power and performs representative and ceremonial functions;

The first person in the political hierarchy is the head of government (prime minister);

Thus, in a parliamentary republic, not only legislative, but also actual executive power comes from parliament. Today Italy, Greece, India, etc. are parliamentary republics.

Parliamentary-presidential (mixed republic). This form management is characterized by the following features:

The president is elected by the people, is the head of state and has extensive powers. He is responsible for public order, national security, national defense and directs foreign policy;

The executive power is headed by the prime minister, and the government bears dual responsibility (before the president and parliament), which is expressed in the right of the president to appoint and dismiss the prime minister, other members of the government, and in the right of the parliament to pass a vote of no confidence in the cabinet of ministers;

In the event of a vote of no confidence, the government resigns or is dissolved by Parliament. The power of choice belongs to the president;

Parliament has the right to impeach.

The parliamentary-presidential republics today are Austria, Iceland, Lithuania, Poland, Portugal, Finland, France, etc.

The form of government is understood as the principle of dividing the territory of the state into separate parts, the constitutional status of these parts and the principles of the relationship between central and local government bodies.

There are three main forms of territorial - political structure of the state: unitary, federal and confederal.

A unitary state is a single, homogeneous state formation, consisting of administrative-territorial units that are subordinate to the central authorities and do not possess signs of state sovereignty. Unitary statehood is the most common form of government at present.

A unitary state has one constitution, a single legislation, a single monetary system, a single tax and credit policy, and a single armed forces.

A federal state is a more complex device than a unitary state. This is a union state, consisting of several state entities that have a certain political independence and are called subjects of the federation. The federation states today are the USA, Russia, Canada, India, Brazil, Mexico, Switzerland, etc.

Federation as a form of government is characterized by the following features:

It is formed by the territories of individual subjects of the federation (states, provinces, lands, republics, etc.);

In most federal states, along with the general federal constitution and general federal laws, the constitutions and laws of the subjects of the federation operate. At the same time, the supremacy of the federal constitution and federal laws is ensured.

The subjects of the federation have their own supreme legislative, executive and judicial bodies;

Relationships between union authorities and subjects of the federation are built on the basis of the principle of delimitation of their exclusive competence (constitutionally fixed powers). The most important issues of public life usually belong to the exclusive competence of the federation: the defense of the country, the leadership of the armed forces, foreign policy, money circulation, and the collection of the most important taxes. The exclusive competence of the subjects of the federation includes those problems government controlled which the subjects of the federation have the right to decide independently and under their own responsibility. These, as a rule, include the formation and execution of the local budget, the protection of public order, the management of education and culture, the organization of local self-government, etc.

The federal parliament has a chamber representing the interests of the subjects of the federation;

The subjects of the federation, as a rule, do not have the right to secession (the right to withdraw from the union).

The confederal form of government is a temporary legal union of sovereign states, created to ensure their common interests.

Features of the confederal device are expressed in the fact that:

The member states of the confederation retain their sovereignty and continue to act as independent entities in internal and foreign affairs;

Confederate bodies have power over members of the confederation only to the extent determined by the confederal treaty.

In reality, all forms of the state are as individually unique as the historical destinies of the societies in which these states exist.

DEMOCRATIC REGIME - a state regime based on the recognition of the people as a source of power, their right to participate in managing the affairs of society and the state and endowing citizens with a fairly wide range of rights and freedoms. D.r. is based on the principles of democracy, freedom and equality of citizens. In conditions D.r. the people exercise power both directly and through the organs of representative power formed by them.

Characteristic features of a democratic regime: 1) Sovereignty of the people: it is the people who choose their representatives of power and can periodically replace them. Elections must be fair, competitive, and regularly held. 2) Periodic election of the main bodies of the state. The government is born out of elections and for a definite, limited term. 3) Democracy protects the rights of individuals and minorities. The opinion of the majority, democratically expressed in elections, is only a necessary condition for democracy, but it is by no means insufficient. Only the combination of majority rule and the protection of the rights of the minority constitute one of the basic principles of a democratic state. 4) Equality of citizens' rights to participate in the management of information and to participate in the competition for leadership positions in the state.

Signs of democracy:

1. Guarantees of fundamental human rights to every individual in relation to the state and power, any social group(especially religious institutions), and another individual. 2. Separation of powers:

executive power

Legislature

Judicial branch

3 . Freedom of speech and expression, freedom of assembly, free press. 4 . Freedom of religion. 5. The right to elect and be elected (one person, one vote). 6. Equality of all before the law.

Democracy in Russia has gone through a series of ups and downs and is still in development. The first rise refers to the early stage of feudalism, when direct democracy became widespread in many cities of Novgorod Russia, and in them the most important decisions were made at the veche. In the Russian state, the tsars often sought support from various estates, for which there was a boyar duma and zemstvo councils were convened. The reforms of the second half of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century contributed to the development of zemstvo, class, peasant, workers and national elected bodies. The communist regime that was established after the revolutions and the civil war had external attributes of democracy, although in fact it was authoritarian. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, large-scale democratic reforms were carried out. To date, the majority in the country has a positive attitude towards democracy and sees a need for it.

5. The political regime of modern Russia.

After a decade Soviet history, the domination of an authoritarian and totalitarian political regime, in the second half of the 80s - early 90s, the transition to a democratic political regime began in Russia.

With formal legal points of view, according to the Constitution of 1993, Russia is a democratic federal state of law with a republican form of government. A person, his rights and freedoms are declared the highest value, which the state is obliged to guarantee. The people are the only source of power.

In the presidential republic of Russia, there is no clear legal consolidation of the powers of each of the branches of state power, which erodes the principle of separation of branches in matters of organizing structures and mechanisms for the functioning of the state as a whole.

For example, the legislative power of the Federal Assembly is limited, firstly, by the president's right to issue decrees having the force of laws, and, secondly, by the practice of issuing numerous by-laws by the executive branch. Due to the concentration of power in the hands of the executive bodies, the head of state and government, the parliament is receding into the background.

The absence of a “middle class” leads to the growth of authoritarian sentiments, confrontation between various groups of the population and the authorities, causes a massive violation of the elementary rights and freedoms of Russian citizens, their right to life, satisfaction of elementary rights and needs in food, clothing, housing.

The formation of democracy in Russia does not always follow an ascending line and is due to many circumstances:

First of all, our country did not have serious historical, political traditions of democracy, constitutionalism and parliamentarism, and at the same time it had rather strong traditions of domination by authoritarian, totalitarian power.

Secondly, the transition to democracy was carried out from the totalitarian regime that dominated the country for decades, in a systemic crisis Russian society and permanent attempts for 20 years to reform it.

Thirdly, in the process of reforms, the country's leadership repeatedly violated the principles of a democratic, legal, social state - the shooting of the parliament building in 1993, the war in Chechnya in 1994-1996, default, non-payment of salaries, unpopular social reforms.

Finally, the mentality of the Russian people still retains the utopian expectation that someone from outside will come and put things in order and change life for the better.

Possessing signs of democracy, it is not yet democratic. AT political system Russia exist contradictions between formal legal democratic foundations and reality.