Session 16: Bureaucracy - The actual government.

A bureaucracy is an assembly of civil servants and state officials that is organised in a hierarchy or in departments. Bureaucracy plays a very important role in a political system with regard to the functions it is expected, atleast in theory, to execute. Carrying essential state responsibilities such as the implementation of law and policy, offering advice to lawmakers in a state and maintaining stability, a bureaucracy can be considered an actual government in many ways.

A government is responsible for making sure that all institutions under the state are operating smoothly. Today, while a government might be busy primarily in strengthning its control, a bureaucracy makes sure that all documents that are important for the running of the state machinery and for making important administrative decisions are readily available and thoroughly organised. This allows for improved decision making  and running of the state.

Similarly, when on one hand a government, which is responsible for promoting equality is busy in achieving its self established goals not concerned with the betterment of the state, a bureaucracy is actually known for "discouraging favoritism". This means that individuals applying for something have to go through the same amount of paper work. In addition, a bureaucracy also makes sure that social benefits such as umemployment benefits, pensions, etc reach the desired individual at the time and amount.

In many other ways a bureaucracy fulfills the role of the government. It covers responsibilities which are primarily entitled for the government to implement.

More Environmental News - China Dams, Antarctica's Hottest Day Ever, Increasingly Inhospitable Earth

Michael Buckley, The Price of Damming Tibet's Rivers, 3-30-15
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/31/opinion/the-price-of-damming-tibets-rivers.html?emc=edit_th_20150331&nl=todaysheadlines&nlid=70155140

Christopher Hooton, Antarctica Just Experience Its Warmest Day Ever, 3-30-15
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/antarctica-just-experienced-its-warmest-day-ever-10142968.html

Christopher Hooton, Earth has exceeded four of the nine limits for hospitable life, scientist claims, The Independent/UK, 3-16-15
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/earth-has-exceeded-four-of-the-nine-limits-for-hospitable-life-10111582.html

Session 16: The Pyramid of Bureaucracy

The word bureaucracy has negative connotations to many while some view it as a pivotal body in political systems. In any case, it is a backbone of the government catering to its business.

Bureaucracy is best suited for backward countries where democracies have not taken deep roots into the soil since is allows for greater efficiency as trained and skilled officials are in charge of implementing laws.  As they are independent from the elected offices, they can render unbiased justice to the communities and provide with equal opportunities unlike the politicians who concentrate their focus on a particular area in order to manifest their support for future elections. Nevertheless, the bureaucracies have no direct contact with the masses and so are oblivious to their demand and wishes. Hence they formulate laws regardless of popular desires and sentiments. 

Like every other body, bureaucracies too have pros and cons but the element that magnetized my attention was the role of the body with regards to power. Is it the bureaucracy that drives the ministries or is it the ministries that pull the strings of the implementing body? Traditionally, the popular party comes into power with a set of agendas to be employed. Ideas are discussed and laws are passed. It then comes to the bureaucracy to implement these laws in the best possible way. Does it mean that bureaucracies have no role in formulating laws? But then, there is another side of the story. New parties come in power but their lack of experience makes them dependent on the bureaucracies to give their cloud of ideas the silver lining. As the bureaucracies remain while governments change, they familiarize themselves with the popular and unpopular actions of the various governments. Thus, the government relies on them for advice, entrusting them with power to govern the ministries. This idea was lamented by Rahul Gandhi, Vice President of Congress party of India, saying that there was a growing trend in India where the bureaucracy drove the government and the media drove the bureaucracy.

Therefore, it can be concluded that powerful governments will restrict the bureaucracies to its function of implementation of laws while the weak governments would entrust them with a greater degree of authority. 

Source: http://articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com/2013-03-07/news/37531967_1_rahul-gandhi-today-congress-vice-president-rajya-sabha-mps

session 15; politics and economy

One cannot overlook the relationship between politics and the economy of the country. Betterment in economy is always the first priority of every political party. In past people were of the mind that progress of country only depend upon the strength of armed force, but now when we talk about the prosperity, only the word “politics and economy” come to our mind.

The Britain prime minister once said the I have two problems, the political one and others are economics one. Most of his successors might agree but the two problems are not always as independent as we imagine. Economics is concerned with manipulating the economy where as politics is the theory of persuading people by implying power. There is no doubt remain in saying that politics and economics are linked with each other and one can say that they are two words with same meaning.

