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69-486: While there is no singular and catch-all "Eastern culture", there are subgroups within it, such as countries within East Asia, Southeast Asia, or South Asia, as well as syncretism within these regions. These include the spread of Eastern religions such as Buddhism or Hinduism , the usage of Chinese characters or Brahmic scripts , language families, the fusion of cuisines, and traditions, among others. The East, as

138-558: A geographical area , is unclear and undefined. More often, the ideology of a state's inhabitants is what will be used to categorize it as an Eastern society. There is some disagreement about what nations should or should not be included in the category and at what times. Many parts of the Eastern Roman (Byzantine) Empire are considered to be distinct from the West and therefore labelled as eastern by most scholars. The Byzantine Empire

207-508: A royal house . A few of the smaller states survived, such as the independent principalities of Liechtenstein , Andorra , Monaco , and the republic of San Marino . Most theories see the nation state as a 19th-century European phenomenon, facilitated by developments such as state-mandated education, mass literacy , and mass media . However, historians also note the early emergence of a relatively unified state and identity in Portugal and

276-418: A betrayal of their pure truth. By this reasoning, adding an incompatible belief corrupts the original religion, rendering it no longer true. Indeed, critics of a syncretistic trend may use the word or its variants as a disparaging epithet, as a charge implying that those who seek to incorporate a new view, belief, or practice into a religious system pervert the original faith. Non-exclusivist systems of belief, on

345-563: A culture is conquered, and the conquerors bring their religious beliefs with them, but do not succeed in entirely eradicating the old beliefs or (especially) practices. Religions may have syncretic elements to their beliefs or history, but adherents of so-labeled systems often frown on applying the label, especially adherents who belong to "revealed" religious systems, such as the Abrahamic religions , or any system that exhibits an exclusivist approach. Such adherents sometimes see syncretism as

414-442: A factor that has recommended it to rulers of multiethnic realms . Conversely, the rejection of syncretism, usually in the name of " piety " and " orthodoxy ", may help to generate, bolster or authenticate a sense of uncompromised cultural unity in a well-defined minority or majority. All major religious conversions of populations have had elements from prior religious traditions incorporated into legends or doctrine that endure with

483-434: A federal state) is a political entity characterized by a union of partially self-governing provinces, states, or other regions under a central federal government ( federalism ). In a federation, the self-governing status of the component states, as well as the division of power between them and the central government, is typically constitutionally entrenched and may not be altered by a unilateral decision of either party,

552-574: A limited way, empirically or normatively, and on whether conflict or co-operation is more essential to it. A variety of methods are deployed in politics, which include promoting one's own political views among people, negotiation with other political subjects, making laws , and exercising internal and external force , including warfare against adversaries. Politics is exercised on a wide range of social levels, from clans and tribes of traditional societies, through modern local governments , companies and institutions up to sovereign states , to

621-523: A migration of ideas is generally successful only when there is a resonance between both traditions. While, as Bentley has argued, there are numerous cases where expansive traditions have won popular support in foreign lands, this is not always so. In the 16th century, the Mughal emperor Akbar proposed a new religion called the Din-i Ilahi ("Divine Faith"). Sources disagree with respect to whether it

690-796: A political entity that has monopoly on violence within its territory, while the Montevideo Convention holds that states need to have a defined territory; a permanent population; a government; and a capacity to enter into international relations. A stateless society is a society that is not governed by a state . In stateless societies, there is little concentration of authority ; most positions of authority that do exist are very limited in power and are generally not permanently held positions; and social bodies that resolve disputes through predefined rules tend to be small. Stateless societies are highly variable in economic organization and cultural practices. While stateless societies were

759-532: A result of political campaigns by nationalists , during the 19th century. In both cases, the territory was previously divided among other states, some of them very small. Liberal ideas of free trade played a role in German unification, which was preceded by a customs union , the Zollverein . National self-determination was a key aspect of United States President Woodrow Wilson 's Fourteen Points , leading to

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828-539: A result of some shared rational interest. The theories largely focus on the development of agriculture, and the population and organizational pressure that followed and resulted in state formation. One of the most prominent theories of early and primary state formation is the hydraulic hypothesis , which contends that the state was a result of the need to build and maintain large-scale irrigation projects. Conflict theories of state formation regard conflict and dominance of some population over another population as key to

