Determinants of Political Choice

The Framework for Choice

This framework aims to clarify what affects political choice on any particular matter at any particular time.

Choice in politics takes place as a struggle between and within the people and the powerful in society—much as it emerged during the maturation of political institutions. Only now, the struggle is not through time but in the moment.

The powerful groups also struggle amongst themselves—but that is more about sharing the cake while, for as long as possible, ensuring the people get only the crumbs. 

What You Need to Know

No special knowledge is required. However, it helps to have some familiarity with names and core properties in:

• the framework of approaches to ethical choice;
• the political modes explained in the Spiral of maturation.

Findings are Provisional

Since the initial development of this framework, a greater understanding of Spirals has been developed in the Architecture Room. It is now evident that this modelling of political choice is an application of a more general model covering governance within any enduring group.

People will interact around power, and political choices will be made irrespective of the maturity of the society, its people and its political institutions. At every stage of development, the people (via governments) must make choices as best they can. In this process, everyone, but politicians especially, needs to be concerned about how best to handle both the people and the powerful.

We must now examine that balance—the people v the powerful—to understand precisely how it plays out in determining choices by government for society.

Choice is different from maturation…

The maturation of political institutions depends on many factors and does not seem to be subject to much, if any, planning-type control. By contrast, political choices may be partly under the control of individuals in office and the participation of the public and politically-aware organizations.

Mode Values ► States in Society

REMINDER: What Politics is About. Politics is about obtaining access to the wealth and power of a society, and managing these authoritatively via governing institutions for the good of the people, both individually and as a society.

The political modes are values and principles that are determined so as to be widely acceptable and broadly compatible. As a result, the Spiral's sequential («diachronic») ordering of political modes can also be viewed as a simultaneous («synchronic») arrangement.

The Modes will then appear as states, conditions or situations within society that naturally interact with and influence each other.

The first step in understanding the interacting influences of psychosocial states is to determine the dynamic duality. So we must now identify the tension that is intrinsic to the functioning of politics and government.

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• Start now with political states and the dynamic duality.

  OR

• Jump to some end results of this inquiry...

•The completed model of political choice.
• How politics works in organizations.

Originally posted: July 2009; Last updated: 2 June 2014.