XP1422 Politics, Law and Power Anthropologists and political scientists alike affirm the precept that all societies must maintain social order and control over time if they are to remain viable and continuous. All cieties have developed a means for making and enforcing decisions, resolving disputes, regulating the behavior of persons within its political and geographic jurisdiction, defending its boundaries, and resolving conflicts with other communities or nations. These topics generally are discussed under the headings of political organization, law, power, authority, social control, and conflict resolution Europeans assume politics and political processes to include: 1) political leaders such as presidents, governors, mayors, or commissioners; 2) complex bureaucracies and regulations; 3)legislative and administrative agencies; 4)formal judicial proceedings involving municipal, state and federal courts; 5) law enforcement bodies such as police, national guard and the armed forces, etc. We are familiar with all of these institutions as means of political control and power. However, many societies in the world maintain none of these offices and agencies as part of their political organization. However, political organization -defined as a set of customary procedures that accomplish decision making, conflict resolution, and social control are found in varying forms among different peoples Social action involving dimensions of power and law always involve the question of"what is politics? Is law synonymous with politics, and can you have law without establishing the legal precedent common to North American and European courts? Does politics al ways evolve the use of power? How and when is power legitimized, and is it always sanctioned by the state? Politics and power are often considered synonymous; but are they always one and the same thing? Can you have one without the other? Power has been defined as the ability to coerce or persuade someone else to do what you want them to do, such as Marlon Brandos famous phrase in the Godfather, "Make him an offer he can't refuse "And are rituals ever political? Indeed, because ritual is usually identified with religion and, since modern Western societies have presumably separated political affairs from religious life, there is an assumption that ritual remains politically significant only in less"advanced "societies. In fact, Thomas Hobbes stated that order life can only exist where there is central government, or within the state ithout the state, he proclaimed, life is carnal, short, and brutish. Politics is concerned with the aking of policy and decisions which affect how people order their affairs and control their resources. How are such decisions arrived at and by whom; how are those who make these decisions appointed, controlled and replaced; what are the limits to their actions? In this unit, I will try and coax you to believe that political actions and symbolism are often laden with religious content and meaning, and are expressed through ritual and rites Types of political Organization Band organization This is the simplest of social and political organizations. Band societies are hunting and gathering societies that come together annually to carry out joint ritual and economic activities