Society's Organisation and Management Analysis

The most recent update was 8 November 2025 ref. SOMA - India

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Society’s Organisation and Management Analysis

(SOMA)

1st Edit

Note - this article is the first Edit, it is in progress and will be considerably extended and changed.

Index

Society’s Organisation and Management Analysis (this page) (The most recent update was 8 November 2025 - India)

The Organisation and Management of Social Change (The most recent update was 7 September 2025)

As can be seen from the boxed diagrams below, society seems to need four elements for civilization. These are an overall authority (ruler/government) legislative (makes the laws) executive (administrates the law) and judicial (enforces the law).

It seems that any civilization must have an overall authority.

A typical ruler in an early stage of society’s evolution.

There is an old saying: ‘Might is right’’.

A corrupted ruler in a later stage of society's evolution.

There is another old saying: ‘Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely’.

Note, the quotes below have been modified to give a simpler presentation although care has been taken to retain the original meaning.

Definitions, with reference to The Concise Oxford Dictionary 1990.

Barbarism - the absence of culture and civilised standards, ignorant and rude,

Savage - fierce, cruel, wild, primitive.

Society - the sum of human conditions and activity regarded as a whole functioning interdependency. (Ed - the structure of a group of people dependent on one another)

Civilisation - an advance stage or system of social development (Ed - that involves societies' organisation and management)

An innate evolutionary characteristic of Men that makes society’s organisation and management so difficult !

An innate evolutionary characteristic of Women that makes society’s organisation and management so difficult !

The following is quoted from an article by Lionel M. Munby M.A. dated approximately 1950. He was a tutor at Cambridge University with an interest in the organisation of societies. The pictures and Ed.s have been added for clarity and humour.

Quote -

Government

Family Authority

Early man, like simple peoples in all ages, had no proper government nor any written laws. The family bound people together with common ties and duties to one another. At the head of the family was the mother or father and they were the only authority, as they still are the first authority a growing child meets.

Matriarchal or patriarchal ?

The primitive family (the matriarchal or patriarchal family) was much larger than ours of today. It included grandparents and grandchildren and also cousins. The head was the grandmother and grandfather and when they died the eldest daughter or son. This was the kind of family, a little society of its own, which Abraham ruled. The father had powers of life and death over all it's members. So Abraham prepared to sacrifice Isaac, and Roman fathers still had this right; the pater potestas. Early religious beliefs came from this source of authority in the family; the Romans maintained an altar on the family hearth; the Chinese practised ancestor worship.

Society Authority

When families and tribes of men came together in the river valleys of the Middle East and Asia to form the first human civilizations, some new authority was necessary. Government and laws arose in these societies which were too large to be controlled by one family and it’s head.

Egyptian Authority

In ancient Egypt it was necessary to control and to plan for the annual flooding of the valley by the Nile waters, on which the harvest and the lives of everyone depended. It was necessary to have an authority which all the members of every family would obey as they would each obey the head of their own family. It was necessary to maintain soldiers who would protect the wealth of Egypt.

Basic family farming

Simple extended family farming

Complex group farming needing organisation and management

The priests developed rules of behaviour, written laws, out of the customs of the family. They gave them the magic support of the gods and the real support of the government. The head of the government was a kind of super-father, a priest-king. Rule by kings (who may have been the strongest or wealthiest or most respected member of the community) is the oldest kind of government and from earliest times the king, and to some extent his whole family, were distinguished from all other people not merely by their power and their authority but by being thought of as gods.

( Ed. Munby M.A. suggests nine types of government as follows . . .

1 Holy Monarchs, as per ancient Rome’s Caesars.
2 Aristocrats, as per ancient Republican Rome.
3 Oligarchs, as per the rich, powerful, and war lords.