897-481: A selective adoption of elements from different traditions without necessarily blending them into a new, cohesive belief system. Syncretism also manifests in politics , known as syncretic politics . The English word is first attested in the early 17th century It is from Modern Latin syncretismus , drawing on the [[[:wikt:συγκρητισμός|συγκρητισμός]]] Error: {{Langx}}: invalid parameter: |labels= ( help ) , supposedly meaning "Cretan federation"; however, this

966-540: A single Greco-Roman pantheon , and then identifying members of that pantheon with the local deities of various Roman provinces. Some religious movements have embraced overt syncretism, such as the case of melding Shintō beliefs into Buddhism or the amalgamation of Germanic and Celtic pagan views into Christianity during its spread into Gaul, Ireland, Britain, Germany and Scandinavia. In later times, Christian missionaries in North America identified Manitou ,

1035-488: A society. The history of political thought can be traced back to early antiquity, with seminal works such as Plato 's Republic , Aristotle 's Politics , Confucius 's political manuscripts and Chanakya 's Arthashastra . The English word politics has its roots in the name of Aristotle 's classic work, Politiká , which introduced the Ancient Greek term politiká ( Πολιτικά , 'affairs of

1104-689: Is a spurious etymology from the naive idea in Plutarch 's 1st-century AD essay on "Fraternal Love (Peri Philadelphias)" in his collection Moralia . He cites the example of the Cretans , who compromised and reconciled their differences and came together in alliance when faced with external dangers. "And that is their so-called Syncretism [Union of Cretans]". More likely as an etymology is sun- ("with") plus kerannumi ("mix") and its related noun, "krasis", "mixture". Overt syncretism in folk belief may show cultural acceptance of an alien or previous tradition, but

1173-580: Is also accepted that the policy of sulh-i-kul , which formed the essence of the Dīn-i Ilāhī, was adopted by Akbar as a part of general imperial administrative policy. Sulh-i-kul means "universal peace". The syncretic deism of Matthew Tindal undermined Christianity's claim to uniqueness. The modern, rational, non-pejorative connotations of syncretism arguably date from Denis Diderot 's Encyclopédie articles Eclecticisme and Syncrétistes, Hénotiques, ou Conciliateurs . Diderot portrayed syncretism as

1242-417: Is based on the use of power, irrespective of the ends being pursued. Agonism argues that politics essentially comes down to conflict between conflicting interests. Political scientist Elmer Schattschneider argued that "at the root of all politics is the universal language of conflict", while for Carl Schmitt the essence of politics is the distinction of 'friend' from 'foe'. This is in direct contrast to

1311-552: Is closely linked to ethics , and is at its extreme in utopian thinking. For example, according to Hannah Arendt , the view of Aristotle was that, "to be political…meant that everything was decided through words and persuasion and not through violence"; while according to Bernard Crick , "politics is the way in which free societies are governed. Politics is politics, and other forms of rule are something else." In contrast, for realists, represented by those such as Niccolò Machiavelli , Thomas Hobbes , and Harold Lasswell , politics

1380-617: Is continually being written by the legislative and judiciary branch of government; this is just one of those cases in which the nature of the circumstances determines the form of government that is most appropriate. England did set the fashion of written constitutions during the Civil War but after the Restoration abandoned them to be taken up later by the American Colonies after their emancipation and then France after

1449-437: Is embedded in a particular political culture. Lucian Pye 's definition is that, "Political culture is the set of attitudes, beliefs, and sentiments, which give order and meaning to a political process and which provide the underlying assumptions and rules that govern behavior in the political system." Trust is a major factor in political culture, as its level determines the capacity of the state to function. Postmaterialism

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1518-411: Is methodologically diverse and appropriates many methods originating in psychology , social research , and cognitive neuroscience . Approaches include positivism , interpretivism , rational choice theory , behavioralism , structuralism , post-structuralism , realism , institutionalism , and pluralism . Political science, as one of the social sciences , uses methods and techniques that relate to

1587-572: Is not limited to modern institutions of government . Frans de Waal argued that chimpanzees engage in politics through "social manipulation to secure and maintain influential positions". Early human forms of social organization—bands and tribes—lacked centralized political structures. These are sometimes referred to as stateless societies . In ancient history, civilizations did not have definite boundaries as states have today, and their borders could be more accurately described as frontiers . Early dynastic Sumer , and early dynastic Egypt were

