Global Dimensions of Public Administration and Governance: A Comparative Voyage

CHAPTER FIVE

POLITICAL-ADMINISTRATIVE SYSTEMS AND MULTILEVEL GOVERNMENT

We have seen that the world's lands are almost all circumscribed by territorial states, whose governments can be considered the only actors in society that have the authority to make binding decisions on behalf of the entire citizenry. States have been able to centralize and channel political and administrative power. The institutional superstructures of the political and administrative system are very similar everywhere. First, states can be categorized according to a variety of dimensions that are usually presented as dichotomies (Section 1). Second, we need to consider how a country's elite is embedded in the political system: Does it wield power through political parties ...