4 Major Premises of System Theory According To Easton's Model Analysis

6/21/2017 4 Major Premises of System Theory according to Eastons Model Analysis
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4 Major Premises of System Theory

according to Eastons Model Analysis
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The basic unit of Eastons system analysis is interaction. Interaction is

generated from the behaviour of the members of the system when they play their
role as such. When these myriad interactions, in the perception of the scholar,
become a set of interrelations, they are considered as a system. Eastons
subject matter of analysis is only the set of political interactions.
There are four major premises or broader concepts of his ow-model or input-
output analysis:
(i) System;
(ii) Environment;
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(iii) Response; and
(iv) Feedback.
In the analysis of politics, one has to make use of these concepts.
1.System:
His system is a political system, the basic unit of analysis. It is a system of
interactions in any society through which binding or authoritative allocations are
made and implemented. Easton is interested in studying political life which is
seen as a system of behaviour operating within and responding to its social
environment while making binding allocations of values. The making of binding
and authoritative decisions distinguishes the political system from other systems
(existing both within and outside the overall society) that form the environment
of that political system.
Within this political system, there are many political groups and organisations,
called para-political systems. But he is more concerned with political system
standing as the most inclusive unit of political life. Political system, as such, is
found everywhere. It is the inclusive whole of all political interactions. Easton
analyses the nature, conditions, and life processes of political life operating in
form of an analytic system.
By adopting the concept of system, Easton has free Political Science from its
traditional, legalistic, institutional, and formal moorings, and proposes to view it
as it really is. This system is made of interactions of those persons who take
part in public life, and are related with making and implementing of public
policies.
Easton is not satis ed to see political activity merely as direction of man by

man (de Jouvenel), or as relating to control or will (Catlin), or relation between
in uencer and the in uenced (Lasswell). It is also not adequate to see politics
related to authority, power, government and rule (Dahl). His concept of system is
more inclusive.
In a sense, his concept of system is integrative involving values, culture,

authority, governance, implementation, participation, process, etc. System is a
very wide term, which includes all forms of formal and informal processes,
interactions, functions, structures, values, behaviour, etc. The political system
allocates values for the whole society and its decisions stand obligatory. A
system, thus, can be any set of variables, whatever be the form or intensity of
interactions or interrelationship operating among them. A political system is a
subsystem of the societal system, but it has a binding power of its own. Even
within a political system, there are many subsystems.
Eastons political system is both open and adaptive. Exchanges take place
between a political system and its environment which is made of many systems
and their subsystems, including even para-political systems. All these, and other
various events and in uences make up the conditions under which members of a
political system act and react.
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The latter can nd these as favourable or obstructive to its survival. As such, it

must have the capacity to face those obstructions, and adapt itself to those
conditions. Most often, a political system has a trait or capacity to adapt itself to
changing environment. Political systems contrive mechanisms to regulate their
own moves, transform internal structures, and even reformulate goals.
A political system, like any other system, has boundaries. These boundaries relate
to the formation of political interactions and go on changing. The political
system, somehow, tends to maintain its systemic boundaries, and boundary
conditions. In other words, it has to carefully look after and protect its life-
processes or capacity to respond e ectively to external environment or internal
in uences. It has to operate as an e ective transforming process. In case, it is
unable to maintain its boundaries, it may lose its identity, even merge into other
systems.
It may be reiterated that Eastonian framework of systems theory is conceptual

and analytical. His political system is born of concepts, and is conceptual or
constructivist, used as a set of variables selected for description, explanation,
and research. It is di erent from, and not, a concrete or natural system. An
actual, concrete or natural system, also called as membership-system, consists of

human beings or actual individuals. Eastons analytic system is made of
abstractions that focus selected elements of human behaviour.
His system, thus, is a set of particular interactions, which is related to allocation

of values that are binding for society and their implementation, within that
membership or concrete system, called society. Binding nature of the set of
interactions is another quality separating political system from other systems.
This abstract analytic system interacts with its environment, converting its
inputs into outputs through processes or within puts, and feedback as shown in
the following diagram:
2.Environment:
Eastons political system is a complex set of certain processes or interactions
which transforms particular inputs into outputs of authoritative policies,
decisions, and implementation. This conversion takes place in some environment.
As an open system, it must have the resilience to respond to that environment,
facing all obstacles, and adjusting itself to conditions.
Only by doing so, it can survive or exist over a period of time.
Analytically, environment can be of two types:
(i) Extra-societal, and
(ii) Intra-societal.
As given in the Diagram above extra-societal environment involves international