1656-441: Is often used to describe the product of the large-scale imposition of one alien culture, religion, or body of practices over another that is already present." Others such as Jerry H. Bentley , however, have argued that syncretism has also helped to create cultural compromise. It provides an opportunity to bring beliefs, values, and customs from one cultural tradition into contact with, and to engage different cultural traditions. Such

1725-419: Is referred to as political science . Politics may be used positively in the context of a "political solution" which is compromising and non-violent, or descriptively as "the art or science of government", but the word often also carries a negative connotation. The concept has been defined in various ways, and different approaches have fundamentally differing views on whether it should be used extensively or in

1794-515: Is sometimes criticized as relativistic and arbitrary. Globalism has spread Western ideas so widely that almost all modern cultures are, to some extent, influenced by aspects of Eastern culture. Stereotypical views of "the East" have been labeled Orientalism , paralleling Occidentalism —the term for the 19th-century stereotyped views of "the West". As Europeans discovered the wider world, old concepts adapted. The area that had formerly been considered

1863-632: Is the degree to which a political culture is concerned with issues which are not of immediate physical or material concern, such as human rights and environmentalism . Religion has also an impact on political culture. Political corruption is the use of powers for illegitimate private gain, conducted by government officials or their network contacts. Forms of political corruption include bribery , cronyism , nepotism , and political patronage . Forms of political patronage, in turn, includes clientelism , earmarking , pork barreling , slush funds , and spoils systems ; as well as political machines , which

1932-418: Is the science of comparison and teaching of different types of constitutions , political actors, legislature and associated fields. International relations deals with the interaction between nation-states as well as intergovernmental and transnational organizations. Political philosophy is more concerned with contributions of various classical and contemporary thinkers and philosophers. Political science

2001-717: The Dutch Republic . Scholars such as Steven Weber , David Woodward , Michel Foucault , and Jeremy Black have advanced the hypothesis that the nation state did not arise out of political ingenuity or an unknown undetermined source, nor was it an accident of history or political invention. Rather, the nation state is an inadvertent byproduct of 15th-century intellectual discoveries in political economy , capitalism , mercantilism , political geography , and geography combined with cartography and advances in map-making technologies . Some nation states, such as Germany and Italy , came into existence at least partly as

2070-814: The Orient ("the East") became the Near East as the interests of the European powers interfered with Meiji Japan and Qing China for the first time in the 19th century. Thus, the Sino-Japanese War in 1894–1895 occurred in the Far East while the troubles surrounding the decline of the Ottoman Empire simultaneously occurred in the Near East. The term Middle East in the mid-19th century included

2139-611: The Revolution and the rest of Europe including the European colonies. Constitutions often set out separation of powers , dividing the government into the executive , the legislature , and the judiciary (together referred to as the trias politica), in order to achieve checks and balances within the state. Additional independent branches may also be created, including civil service commissions , election commissions , and supreme audit institutions . Political culture describes how culture impacts politics. Every political system

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2208-788: The Twenty-fifth Dynasty in Manetho's Aegyptiaca , developed a syncretic worship identifying their own god Dedun with the Egyptian Osiris . They maintained that worship even after they had been driven out of Egypt. A temple dedicated to this syncretic god, built by the Kushite ruler Atlanersa , was unearthed at Jebel Barkal . Syncretism was common during the Hellenistic period, with rulers regularly identifying local deities in various parts of their domains with

2277-735: The Uruk period and Predynastic Egypt respectively around approximately 3000 BC. Early dynastic Egypt was based around the Nile River in the north-east of Africa , the kingdom's boundaries being based around the Nile and stretching to areas where oases existed. Early dynastic Sumer was located in southern Mesopotamia , with its borders extending from the Persian Gulf to parts of the Euphrates and Tigris rivers. Egyptians, Romans, and

2346-512: The World Trade Organization . The study of politics is called political science , It comprises numerous subfields, namely three: Comparative politics , international relations and political philosophy . Political science is related to, and draws upon, the fields of economics , law , sociology , history , philosophy , geography , psychology , psychiatry , anthropology , and neurosciences . Comparative politics

