David Easton's 'Authoritative Value Allocation' - Activating the Definition's Potential

Abstract

Easton’s often-cited definition is most useful for the study of government or, as he puts it, for political systems able to allocate values authoritatively. It is of only limited use, however, for the study of systems without an overarching authority. The international system is a case in point. It is decentralized and anarchic rather than hierarchical in nature, but it is still of great interest to political scientists. The same applies to political transformations, to processes of integration or disintegration that are typical of the rise and fall of political systems. Failing states are an example. It follows that Easton’s definition is helpful in only some areas of our discipline. But that need not be. The concept of ‘authority’, central to Easton’s definition, harbors unused potential that can be activated without diluting its core. The wider definition, as I will show, enables us to conceive of a comprehensive ‘field’ of politics.

Keywords: Politics, authority, sovereignty, Easton, concepts, definitions