political systems, like various political systems, alliances, UNO, etc.; international
ecological systems; and, international social systems, as cultural, socio-
structural, economic, demographic, and other systems. Intra-societal systems
include ecological, biological, personality-oriented, social, cultural, socio-
structural, and demographic systems operating within the political system.
Con icts, strains, and changes emerging out of environment can prove functional
or dysfunctional to that political system. Therefore, the latter should have, for its
survival, persistent capability to respond to that environment. Easton rightly puts
more emphasis on the capacity of the system to cope with the environment.
Countries of the Third World can nd a lot of useful material in Eastons concept
of environment, and required capacity to deal with it.
Easton has pointed out that system theorists have spoken a lot on the rst two
concepts system and environment. As regards the third and fourth concepts
of response and feedback, he can be said to have made his own contribution to
systems theory. In fact, the latter concepts, instead of being singular ones, are
clusters of many concepts. So is the case with the rst two concepts also.
3.Response:
A political system has to respond to its environment in coping with crises,
stresses, and other di culties. It has also to perform, on its own, some other
functions, such as, maintaining order in the society and to uphold its own form
and identity amid ever-changing environment. All of them have been put under
the generic concept of response.
Speci cally, the political system has to perform three main categories of
functions:
(a) Allocation of values for society,
(b) To motivate its members to accept the allocations as binding, and
(c) To cope with stress and challenges coming to the system.
The rst two are essential parts of political life. Without them neither can the
political system exist nor the society survive without the political system as such.
Easton gives the central place to systemic persistence which usually remains
under stress for several factors. The system has to look into the sources of stress
and modes or processes of regulating stress. A political system is a set of
interacting essential variables which uctuate within a certain limit or range. It
cannot go beyond its critical range. The system is considered under stress, if
the essential variables push it to cross over the critical range.
The system tries to remain within critical range, but at times, it is compelled to
go beyond. For its survival and persistence, it has to respond in many ways at
the level of demands or support, or at output or feedback levels. The political
system collapses in case it is unable to cope with coming stresses and crises
Therefore, it is always necessary constantly to evaluate the nature of stresses,
capacity of the system to cope with, and the means and methods to do so.
The political system is driven by:
(a) Demands and challenges made on it, and
(b) Support, it gets from its members.
It meets the challenge of demands with the help of supports, but it can
manipulate and regulate both. It receives them in form of inputs from its
environment, the society at large. These inputs are converted into outputs, but
the system also keeps a watch over e ects and consequences of its outputs
through feedback, which helps it constantly to modify its inputs as well as
outputs. Eastons political system, in a way, is a conversion process in which
inputs are transformed into outputs, helped and guided by feedback.
All the systemic responses are broadly divided into two categories:
(a) Inputs, and
(b) Outputs.
(a)Inputs:
Inputs are responses entering into the system.
They consist of:
(1) Demands, and
(2) Supports.
Demands put strain or stress on the system, whereas support provides energy to
sustain it. Though the two are of di erent nature, still they make up one category
of inputs to be converted into outputs through within-puts or the conversion
process. Easton does not discuss the nature or form of within-puts. The political
system receives both demands and supports from society or environment. It is
driven by demands, and sustained by supports.
(1) Demands:
Demand is an expression of opinion that an authoritative allocation with regard

to a particular subject matter should or should not be made by those responsible
for doing so. It can take the form of stress, e ects, demands, agitations, crises
etc. all coming from environment. They all intend to in uence, move, modify, or
change the political system, and can be undi erentiated wants, articulated recog-
nizable demands, or speci c issues. Mostly, they are of collective or public nature.
Demands are, after their determination, satis ed through allocation of values.
Demands can take several forms, such as, provision for certain things, services,
and conveniences; regulating public behaviour; participating in the political
system, for making symbolic expressions, etc. A system may not be in a position
to convert all demands into outputs. It looks into quantity, nature of contents,
source, kind, volume, intensity, etc. Only a few demands reach the output stage.
Excessive demands put stress over the system, and cause overload. Overload
may be due to the volume, intensity, velocity, urgency, and contents of the
demand.
In order to deal with the problem of overload or excessive demands, the political
system can make use of several regulatory mechanisms:
(i) Structural mechanism:
It is located at the boundary of the system and regulates the ow of articulation

of demands. Unimportant demands are scrutinised and regulated by and through
various gate-keeping roles. They may not even be allowed to enter the system.
(ii) Cultural mechanism:
On the basis of prevailing socio-cultural norms, certain demands can be