2415-647: The first civilizations to define their borders . Moreover, up to the 12th century, many people lived in non-state societies. These range from relatively egalitarian bands and tribes to complex and highly stratified chiefdoms . There are a number of different theories and hypotheses regarding early state formation that seek generalizations to explain why the state developed in some places but not others. Other scholars believe that generalizations are unhelpful and that each case of early state formation should be treated on its own. Voluntary theories contend that diverse groups of people came together to form states as

2484-412: The international level . In modern nation states , people often form political parties to represent their ideas. Members of a party often agree to take the same position on many issues and agree to support the same changes to law and the same leaders. An election is usually a competition between different parties. A political system is a framework which defines acceptable political methods within

2553-472: The "other" cult may survive or infiltrate without authorized syncresis . For example, some conversos developed a sort of cult for martyr-victims of the Spanish Inquisition , thus incorporating elements of Catholicism while resisting it. The Kushite kings who ruled Upper Egypt for approximately a century and the whole of Egypt for approximately 57 years, from 721 to 664 BCE, constituting

2622-965: The 18th century, the classic non-national states were the multinational empires : the Austrian Empire , Kingdom of France , Kingdom of Hungary , the Russian Empire , the Spanish Empire , the Ottoman Empire , and the British Empire . Such empires also existed in Asia, Africa, and the Americas; in the Muslim world , immediately after the death of Muhammad in 632, Caliphates were established, which developed into multi-ethnic transnational empires. The multinational empire

2691-575: The 4th century granted citizenship rights to their free population; in Athens these rights were combined with a directly democratic form of government that was to have a long afterlife in political thought and history. The Peace of Westphalia (1648) is considered by political scientists to be the beginning of the modern international system, in which external powers should avoid interfering in another country's domestic affairs. The principle of non-interference in other countries' domestic affairs

2760-577: The Greeks were the first people known to have explicitly formulated a political philosophy of the state, and to have rationally analyzed political institutions. Prior to this, states were described and justified in terms of religious myths. Several important political innovations of classical antiquity came from the Greek city-states ( polis ) and the Roman Republic . The Greek city-states before

2829-790: The added benefit or aim of reducing inter-religious discord. Such chapters often have a side-effect of arousing jealousy and suspicion among authorities and ardent adherents of the pre-existing religion. Such religions tend to inherently appeal to an inclusive, diverse audience. Sometimes the state itself sponsored such new movements, such as the Living Church founded in Soviet Russia and the German Evangelical Church in Nazi Germany , chiefly to stem all outside influences. According to some authors, "Syncretism

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2898-1019: The cities') . In the mid-15th century, Aristotle's composition would be rendered in Early Modern English as Polettiques [ sic ], which would become Politics in Modern English . The singular politic first attested in English in 1430, coming from Middle French politique —itself taking from politicus , a Latinization of the Greek πολιτικός ( politikos ) from πολίτης ( polites , 'citizen') and πόλις ( polis , 'city'). There are several ways in which approaching politics has been conceptualized. Adrian Leftwich has differentiated views of politics based on how extensive or limited their perception of what accounts as 'political' is. The extensive view sees politics as present across

2967-789: The concordance of eclectic sources. Scientific or legalistic approaches of subjecting all claims to critical thinking prompted at this time much literature in Europe and the Americas studying non-European religions such as Edward Moor's The Hindu Pantheon of 1810, much of which was almost evangelistically appreciative by embracing spirituality and creating the space and tolerance in particular disestablishment of religion (or its stronger form, official secularisation as in France) whereby believers of spiritualism , agnosticism , atheists and in many cases more innovative or pre-Abrahimic based religions could promote and spread their belief system, whether in

3036-430: The degree of horizontal integration between the legislature , the executive , the judiciary , and other independent institutions. The source of power determines the difference between democracies , oligarchies , and autocracies . In a democracy, political legitimacy is based on popular sovereignty . Forms of democracy include representative democracy , direct democracy , and demarchy . These are separated by

3105-770: The dissolution of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and the Ottoman Empire after the First World War , while the Russian Empire became the Soviet Union after the Russian Civil War . Decolonization lead to the creation of new nation states in place of multinational empires in the Third World . Political globalization began in the 20th century through intergovernmental organizations and supranational unions . The League of Nations