The Bridge Between Economy and Politics

Economy of the state has always played an important role in the formation of the political structure of the country. Governments have shuffled, parties have been made and destroyed, ideologies have been constructed, on the bases of the economic conditions of the country. The mottos of the parties and ideologies of the groups, have always based on the economic structure.                                                                           Different countries work on various prinicples to stabilize the economic conditions. The power of the state depends and deeply relies on its economic growth. The parties in power, work for the betterment of the financial situation of the country. Different ways are adopted to achieve the goals, on the basis of which caniditates seek for votes. People think and chose that person, whom they consider to be the one, who can improve the economical conditions of the country and this factor for giving votes is one of the most important element.                                                                                                  Ideologies are different and ways of forming the government are seperate but still the base of everything and the first action taken by any party in power is the betterment of economy. The growth rate depends upon the decisions made by the authorities in the right direction. In this way, politics depends upon the economy and its strength depends upon the growth of the countries economy.

Session 16: Bureaucracies – Good or Bad?

Bureaucracy is a governmental body which makes important decisions. There are split views on bureaucracy; some view it as good whereas others view it in a negative light.

There are different theories of bureaucracy – John Stuart Mill called this sort of government a means to bring the experienced and skilled together, however, he believed that representative government is better. Max Weber, a German sociologist, carried out a lot of research on the topic and concluded that it is efficient and rational. Like John Stuart, Max too saw a negative side and stated that it threatens freedom and autonomy.

“Some third person decides your fate: this is the whole essence of bureaucracy.” ― Kollontai Alexandra

So where does bureaucracy fit in today’s world? Just because this system of government has some advantages, should we turn a blind eye to all the disadvantages? A lot of people believe that times have changed drastically; therefore, bureaucracy is a concept that is redundant now. In this modern age bureaucracy would just reduce morale. Some of the top businesses in the world, such as Apple and Amazon do not follow traditional styles – they owe their success to radical management systems. 

Session 15: Economic Systems

Since economics is a vital part of the running of the state, politics is closely intertwined with it. The political system in power at a certain point in time influences the economic practices in a country.

Capitalism is more feasible and realistic in my opinion. Capitalist economies have been seen to flourish as the main aim of capitalist industries is to maximize profit. This enables capitalist economies to be competitive in the global market. Growth in capitalist economies is faster as they have greater incentives to excel. Governments empower capitalist firms to a certain extent and governments practice different levels of control over capitalist firms. This is where the relationship between politics and economics is of utmost importance. 

Private capitalist firms may enjoy certain privileges given to them by the government and this influences which industries are more empowered and whether an economy leans more toward consumerism or manufacturing.

Session 15 - Fragile Economy of beloved Pakistan

Human race has always been in a hope to come up with better theories. Before Aristotle & Socrates, people were of the opinion that the era they lived in was perfect. But after their theories, those same people ridiculed what they believed in. 

Now most of the people believe that the era we live in has been blessed with perfect models of government, at least existent in theories. But unfortunately our systems have been manipulated & corrupt from head to toe & they have become very much fragile as well. If I bring the economy of Pakistan on board, it has many loop holes taken great advantage off. The tenure of Zulfikar was inclined towards nationalization while his daughter looked more upon privatization. This makes the fact evident that economies mostly portray a one man shoe. Economies structures are very fragile & I once again am in the hope that the economic structure of Pakistan can be rectified and improved if organizations like army become less centralized, and party politics becomes less dependent upon a single entity. 

Session 15- politics and the economy

In the present day context, the relationship between the politics of a country and its economy is one not to be ignored. It is safe to say that the most important section of any election manifesto is to do with the economy of the country. Ones political belief will determine the economic polices which are undertaken, for example people adhering to leftist ideologies believe in a more equal distribution of resources, whereas the opposite is true for rightists.  

Lets take the example of Pakistan, the only real leftist politician was Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, under his rule big business were nationalized and land reforms were undertaken to improve the economic condition of the lower class. Whereas the current party which is in power, the PML-N is a pro-business party, its vote bank consists of a large number of traders, and its polices are thus more inclined towards helping the upper-middle class.

Session 16: Corruption Even if Placed by the Government

         In this reading on bureaucracies, Heywood mentions that bureaucracies very often do serve as disadvantageous because they can lead to ‘corruption,’ if they are not scrutinized properly. I think it is important to understand that this corruption is a very big issue, since it not only implies actions such as bribery, negligence, but also serious abuse of power.

