What is the Aristotelian classification of state? (CSS 2021)
Evaluate Aristotle’s classification of government in detail (PMS 2019)
Give a critical analysis of Aristotle’s classification of Governments (CSS 2016)
Aristotle, the father of Political Science, discussed his political thought/theory in his book Politics. According to him; “man by nature is a social animal, and likes to live with other human beings and cannot live alone. Man makes a family, which makes a village. Many villages make a city. To make an environment of peace and order, there’s a need for a city state to have its law to provide justice. For this purpose, people elect the head of state to oversee their political, legal and economic affairs.”
He studied 158 constitutions of Greek city states and classified states/governments into six categories, which is called the Classification of state/government by Aristotle: Monarchy, Tyranny, Aristocracy, Oligarchy, Polity and Democracy. Let’s discuss it further.
According to Aristotle, initially, monarchy works for the welfare of the citizens. After some time, when the monarch acts for his self-interest it becomes tyranny. Aristocracy (rule by rich) is good, when it works for citizen welfare, and after some time, becomes corrupt, and is called oligarchy. Polity (rule by mixed - rich and poor) is good when works for common interest and after sometimes becomes corrupt, and is called democracy.
Aristotle says that Polity is the best practicable state, if the middle class makes government. Because when the rich class works for her self-interest, it becomes oligarchy and when poor people work for their interests, it becomes democracy. Hence, he proposed that Polity is the best government, because the middle class promotes equality, fairness, rule of law, transparency and equal distribution of resources, because neither they have enough wealth to exploit the masses nor they are poor enough to exploit the rich.
Aristotle’s theory of Justice: He divided justice into two types:
Universal Justice
Particular Justice
Corrective Justice
Distributive Justice
Universal Justice: citizens should abide by the laws of the state.
Corrective Justice: State should secure the rights of individuals against oppressing and encroachments by other citizens, and should punish the offender.
Distributive Justice: state should distribute resources among citizens according to merit.
(Note: This article is the solved solution of the past papers of CSS and PMS regarding Political Science, Western Political Thought.)