4 Democrats, as per peoples' vote.
5 Ochlocracy, as per ancient Athens mob rule.

6 Tyrannical, as per Hitler and Stalin.
7 Dictatorial, as per Hitler and Stalin.

8 Parliaments, as per Britain, France, and the USA.
9 Communism, as per Communist Russia, and Communist China.

There is also religious rule, as practiced by Oliver Cromwell in England 1653 to 1658 )

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1 Holy Monarchs Authority

Whether the first king, the founder of a dynasty, was a wise man, a priest, or a warrior, he soon became, as king, expected to combine all qualities. So the ruler of Egypt was thought of as the Son of Ra, the sun-god; the emperor of China was the Son of Heaven, and Roman emperors were called ‘Divus’, as in godly, and on their death supposed to join the company of the gods in Heaven. It was this worship of the emperor which led to the Roman persecutions of Jews and Christians. They alone among all the religions of the peoples of the Roman Empire refused to worship a human being.

When Constantine made Christianity the official religion of the Roman Empire, the worship of the emperor, of course, ceased. But some of the past remained for many centuries. Kings and emperors throughout the Middle Ages and into modern times were believed to be the very special representatives of God on earth. When Charlemagne revived the Roman Empire in the West he was crowned by the Pope as the head of the Christian Church in the West. Throughout the middle Ages Charlemagne’s successors, the ‘Holy Roman Emperors’, thought of themselves as almost equally representative of God on earth as was the Pope. This sometimes led to quarrels between them. The real end to the idea of a Holy Emperor came when Napoleon Bonaparte, wishing to be crowned emperor of the French by the Pope, was too impatient to allow the ceremony to finish and snatched the crown from the Pope’s hands to crown himself.

Monarchy as a system of government still survives in Britain and some other countries but many other countries have quite different ideas about government; and while many people in Britain and the Commonwealth still have a special reverence for the queen or king, hardly anyone today would claim for them any special divine inspiration.

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2 Aristocrat Authority

The beginning of modern ideas about government can be found in the experience of the Greek city states and of the early Roman republic. These states had lost their kings and developed new forms of government, in which larger numbers of citizens were active. When this government was by a few people, the oldest and best citizens, whether chosen by birth or by education, it was called an aristocracy. (Ed. The word ‘aristocracy’ is Greek and means rule by the best)

The Greek writer Plato, in his book the Republic, explained how he thought the best society would be obtained under the rule of aristocratic philosopher-kings; Gordonstoun school, where the Duke of Edinburgh was educated, drew some of it's inspiration from Plato’s writings.

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3 Oligarchy Authority

When government by a few fell into the hands of a few who were chosen for other reasons than their ability as rulers, those who sought power for its own sake or those who were the wealthiest or the strongest instead of the most wise, the Greeks called it an oligarchy.

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4 Democratic Authority

The ideal - calm, thoughtful, and reasonable.

When all the citizens took part in government, as in Athens, the Greeks called it democracy, which is government by the people (demos).

( Ed. ‘Democracy in it’s present form is divisive and involves regular elections that are bloodless civil battles. This adversely effects society’s unity and provokes dissatisfaction and disorder causing an inefficient society. Proportional representation involves constant strife. However democracy does disperse power and reduces the corruption that results from a concentration of power into a ruling elite such as absolute monarchies and dictators.

Anon )

The reality of a typical national election.

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5 Ochlocratic Authority

When a government degenerated into hysteria, they called it an ochlocracy, government by the mob. ( Ed. An example of this is the French revolution in 1793 )

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6 Tyrannical Authority

Degenerate government (whether by a few or by the mob, oligarchy or ochlocracy) was easily replaced by tyranny, the rule of a single man, a tyrant with powers of life and death over all. The tyrant rose to power and continued in office by lies, trickery, and bullying.

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7 Dictatorial Authority

The Greeks and Romans used the word dictator, a man who had absolute power, in another sense. A dictator was a man given absolute power freely by his fellow citizens in time of great emergency, as in war. He might abuse his power and become a tyrant or he might surrender it at the end of the emergency. In Greek and Roman use Hitler became a tyrant. Sir Winston Churchill during the war years was almost given a dictator’s powers. Perhaps one could describe Stalin as a dictator who degenerated into a tyrant.

