ABSTRACT
A major theme of this book is its definition of politics as events occurring within the state, and within society, as well as between them. It is, by and large, this interaction between the two plains that has escaped the careful attention of most scholars, with much of the emphasis having been put on either the state or the society and rarely on the nexus connecting them. There are two determining characteristics to both the functions of states and societies and to the nature of the interaction between them. First, as the previous chapter pointed out, both states and societies are made up of institutions that serve as their building blocks and constituent components. It is through these institutions that the interaction between state and society is made possible. Thus, the role of state and social institutions is pivotal in determining the very nature of the political process. Equally crucial, however, is the role of political culture, which provides the overall normative context within which this interaction takes place. This chapter examines the role and significance of state and social institutions, and political culture is analysed in Chapter 4. Together, political culture and state and society’s institutions determine the politics of a nation within itself and serve as highly useful analytical tools for comparative study.
