Theoretical Approaches to Political Support

In: Canadian journal of political science: CJPS = Revue canadienne de science politique : RCSP, Band 9, Heft 3, S. 431-448

Abstract

Formulation of a possible partial theory of support is addressed. The writings of T. Parsons provide a coherent set of theoretical statements about support, & examination of his ideas can identify certain problems on the way to a possible theory. But Parsons confines political support to the relationship between the leadership of a political system & its constituency or public; the conceptualization is linked essentially to electoral support for a leadership & its policies, & the analysis is hereby limited to democratic systems. Such a treatment of political support is wholly within the prevailing focus of most political inquiry into the "allocative" area of politics, or that dealing with conflict over particular policies & their implementation. The distinction here is in contrast with research into "systemic" politics, or inquiry into the general properties of a political system that identify & distinguish it as such. By focusing on allocative politics alone, a narrowing of the scope of political support is likely to occur. There needs to be a theoretical awareness not only of the leadership of the authorities, but also of the regime & the political community as objects of political support. The failure of Parsons to separate these objects of support underscores a major consequence of his & like perspectives; political support as a concept is defined through very few dimensions, such as electoral participation or legitimacy. Legitimacy is but one dimension of political support; among others are trust, loyalty, & confidence. Support may be multidimensional in character, positive or negative, overt or covert, specific or diffuse. A partial theory of political support would further define & assess these properties of support & their appropriate indicators. Four alternative theoretical models need to be considered: the summative, saliency, sequential, & combinatorial models. The context in which political support has heretofore been considered has been preservationist, directed at how objects of the political system manage to maintain a certain level of support. A substantially different & more comprehensive perspective on support is revealed when we reverse the question & ask "How does change occur?" Modified AA.