designated as incompatible with them, thus, lessened in considerable manner, if
not rejected altogether. Sometimes they become the basis or constraints of
political demands.
(iii) Communication channels:
Through the use of TV, radio, correspondence, press, etc. demands may be
strengthened or weakened or diluted to a considerable extent.
(iv) Reduction processes:
Demands may be reduced to a limited number through a process-selection,

scrutiny, grouping, etc. Some criteria, general or restricted, may be added to it.
(2) Support:
A political system also receives support from its environment. After subtracting
demands from inputs, we get supports which operate between the system and its
environment. They are positive responses towards speci c objects or level of a
political system. Support can be towards (a) the political community which means
the acceptance of political division of labour; (b) the regime which embodies basic
values, political structures, and norms underlying the political system; and (c) the
political authorities or persons holding power in the given context. Support can be
given at some particular or all levels.
Support to political community re ects paying regard to the general form and
arrangement of power in the society, and acceptance of the demarcation between
the political and non-political. Support to a regime broadly means legitimacy of
the system, its constitutionality, basic structure, and inherent values. The last
level invokes holding of respect, loyalty, and obedience to the particular persons
wielding political authority. It includes administrators and o cials.
The support can be rendered in many ways by paying taxes, obedience to law,
participation in the form of voting, discussion, comments, and constructive
suggestions, or deference towards public authorities. The form and style of
expressing support can be overt or covert, positive or negative, di use or speci c,
and so on. Often the political system obtains support by and through allocation
values and implementation thereof, manipulation of outputs, socialisation, and
other political means.
Without support at a certain minimum level, no political system can persist.

There can be many causes of failure, as is the case with some Third World
countries for not getting support from their populace, such as inadequate use of
regulatory mechanism, non-generation of support, and neglect of outputs.
(b)Outputs:
Outputs are the decisions and actions of the authorities. They produce e ects and
consequences which have direct relation with the members attitude and
behaviour for the system. Easton calls them as authoritative allocation of values,
binding decisions and actions, or exchange between the system and its
environment. Output is turnout or production made by the political authorities. It
is the ow of those responses which go from the system to environment.
Outputs are converted inputs or nished goods prepared from the raw material of
inputs. Even the political authorities themselves can also take initiative in the
making of outputs. They are the results of the transformation process of the
political system.
Outputs reveal many forms realisation of taxes, regulation of public behaviour

and conduct, distribution of honours, goods, and services, allocation of values,
display of symbolic outputs, etc. They are re ected in verbal or written
statements from the authorities as well as concrete actions. They can be the
e ects or results of immediately authorised decisions.
If they relate to decisions taken in distant past, they would be called as outcome.
In case they are not binding, they would be named as co-outputs. Outputs can be
inter or intra systemic. In all cases, they release support-stress. They can be
regarded as a primary source to get speci c support, but a satisfactory ow of
output over a period of time tends to produce all-out or di use support.
Outputs have several aspects economic, social, cultural, political, etc. From the
viewpoint of political system, political aspects of the outputs are more important.
They in uence the broader society or environment, and also determine the need
and form of each succeeding round of inputs. Even the form, need, and quality of
support depends on it.
4.Feedback:
Feedback is another important concept in Eastons systems theory. Capacity of a
political system to persist over time depends on feedback. It is a dynamic process
through which information about the outputs and the environment is
communicated to the system which may result in subsequent change or
modi cation of the system. Information about demands and supports may enter
the system as inputs in usual manner.
When information relating to converted inputs, or outputs comes in, then there is
a kind of re-communication of information, or re-inputation of inputs already
converted into outputs. By doing so, the political system gets an opportunity to
modify or transform its behaviour conducive to that feedback. In this manner, it
can make it more e ective or persist in a better way. In the absence of feedback,
it is likely to operate in the usual unresponsive manner, and lose support.
Information about environment reaching as inputs in usual manner may enter

the system too late. It may reach there in a distorted form, as it happened with
Indira Gandhi Government (1977) and the Shah of Iran (1979)- Loop means a
curve that rejoins the main line farther on. Feedback Loop connotes a process
wherein information is obtained; actions, reactions or responses are made on it;
then to see the result, and re-collect the same; and, to be bene ted by it to
achieve the goal.
It includes the arrangement and linking of information channels for the aforesaid
purpose. Feedback involves a continuity by linking of obtaining information,
reacting, and knowing the e ects further to improve upon Systems behaviour and
responses. It is a output-information-reinputation- recommunication-
reoutputation process.
Feedback process, in this way, is concerned with input sequence, demands and
support emerging out of environment, conversion processes, outputs, and
feedback mechanisms. Feedback mechanisms carry e ects and consequences of
the outputs into the system again as inputs. They make the system dynamic,
purposive, and goal-oriented. Interactions and their various forms within a
system confront the problems of stress, maintenance, etc., by counter-balancing,
by reducing, or by removal. But their interaction-circuits may remain incomplete
or breakdown at any point, e.g., stoppage at the level of demands. A demand has
to go along with the long conversion process.
Its shape, size and content may considerably change till it reaches the output-
stage. Sometimes, the demand dies out by then completely. Similarly, information
coming from the environment may not be considered as a demand by the
authorities. Ultimately, the latter have to decide whether some allocation of