         The CIA’s interrogation techniques have only just recently been discovered to be utterly barbaric, and going against what they may have aimed to achieve. Interrogation is essentially used to gain the truth from a detainee, not condition him to a sort of learned helplessness, where he inevitably provides the answer that one wants of him. Thus this is an example of how responsibility provided by the government can result in the granting of power which is misused and results in the exploitation of people and denial of basic human rights. Hence one can see that institutions established by the government don’t guarantee fair and humane practice of rules.

Session 15: Economic reforms a must!

When we talk of the Pakistani economy, it doesn’t evoke as big a reaction as the economies of India or China might. Nevertheless the Pakistani economy has extreme geo-stategic importance and must grow if Pakistan needs to have any chance at a viable future.

 I read today an article in “Dawn” titled “Applause for economy” which stated how the IMF and State bank have been applauding the economy. The State Bank was quoted saying that the economic indicators are moving “in a favorable direction” . Moody upgraded Pakistan’s debt rating from ‘positive to stable’. The IMF has also lauded the government’s “strong performance” but before we become excited about becoming the next economic super power lets understand that all these institutions have their own vested interests and what they say might not be totally true.

To improve the Pakistani economy the government needs to take serious policy decisions. Reforms are a need of an hour especially in the bureaucracy. Tax leakages need to be stopped, tax exemptions need to be done away with and the government needs to start deregulating large sections of the economy, especially the power sector. The competition commission of Pakistan needs to be strengthened and NAB and other accountability bodies need to be empowered to curb economic corruption.

Lastly the common man doesn’t care about fancy figures. They only care about the situation on the ground and sadly that is not representative of the tall claims of the government.

Session 15- Economic Systems

There is an inevitably linked relationship between economics and politics. The economic structure of a society defines the political system. The ownership of the resources,  the way they are produced and the way they are distributed determines power. Hence, people in control of the resources have the economic power.  The form of economic power that existed  determines the political system because if the inevitable link between politics and economics. 

In the feudal systems that existed in the premodern world, resources were controlled by the same people who held political power. Therefore, the system enabled more exploitation of the common man and slavery and bonded labour were practiced. The economic and political systems were linked . However, when the economic system was revolutionized, it also affected the political system and fragmented the power held the landlords. The modern world saw the rise of capitalism. 

With the rise if capitalism, the concept of private ownership was introduced and the economic power was shifted from the state towards the industrialists and the capital owning class. Emphasis was given to individuality and free will.  With the change in the economic system, there was also a shift in power dynamics. Hence the capitalists and the industrialists were the ones who had political power. 

The political systems have always been influenced by the economic systems in place throughout history. The two are interlinked, influencing government policies and economic behaviour of firms

Session 15: Gender and Political Systems

Political systems and regimes are affected by the society they function in and mirror values of that society. The role of women in politics in women, for example, has been historically affected by the sociological constructs of gender and gender roles.

The existence of a few matriarchal societies in pre-modern Japan and Vietnam saw the inclusion of women in the political and economic arenas. Women were states-persons, diplomats and even soldiers and owned property. Marriages too, were matrifocal given more power to women that is experienced in today’s world. Gender parity in that society and political system was unlike its neighbouring China.

The patriarchal society in pre-modern China was heavily influenced by Confucian principles and resulted in the exclusion of women from the public sphere. Women were thought to be subservient to men. Politics and economics were restricted to the male members of the society and women were restricted to domestic tasks. With the exception of one or two women who acquired powerful political positions, the women in China were restricted to the house. Therefore the political system in China was dominated by men and reflected their values. The policies they designed tended to retain women in the subservient positions in the society and did not enable them to step out of the house and participate in the economic and political systems.

The values and norms of societies such gender relations tend to influence the political system in various ways.

Session 15- Social cleaveges and their impact on voting in Pakistan

Throughout the course of history, it has remained evident that the structure of the society influences politics in numerous ways. This fact which is globally accepted encompasses within its realm several social aspects like class, race, gender, etc.

These aspects in a society are what create divisions which are substantial enough to affect the most crucial political activities. Since this social structure is what moulds all forms of political behaviour and participation, it is not surprising to learn that throughout history, Pakistan has also possessed a political structure that has been significantly affected by social influences.

