ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the scope for polling in capitalist and post-communist societies, by identifying what are the structures of political power for each type of political system. It explains what mechanisms exist to link their states and civil societies in the elaboration and implementation of social needs and competing interests in the policy-making process. The chapter aims to compare political systems in capitalist and post-communist societies. It seeks neither to over-state the differences between the states and civil societies in capitalist and post-communist contexts, nor to mask any internal differences which exist within any particular type of political system. In spite of the universal problems of operationalisation, Joseph Ball maintains that such conceptual categories as 'capitalist political system' and 'liberal democracy' are appropriate. The chapter demonstrates that the effectiveness of political opinion polling is linked both to the level of political integration within any society, and to the pervasiveness of a mass national political culture.
