Introduction
History tells us that humans have always looked for ways of governing themselves in order to maintain social order in their respective communities. To effectively achieve this goal, some form of political organization was needed. This essay looks compares some of the political organizations in the history of man’s existence in the world.
World Political History
The world political history has been dominated by two types of political organization depending on the place in which the people using it are located. These two are the centralized political units and the decentralized political units. Centralized political units were political organizations in which political power and authority were vested in one hereditary ruler.
It is strongly believed that political centralization started in ancient Africa then spread out to other parts of the world through trade, religion and culture. Centralized kingdoms were large with large populations of people. They enjoyed economic diversity and social stratification. Only a few selected people bearing hereditary claims could be allowed to lead the people.
Many African communities formed empires under the leadership of a king who had almost all the powers in the society. Such empires existed in Ghana, Egypt, Zimbabwe and Mali, just to mention but a few. These political units had similarities to those in Europe such as the Roma Empire. They had kings with almost absolute power. An absence of separation of power meant that the king carried out all political functions.
This type of political system did not last for long as kingdoms and empires were often threatened by conquests that led to overthrows. For example, in Africa, the kingdom of Ghana was overthrown and replaced by the kingdom of Mali. Poor leadership also led to the fall of empires and kingdoms. Centralized political units did not promote economic specialization (Exploring Africa 1).
Decentralized political systems are political organizations in which power is shared. In the ancient days, power could be shared among kinships or elders given status depending on their rank in the society. Heads of these kinships exercised authority, but decisions were made through consensus.
There was also specialization as the society selected those to carry out judicial and religious functions. Examples of societies that had decentralized political units include the Igbo of Nigeria and the Japanese kingdom. At first, Japan had a centralized political unit with a well defined social hierarchy headed by an emperor who was followed in rank by lords.
The bushi, a warrior leader was in charge of the estates where by he enforced laws, collected tax and supervised public work. The kingdom had it own army of warriors called the samurai. However, the extravagancies weakened the central government. Wars followed in the emperor lost power to the Minamoto clan leading to the emergence of a feudal system of governance, hence decentralization (Martin 135).
The breakup of the Roma Empire in Europe saw a series of rulers break off to form their own small empires. Later invasions forced Western Europe to form feudal political units were allegiance was accorded to respective lords not a central government. As many groups reorganized themselves in the face of rising insecurity, economic hardships and to stamp sovereignty, the state was born.
Today the most common political unit is the state. A state is defined as a type of political organizations with a clearly defined hierarchy through which many communities in living in the same geographical region are governed. Just like the ancient political units in the ancient periods, the kingdoms, the chiefdoms, the empires, the state also form armies to protect its people, recruit labor, and collect taxes.
States however, have large bureaucracies that are integrated in permanent institutions such as the executive, the judiciary and the legislature. Political structures in states are based on an individual’s residence not on kinship as it was in the ancient political systems (Ferraro 313).
States can have centralized political units or decentralized political units. Europeans nations employed feudalism. Japan also used feudalism in political system after failing to use the Chinese centralized system that used Confucian ideologies.
However, the feudalism used in Japan was different from that in Europe. Japanese regarded lords and their vassals as fathers and their sons. Africa also experienced the same change where by increased trade opportunities led to the development of new political patterns that continued in the 19th century.
It is said that it is only Africa and China that showed the greatest political continuity from the ancient times to the modern era. Iran is one of the states that use a centralized political unit. Lack of power separation in centralized political units always led to dissatisfaction and conflicts, which led to betrayals and conquests that see many leaders overthrown. Too much centralization also has seen governments fail to coordinate their activities. This has often led to break away states (Adams 214).
Conclusion
The world has gone through many political organizations to arrive where it is today. We have seen that centralized political units were common during the ancient period. The modern period, however, has more decentralized political systems as people seek to be involved more in the affairs of their respective political units.
Works Cited
Adams, Paul. Experiencing world history. New York, NY: NYU Press, 2000. Print.
Exploring Africa. Studying Africa through the social studies. Exploring Africa, n.d. Web. <http://exploringafrica.matrix.msu.edu/curriculum/unit-two/>
Ferraro, Gary. Cultural anthropology: An applied perspective. New York, NY: Cengage Learning, 2007. Print.
Martin, Peggy. Kaplan SAT Subject Test: World History 2009-2010 Edition. New York, NY: Kaplan Publishing, 2009. Print.