Since the period of the earliest party leaders of Pakistan like Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto to modern day leaders like Imran Khan, the social structure is what is held highly significant for them. To this day the major support of the Bhutto family is gained from the same class that was initially targeted by Bhutto's slogan of 'food, clothing, shelter', because of the allegiance formed by the party with a certain class of a society. Similarly Imran Khan, decreasingly so today but is still considered a leader whose support comes mainly from the educated urban class. Different races and sects also play a large role in impacting the voting in Pakistan, for example, Altaf Hussain is seen as the undisputed leader of the Muhajirs, thus his party has received continuing support from that part of the population

In light of the few selected examples presented above, it is evident how voting, as a political activity, is influenced significantly by the social structure of Pakistan.

Session 15- Economic Sustainability.

Heywood in this week’s reading brushes upon the economy, the society and how they are interlinked, in almost every aspect when one needs to see the efficacious running of the society. While almost every political ideology, every political faction plays its game on the basis of economic development, a very important concept many fail to understand is the concept of saving ones resources from getting depleted and economic sustainability.  

In the race to be the most economically efficient nation or the most economically driven benefactor, many forget the importance of saving resources in the long run. The concept of limited resources and unlimited wants is the most primary concept that is taught to individuals and one needs to realize that the resources in the world are limited. One day, everything is bound to run out and in this selfish race to accumulate economic dominance; every one is forgetting the destructive effects this will have in the long run. Just for current satisfaction and performance, we are greatly hampering the survival of the future society. Economic sustainability is what we should aim for, the ability to keep yourself safe and running in the near future, not over utilizing the given scarce resources. This is like digging your own grave. Capitalism and Socialism sound like attractive simple prospects to run your state, but the ripple effects are highly negative.

Bureacracy

Bureaucracies are seemingly said to be inefficient and or wasteful.  One reason as to this could be its featured element of a hierarchy. Now hierarchy is destructive in certain cases because decisions then are centralised and if a bureaucracy is centralised, which it is then again we see unequal distribution of power among these thousands of people working together to implement government policy. Power is a recurring theme in political science and as we have discussed, power in the hands of a few is more inclined to be a destructive force. 

Top government officials lay down policies and hand them down to be implemented in a top-down approach and at every level these policies are to be strictly implemented. In the case of Pakistan, bureaucracies can be seen as having more of a destructive nature than a constructive one. With the already prevalent problems of high levels of corruption in the governmental system, top officials of a bureaucracy are more inclined towards implementing policies that further strengthen their positions in the bureaucracy and make it possible for them to achieve more and more personal gains. Since in this hierarchical system there exists a top-down approach, there is only room for one way communication. Lower level officials have less to no input in any major activities and can offer less to no feedback to higher level officials. Policies are communicated down to them and they have to act upon them. This nature of bureaucracy is highly de-motivational to these officials because their jobs become increasingly monotonous and offer them little to no sense of personal development. 

Session 15: Social divisions based on Gender

When politics and economics are thought of in terms of being interlinked, one comes to a conclusion that in most of the capitalists states or even in some other the 'ruling class' is the one with the greatest amount of wealth and resources. Gender difference also plays an important role in creating these social divisions and even in 'social exclusion' of certain groups.

Transgenders are a socially excluded group. In country like ours where the culture promotes male dominance and female oppression even females can be termed as the socially excluded group. I would like to quote an incidence which I heard a few days ago and that greatly impacted me.

 My grandfather had a friend XYZ who asked his daughter to find a job and then save money for her dowry. His daughter told him that if she's going to earn and if she's going to be responsible for her  wedding expenditure herself, she would marry the person of her own choice. That man burnt his daughter. He told others that she had attempted suicide but his son told someone that he and his father had burnt his sister themselves. This shows the true face of our society. Men claim to be the protectors of their women that's why they demand obedience. But they are hypocrites in most of the cases.

In our country the poverty index shows more women to be poor than men.In many countries and in ours as well female employees are usually concentrated in low paid jobs or in 'black economy'. They usually have to work because of jobless drug addicts that they have as their husbands. Households that are run by single mothers are more liable to fall below the poverty line. Even for women with respectable jobs it is very hard to survive in the working environment without anything being said about their character. The notion of 'ghairat' or 'izzat' is always attached with women and this leads to the prevalence of 'honour killing'.

