There is no doubt that economics and politics are intricately linked within a society. Political parties compete for power by mostly promising favourable economic change. The state of the economy does indeed (as President Clinton rightly pointed out) determine the result of elections. It therefore follows that the economic system that is in place has significant impact on the political state of a particular country.
For hundreds of years, the ideological debate has been between two competing economic systems of organisation: capitalism and socialism. Political views in countries are also affected by this debate - the left-wing tends to favour socialism while the right-wing favours capitalism. This shows how economics and politics are affected by one another.
However, it is important to note that despite the disparity between the two, there has never been a pure capitalist or a pure socialist state. There are always elements of one or the other combined within a state. This is significant because it emphasizes that rather than conforming to a fixed definition of capitalism or socialism, countries can in fact adopt a middle ground such as managed capitalism. The world of politics may therefore be greatly influenced by the world of economics but the assumption that the economic system in place has to be definitive is something worth questioning.
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