3174-451: The family or beyond. Politics This is an accepted version of this page Politics (from Ancient Greek πολιτικά ( politiká )  'affairs of the cities') is the set of activities that are associated with making decisions in groups , or other forms of power relations among individuals, such as the distribution of status or resources . The branch of social science that studies politics and government

3243-427: The formation of states. In contrast with voluntary theories, these arguments believe that people do not voluntarily agree to create a state to maximize benefits, but that states form due to some form of oppression by one group over others. Some theories in turn argue that warfare was critical for state formation. The first states of sorts were those of early dynastic Sumer and early dynastic Egypt , which arose from

3312-597: The interactions through which values are authoritatively allocated for a society." Each political system is embedded in a society with its own political culture, and they in turn shape their societies through public policy . The interactions between different political systems are the basis for global politics . Forms of government can be classified by several ways. In terms of the structure of power , there are monarchies (including constitutional monarchies ) and republics (usually presidential , semi-presidential , or parliamentary ). The separation of powers describes

3381-524: The kinds of inquiries sought: primary sources such as historical documents and official records, secondary sources such as scholarly journal articles, survey research, statistical analysis , case studies , experimental research , and model building. The political system defines the process for making official government decisions. It is usually compared to the legal system , economic system , cultural system , and other social systems . According to David Easton , "A political system can be designated as

3450-457: The merging or assimilation of several originally discrete traditions , especially in the theology and mythology of religion , thus asserting an underlying unity and allowing for an inclusive approach to other faiths. While syncretism in art and culture is sometimes likened to eclecticism , in the realm of religion, it specifically denotes a more integrated merging of beliefs into a unified system, distinct from eclecticism, which implies

3519-445: The more co-operative views of politics by Aristotle and Crick. However, a more mixed view between these extremes is provided by Irish political scientist Michael Laver, who noted that: Politics is about the characteristic blend of conflict and co-operation that can be found so often in human interactions. Pure conflict is war. Pure co-operation is true love. Politics is a mixture of both. The history of politics spans human history and

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3588-403: The newly converted laity . Religious syncretism is the blending of two or more religious belief systems into a new system, or the incorporation into a religious tradition of beliefs from unrelated traditions. This can occur for many reasons, and the latter scenario happens quite commonly in areas where multiple religious traditions exist in proximity and function actively in a culture, or when

3657-413: The norm in human prehistory, few stateless societies exist today; almost the entire global population resides within the jurisdiction of a sovereign state . In some regions nominal state authorities may be very weak and wield little or no actual power . Over the course of history most stateless peoples have been integrated into the state-based societies around them . Some political philosophies consider

3726-545: The other hand, may feel quite free to incorporate other traditions into their own. Keith Ferdinando notes that the term "syncretism" is an elusive one, and can refer to substitution or modification of the central elements of a religion by beliefs or practices introduced from elsewhere. The consequence under such a definition, according to Ferdinando, can lead to a fatal "compromise" of the original religion's "integrity". In modern secular society, religious innovators sometimes construct new faiths or key tenets syncretically, with

3795-464: The personal is political ", which disputes the distinction between private and public issues. Politics may also be defined by the use of power, as has been argued by Robert A. Dahl . Some perspectives on politics view it empirically as an exercise of power, while others see it as a social function with a normative basis. This distinction has been called the difference between political moralism and political realism . For moralists, politics

3864-587: The relevant god or goddess of the Greek Pantheon as a means of increasing the cohesion of their kingdom. This practice was accepted in most locations but vehemently rejected by the Jews , who considered the identification of Yahweh with the Greek Zeus as the worst of blasphemy. The Roman Empire continued the practice, first by the identification of traditional Roman deities with Greek ones, producing

3933-400: The sphere of human social relations, while the limited view restricts it to certain contexts. For example, in a more restrictive way, politics may be viewed as primarily about governance , while a feminist perspective could argue that sites which have been viewed traditionally as non-political, should indeed be viewed as political as well. This latter position is encapsulated in the slogan "

4002-883: The spiritual and fundamental life force in the traditional beliefs of the Algonquian groups , with the God of Christianity . Similar identifications were made by missionaries at other locations in the Americas and Africa who encountered a local belief in a Supreme God or Supreme Spirit of some kind. Indian influences are seen in the practice of Shi'i Islam in Trinidad . Others have strongly rejected it as devaluing and compromising precious and genuine distinctions; examples include post- Exile Second Temple Judaism , Islam , and most of Protestant Christianity. Syncretism tends to facilitate coexistence and unity between otherwise different cultures and world views ( intercultural competence ),

