FUNCTIONALISM AND ITS CRITICS - Intercollegiate Studies Institute

248 THE POLITICAL SCIENCE REVIEWER
II. POLITICAL AND SOCIAL CHANGE :
A FUNCTIONAL APPROACH
Almond' s 'Comparative Politics offers two theories of political
development which, for want of better terms, may be called his
general and special theories. The general theory implicitly draws
upon biological analogies. Societies begin as one celled (primitive)
creatures, and gradually differentiate. They develop specialized roles
and structures (cells and organs), such as judiciaries, specialized
organs of communication, etc., for dealing with particular problems.
As they do so their capacity to deal with their environment increases,
although problems of coordination become more pressing,
entailing the creation of a more complex 'bureaucratic (nervous?)
system. 32
Almond suggests on a number of occasions that relative
subsystem autonomy is an important aspect of development, the
argument being that such autonomy allows for the more efficient
performance by particular structures of their functions." The implication
is sometimes that modern pluralistic societies on the English
or American model are more advanced than one party regimes. 34
Almond, however, is not completely convinced, for in his comparisons
of the Soviet with other modern regimes he speaks of the
high capabilities of the former, in terms which will be described
later. 35
Democratic pluralistic regimes are more advanced than one
party regimes or traditional regimes in still another way. Culturally,
a major feature of development is secularization, defined as " the
process whereby men become increasingly rational, analytical, and
empirical in their political action." 3fi " We may illustrate this concept,
" Almond notes:
by comparing a political leader in a modern democracy with a
political leader in a traditional or primitive African political system.
A modem democratic political leader when running for office, for
instance, will gather substantial amounts of information about the
"Comparative Politics, pp. 299-332.
33
Ibid., pp. 311-312, for example.
34 1bid. Almond uses the term totalitarian to describe one party regimes
such as the Soviet.
35
Ibid., p. 278.
"Ibid., p. 24.