Abstract
Abstract The paper begins with the observation that today’s world society exhibits a political regime bipolarity and suggests an interpretation, based on the sociological theories of inclusion and functional differentiation. We (1) distinguish democratic and authoritarian political regimes by identifying the different value patterns underlying collectively binding decision making. Democracy is understood as a political regime based on the ‘autopoiesis’ of its constitutive values, while in authoritarian regimes we observe a ‘heterogenesis’ of values. To this we (2) add the idea that modern states are characterized by the imperative of individual political inclusion. At the same time new patterns arise for the inclusion of collectivities. Concluding (3), we postulate that this approach allows the study of ongoing transformations of differentiation in both types of regimes. In this part, we present an overview of the hierarchy of levels of modern polities and the horizontal differentiation of subsystems and organizations.
Highlights
A Recession of Democracies? There are conflicting signals concerning the global political landscape in the twenty-first century
While democracy can be regarded as the ideal type of universal political inclusion, we argue that under conditions of modernity, global complexity and mutual comparison, even non-democratic political systems have come under increasing pressure to allow for the political inclusion of individuals
We argue that such an approach, by fully taking into account the internal differentiation of contemporary political systems, will provide more accurate understandings of the components of democracy and autocracy present in political systems than those achieved by an analysis that remains limited to the nation state level
Summary
A Recession of Democracies? There are conflicting signals concerning the global political landscape in the twenty-first century. Based on an interpretation of political systems informed by sociological systems theory, we propose and test explorations of the ways in which the challenges of the inclusion imperative are dealt with at varying vertical levels of the polity as a function system and in its different horizontal subsystems We argue that such an approach, by fully taking into account the internal differentiation of contemporary political systems, will provide more accurate understandings of the components of democracy and autocracy present in political systems than those achieved by an analysis that remains limited to the nation state level
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