This shows that gender can be and is a cause of social divisions and exclusion of certain groups. And if we talk about transgender they didn't even have ID cards and a right to vote until very recently. They are in worst condition when it comes to violation of rights as most of the parents don't keep such children and once they become a part of that community. They have to use all sorts of illegal mean e.g prostitution to earn as they have not even been given the right of education by our society. Our society needs to accept them and provide them with more opportunities to lead a respectable life.

Bureaucracy

For most people, the word 'bureaucracy' brings up an image of a mass of office employees buried in piles of paper and tied to a set of petty rules. In country like ours, Bureaucracies are often the focus of popular dislike, chiefly because they are viewed to be inefficient and lack flexibility to meet the public individual needs.

As the popular perceptions about bureaucracy reflect some insights, they are not a good basis to start evaluating a social structure. To do this, it is imperative that bureaucracy is viewed as a set of relationships between people.

Bureaucracy is an organization of work in which people are treated as interchangeable and exchangeable agents to fill specialized roles. Bureaucracy can be defined with two of its key features, hierarchy and specialized division of labor. Other features of an ‘ideal’ bureaucracy include rules which explain the duties of each member, a set of standard operating procedures, and impersonal relations between members. In a model bureaucracy, the top levels of hierarchy only decide the initiatives and policy directions. Though, the implementation of the policies is done by lower levels of hierarchy within the given guidelines set out for them.

Today, many large modern organizations run in a bureaucratic form, such as the government departments, political parties, churches and trade unions. However, it can be said that none of these act as real or pure bureaucracies. For instance, sometimes in political parties and trade unions the policy directions or initiatives are taken by the rank and file.

Session 16 Dangers of bureaucracy

Bureaucracies are known for many roles. Some deem them as a rational organization while others believe it is a rule by officials. Some say it is a public administration while others claim it is an organizational inefficiency in the modern society. Throughout the world, one thing is in common; bureaucracy is a system of administration for any kind of state. This core function being to implement and execute policies of the state and thus to administer government business. It has a distinct and definitive policy implementing role that is different from policy making role of governments. They are not mere functionaries, for they do have certain discretion over “how” to administer these policies, and the degree of political control over them differs in every state and as policy advisers, civil servants do have a hand in shaping the policies of the state.As policy advisers, civil servants end up having two functions; outlining policy options available to the policy makers and to review proposals in terms of their impacts and consequences. And as decisions are based solely on the information available, the bureaucracy has quoted a stronghold on shaping the direction in which policies are made by altering the information they provide and amateur politicians mostly depend on professional bureaucratic advisers. With this, we see that the government can end up being nothing more than a puppet in place with the bureaucracy doing both roles: indirectly making policies and directly implementing them as it wills. The government can therefore become a replaceable and unnecessary or just a ceremonial position while the bureaucracy actually runs the state body. The bureaucracy also informally may articulate or aggregate interests of client groups and a nexus may develop when superpowers in the economy could interfere with government policies such that their interests determine the direction of policies when certain industries end up controlling the bureaucracy. So the bureaucracy is actually a vital tool that if falls under the pressure of wrong hands, can be used disastrously. Its final function is to act as a political stabilizer as it is a continuous body. This permanence, can be quite lethal as if there is a breach in public scrutiny and accountability, this pure system can ultimately fall prey to corruption and nepotism and end up declaring itself as custodian of the sate’s interest if it grows too powerful.

Session 16: The Times' most Influential person, Lee Kuan Yew

Bureaucracy refers to the administrative machinery of the state. It encompasses the civil servants and public officials responsible for execution of government. Besides administration, other bureaucratic functions include providing policy advice, promoting interests and helping achieve political stability.

Lee Kuan Yew, in his book "From the Third World to First," wrote the complications faced by India under its current structure of government. He analysed how the Indian bureaucracy coupled with the existing caste system is a cause of hindrance to the country’s exponential growth as a democracy.

In fact a report by Hong Kong-based Political and Economic Risk Consultancy has named it to be the ‘worst bureaucracy in Asia’. On a scale of one to ten, India scored 9.21 while Singapore, the best bureaucracy (according to this survey) scored 2.25. Although, India has achieved massive success by making itself the largest democracy of the world in less than 70 years, its bureaucracy is well known for corruption owning to the lack of accountability which gives bureaucrats immense power to work for their own interests or, that of their political parties. In addition, the bureaucracy is permanent. Hence, despite changing governments, the main administrative body remains intact. This gives bureaucrats even more opportunity to amass and maintain power.