values should be made to meet that demand or not. But reaction or response to
every such breakdown of the circuit has to be taken into consideration for further
action and implementation by the system.
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Easton presents the concept of feedback loop as the basis of the capacity of the
outputs to generate speci c support. It connects the consequences of the outputs
with the in ow of inputs: demands and supports. Thus, it establishes a
circulatory relationship between inputs and outputs. There is all-round impact of
this dynamic process on support, stress, survival and persistence. It completes
the political circuit through its input conversion output feedback process.
In a political system, several feedback processes operate at various levels. But
Easton relates the feedback processes pertaining to the whole political system.
For analytical purposes, there are two forms of feedback:
(i) Negative feedback it relates to the information regarding the system and the
regulation of errors; and
(2) Goal-transforming feedback it is concerned with the purposeful redirection

of the system.
In all conditions, feedback is a regulatory demand of political systems. However,

feedback itself can su er from many pathologies, regarding accuracy,
responsiveness, time-lag, etc. Several mistakes can take place in the process of
communication. Even delayed information can cause great harm to the survival of
a political system.
The feedback loop can be analysed from several angles. From the view of system-
maintenance or gaining speci c support, its operation can be divided into four
stages:
(1) There are situations of feedback, which can come out of authorised direction,
associate outputs, or outcomes. They all are part of the political system. But its
estimation depends on its perception or observation.
(2) There are feedback-responses which can be in the form of satisfying the
demands, or positive or negative support.
(3) In the third stage feedback-responses are communicated to the political

authorities.
(4) In the last stage, after completion of the feedback-circuit the authorities
deliberate, discuss, and arrive at certain decisions. Much depends on variables
like responsiveness of authorities, time-lag, availability of information-resources
for decision-making, etc. Here, resources of the system as a whole are involved.
The feedback loop, in Eastons input-output analysis, interlinks authorities and
its members in a manner that the former may take steps soon after they get
information through the feedback.
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6/21/2017 4 Major Premises of System Theory according to Eastons Model Analysis

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4 Major Premises of System Theory

The basic unit of Eastons system analysis is interaction. Interaction is

(iii) Response; and

In the analysis of politics, one has to make use of these concepts.

Easton is not satis ed to see political activity merely as direction of man by

In a sense, his concept of system is integrative involving values, culture,

The latter can nd these as favourable or obstructive to its survival. As such, it

It may be reiterated that Eastonian framework of systems theory is conceptual

actual, concrete or natural system, also called as membership-system, consists of

His system, thus, is a set of particular interactions, which is related to allocation

Only by doing so, it can survive or exist over a period of time.

Analytically, environment can be of two types:

(i) Extra-societal, and

As given in the Diagram above extra-societal environment involves international

(a) Allocation of values for society,

(b) To motivate its members to accept the allocations as binding, and

(c) To cope with stress and challenges coming to the system.

The political system is driven by:

(a) Demands and challenges made on it, and

(b) Support, it gets from its members.

(a) Inputs, and

Inputs are responses entering into the system.

They consist of:

(1) Demands, and

Demand is an expression of opinion that an authoritative allocation with regard

(i) Structural mechanism:

It is located at the boundary of the system and regulates the ow of articulation

(ii) Cultural mechanism:

On the basis of prevailing socio-cultural norms, certain demands can be

(iii) Communication channels:

(iv) Reduction processes:

Demands may be reduced to a limited number through a process-selection,

Without support at a certain minimum level, no political system can persist.

Outputs reveal many forms realisation of taxes, regulation of public behaviour

Information about environment reaching as inputs in usual manner may enter

authorities. Ultimately, the latter have to decide whether some allocation of

For analytical purposes, there are two forms of feedback:

(2) Goal-transforming feedback it is concerned with the purposeful redirection

In all conditions, feedback is a regulatory demand of political systems. However,

(3) In the third stage feedback-responses are communicated to the political

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