The Impact of Social Pluralism on the Structures and Functions of the Political System (An analytical study)

Abstract

The issue of societal pluralism has become one of the controversial topics nowadays and the focus of many researchers, particularly since the last decade of the twentieth century. This study aims to clarify one of the dimensions of this topic, which is how societal pluralism affects the political system of countries distinguished by ethnic, national, linguistic, religious or sectarian diversity. Accordingly, the problem of this study revolves around a main question, which is: What is the impact of societal pluralism on the structures and functions of the political system? The study came to the conclusion that societal pluralism represents a major motive of many aspects of political, social, economic and cultural life in countries whose societies are characterized by ethnic, national, linguistic, religious or sectarian diversity, which casts a shadow on how the structures of the political system of those countries are formed and how it performs its functions, especially in developing countries or newly emerging ones, which may suffer as a result of their failure to manage this pluralism from conflicts, turmoil and civil wars that not only threaten the stability of the political system, but also the fate of some of those countries as well. Accordingly, the study was divided into an introduction and three sections: the first section deals with; a theoretical framework for the concepts of societal pluralism and the political system, while the second section deals with; how does societal pluralism affect the formation of the structures of the political system, while the third section deals with; how does societal pluralism affect the performance of the functions of the political system. The study ends with a conclusion that includes the most important conclusions we reached, with a list of the study’s sources.