Lee Kuan Yew, known as the founding father of modern Singapore as well as the first Prime Minister of the country is widely respected for his ideology and making Singapore what it is today. His death last week is not only a reminder for Singapore of its hard earned past but also, nations such as India to work upon their flaws to accomplish greater success in the future.

Sources:  http://www.dnaindia.com/money/column-india-s-stifling-bureaucracy-hurting-growth-2073025

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-16523672

Session 16. Rational bureacracy

A system of administration rather than of governance, the Bureaucracy is mostly deemed as the irreplaceable administrative machinery of the state existing in both democratic as well as authoritarian states.Weber believed bureaucracy was the best kind of system of rule due to its high specialization. He quoted that. "Only by strict specialization can the scientific worker become fully conscious, for once and perhaps never again in his lifetime, that he has achieved something that will endure. A really definitive and good accomplishment is today always a specialized act.". Therefore, the rational administrative model was adopted by most states whereby there is clear division of tasks ans jurisdictional areas are fixed, a clear hierarchy exists with an efficient chain of command, the entire system is written and filed, power exists in the form of legitimate power instead of referent power, there is minimum scope for individuals exercising their will and running the system at their discretion and employment and promotions are based purely on professional competency and skills. 

 The key to this system is its rationality and how it eliminates all the evils that our political systems are drowning in such as nepotism, corruption, self interest, unreliability and inefficiency. The technical superiority of the administrative model  as a necessity above others stemmed from the sprouting out of capitalist giants and from the pressure for economic efficiency and democratization.

The bureaucracy is Pakistan, just as in theory, function effectively and efficiently and is devoid of all political evils. It is a system that permanently functions despite whatever government is there to provide it with leadership. The appointments and advancements are all crystal clear and based solely on the individual's capabilities. If our bureaucratic system has proven to function so systematically without any allegations of malpractices by non-elected state officials and civil servants in a country like Pakistan where everyone has lost faith in anything being done by a proper channel or by honest methods, one then wonders why our political system is a lagging behind so much? 

If one thing applies to "A", why can't it work for "B"? The entire country has lost hope that there can ever be free and fair elections in Pakistan or that even if that happens, the government that shall come shall only appoint those they wish to favor regardless of their capabilities and each shall enter into a rat-race to fill their pockets as soon as possible all the while trying their best to give as little benefit as possible to the citizens of the nation that they are meant to serve.  Our corrupt political system juxtaposed with the unfailing and trustworthy bureaucracy makes it evident that all our problems stem from the lack of bureaucratic administration and adequate checks and balances within the government itself. It is a tragedy that the policy makers are so unreliable and insincere whilst the policy implementers are as efficient as possible. If one day, we can achieve the dream of crystal clear system of governance based on meritocracy, Pakistan too may be able to exit this trap of never-ending bad governance.

Session 15- Politics and Economics

In today’s capitalist society, economics and politics are synonymous to each other- one cannot progress without the other. If we look back to the 20^th century, we see that classical realists strayed from this view and believed that only maximizing a state’s military power can help the state ensure its survival and security rather than its economic well-being. With the passage of time, in the international relations arena, the views regarding the economic and political welfare of a state started evolving as well.

Classical realists rely greatly on the rationality and selfishness of humans and their thirst for power, neo-realism talks about latent power-the economy and the population. Neo-realists believed that in order to maximize security and military power, a state needs to focus on its economic structure as well because the bigger the economy, the budget allocated for military development will also be bigger. Similarly, as the world moved towards liberalism and free markets, the emphasis on the betterment of a state’s economy also increased greatly. Liberalists believed that through complex interdependence and trans-nationalism, the world’s political order will be stable and peace can be achieved. As the linkages between states increase, they become so dependent on each other that any broken law or rule will have dire consequences on the state’s economy.

The importance given to the economic prosperity of a state can also be explained through the Marxist critique of capitalism. Marxists believe that the capitalist society uses the economy as a base and translate their economic power into political power which they then use to further exploit the proletariat and make sure that their power remains unimpaired.

Where economics is concerned with studying and influencing the economy, politics is the theory of influencing people by exercising power. Time and time again, theorists have given great importance to the economic structure of a state because it helps shape up a country’s political framework.