4071-423: The state undesirable, and thus consider the formation of a stateless society a goal to be achieved. A central tenet of anarchism is the advocacy of society without states. The type of society sought for varies significantly between anarchist schools of thought , ranging from extreme individualism to complete collectivism . In Marxism , Marx's theory of the state considers that in a post-capitalist society

4140-441: The state, an undesirable institution, would be unnecessary and wither away . A related concept is that of stateless communism , a phrase sometimes used to describe Marx's anticipated post-capitalist society. Constitutions are written documents that specify and limit the powers of the different branches of government. Although a constitution is a written document, there is also an unwritten constitution. The unwritten constitution

4209-643: The states or the federal political body. Federations were formed first in Switzerland, then in the United States in 1776, in Canada in 1867 and in Germany in 1871 and in 1901, Australia . Compared to a federation , a confederation has less centralized power. All the above forms of government are variations of the same basic polity , the sovereign state . The state has been defined by Max Weber as

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4278-507: The territory east of the Ottoman Empire , but West of China— Greater India and Greater Persia —is now used synonymously with "Near East" in most languages. While there is no singular Eastern culture of the Eastern world, there are subgroups within it, such as countries within East Asia, Southeast Asia, or South Asia, as well as syncretism within these regions. These include the spread of Eastern religions such as Buddhism or Hinduism ,

4347-422: The usage of Chinese characters or Brahmic scripts , language families, the fusion of cuisines, and traditions, among others. Eastern culture has developed many themes and traditions. Some important ones are listed below: Syncretism Syncretism ( / ˈ s ɪ ŋ k r ə t ɪ z əm , ˈ s ɪ n -/ ) is the practice of combining different beliefs and various schools of thought . Syncretism involves

4416-776: The way decisions are made, whether by elected representatives, referendums , or by citizen juries . Democracies can be either republics or constitutional monarchies. Oligarchy is a power structure where a minority rules. These may be in the form of anocracy , aristocracy , ergatocracy , geniocracy , gerontocracy , kakistocracy , kleptocracy , meritocracy , noocracy , particracy , plutocracy , stratocracy , technocracy , theocracy , or timocracy . Autocracies are either dictatorships (including military dictatorships ) or absolute monarchies . In terms of level of vertical integration, political systems can be divided into (from least to most integrated) confederations , federations , and unitary states . A federation (also known as

4485-437: Was an absolute monarchy ruled by a king, emperor or sultan . The population belonged to many ethnic groups, and they spoke many languages. The empire was dominated by one ethnic group, and their language was usually the language of public administration. The ruling dynasty was usually, but not always, from that group. Some of the smaller European states were not so ethnically diverse, but were also dynastic states, ruled by

4554-768: Was founded after World War I , and after World War II it was replaced by the United Nations . Various international treaties have been signed through it. Regional integration has been pursued by the African Union , ASEAN , the European Union , and Mercosur . International political institutions on the international level include the International Criminal Court , the International Monetary Fund , and

4623-540: Was laid out in the mid-18th century by Swiss jurist Emer de Vattel . States became the primary institutional agents in an interstate system of relations. The Peace of Westphalia is said to have ended attempts to impose supranational authority on European states. The "Westphalian" doctrine of states as independent agents was bolstered by the rise in 19th century thought of nationalism , under which legitimate states were assumed to correspond to nations —groups of people united by language and culture. In Europe , during

4692-400: Was one of many Sufi orders or merged some of the elements of the various religions of his empire. Din-i Ilahi drew elements primarily from Islam and Hinduism but also from Christianity , Jainism , and Zoroastrianism . More resembling a personality cult than a religion, it had no sacred scriptures, no priestly hierarchy, and fewer than 20 disciples, all hand-picked by Akbar himself. It

4761-473: Was primarily influenced by Eastern practices due to its proximity and cultural similarity to Iran and Arabia , thus lacking features seen as " Western ". Both Eastern and Western European authors have often perceived Byzantium as a body of religious, political, and philosophical ideas contrary to those of the West. It is difficult to determine which individuals fit into which category, and the East–West contrast

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