POLS 102 Lecture Notes - Lecture 8: Unicef, Non-Interventionism
23 Mar 2017
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Document Summary
Institutions can be understood as regular patterns of behavior that provide stability and predictability to social life. Political scientists tend to focus on formal institutions, which allow them to advance general propositions about political behavior. From this perspective, institutions can be seen as defining the rules of the game , and deciding who wins and who loses. Political institutions can also be understood as structures , which interact with other factors in shaping political events. Modern states typically claim the sole right to formulate laws and enforce them. The state can be understood in terms of specific office-holders (e. g. legislators, the armed forced etc. ) The european understanding of the state is dominant today, but that was not always the case. The liberal democratic model of the state originated in britain other countries, which were inspired by britain, devised systems of government which were limited by codified constitutions.
