Le Modele d'Easton et les societes sans Etat: le cas de la societe adioukrou

In: Canadian journal of political science: CJPS = Revue canadienne de science politique : RCSP, Volume 12, Issue 2, p. 281-313

Abstract

Examined is the heuristic capacity of D. Easton's model of analysis (The Political System, New York: A. A. Knopf, 1971). If it is accepted that from an epistemological viewpoint there is an articulation between historically situated social practice & the formulation of concepts which attempt to represent & explain a particular situation, one is then led to question whether a theory produced in this way is capable of comprehending a different social reality, which corresponds to other parameters of time & space, & which is, therefore, characterized by a totally different problematic. After a discussion of the hypothesis & logic inherent in the Eastonian model, these are applied to the stateless society of the Adioukrou of the Ivory Coast. Limitations of the definition of the 'political' contained in the model, based on a specific definition of the division of labor, are noted. Without denying the existence of the political in stateless societies, the hypothesis of functional differentiation is seen not to apply in all cases & therefore not to be taken for granted. The boundaries of the political in such societies cannot be identified; one cannot speak of the specialization of functions within different systems in any transferable or automatic sense. In a society based on lineages such as that of the Adioukrou, where the organization of production is based on the village community & where there is an absence of the appropriation of the means of production on a private basis, it is impossible to identify the specificity of the 'political' as opposed to other areas of social interaction. HA.