Approx 1933, Hitler, statesman - respected and admired

Approx 1936, Hitler,
dictator - discipline and unity

Approx 1943, Hitler
tyrant - and terror

( Ed. The effects of a concentration of power may result not only in corruption but also in dictatorship and tyranny. )

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8 Parliaments Authority

These ideas were of tremendous importance to the world. They influenced all the countries of Europe, and indeed of the world, as modern governments evolved. Self-government, government of the people by the people, has taken many different forms in the modern world. It can be traced back in part to the self government of the village community, the panchayat in India, the halimote in Anglo Saxon England. This sprang from the need for discussion and agreement in the village before the communal lands could be tilled. Medieval kings built on this base by calling representatives in the local community to advise them on certain problems of government; so parliaments ( talkings - French parler ) developed.

UK House of Commons, originated in the 14th Century (approx 1350)

Modern (Ed. 1950s) political democracy has grown out of this experience and those medieval institutions inspired by Greek and Roman ideas. One nation after another has found their own paths towards their own form of ‘Government of the people, by the people, for the people’, to use the words made famous by the American United States President Abraham Lincoln. Three nations have contributed most to this development - Britain, the United States, and France.

Britain

Britain in the seventeenth century revolted against kings who claimed to rule by divine right. Parliament, especially the House of Commons, represented the country gentry and yeomen and the merchants of town and country. It claimed on their behalf the ultimate right to decide the nature of the country’s government. The Parliament won it’s war with the king, Charles the first, and although his son, Charles the second, was invited back as king by a later parliament, the essential claim of English kings to absolute power was broken.

British Democracy

In the following centuries the vote, the power to choose the members of parliament, was given to wider and wider groups of Britons; in 1918 to all men over 21 and all women over 30; and in 1928 to men and women over 21. In the same centuries the king’s power became less and less and the House of Commons, the elected House, became the real centre of government; so much so that when many people talk of parliament they mean the House of Commons, though in fact parliament means the King or Queen, the House of Lords, and the House of Commons working together.

The UK Parliament -

The House of Lords

The House of Commons

The Legislative

The parliament as a whole makes the laws, so it is called the legislative. In Britain the executive is part of the legislative; the system produces strong government and a strong executive.

The Executive

The British Government today ( Ed.- approx 1957 ) is led by a small group of ministers, the Cabinet; they are the leaders of the political party with a majority in the House of Commons.

The Cabinet and the ministers are called the executive; they administer the laws and decide on policies which they carry out in the name of the Queen. ( Ed. Approx 1957 )

UK Government Structure

The United States of America (USA)

The second nation to develop its own distinct tradition of democracy was the U.S.A. Between 1776 and 1783 the British colonies in North America rebelled against the mother country, largely due to Britain’s own bad government. As they won their freedom the thirteen separate colonies came together to form a new nation.

USA declaration of independence

The USA Federation

Their government was a federation, each of the thirteen original states, and the thirty-five which joined them later, had a distinct government of it’s own. They all joined together to give certain powers to the central federal government. But the federal government could not interfere with-in each separate state unless it had been given the right to do so. So the F.B.I., the well known Federal Bureau of Investigation, the central government’s police force, cannot always proceed against criminals everywhere in the U.S.A.

The American government is different from Britain’s in that it’s three main parts, the legislative, the executive, and the judicature (the law courts) are independent of each other. In Britain the Prime Minister and his cabinet (the executive) are members of parliament and are chosen by it. They appoint the judges subject to parliament’s approval. In the U.S.A. the President and his cabinet are not members of the parliament (i.e. Congress and the Senate), nor are they chosen by it.

The President is directly elected by the voters and chooses his own cabinet who are not members of Congress or of the Senate. These are the two houses of the U.S.A. parliament. Congress is elected by constituencies rather like the British ones, the Senate consists of two senators elected for each of the forty-eight states (1957) of the U.S.A. whatever their size or population.

Congress and the Senate make the laws, but the President combines the position of King with that of Prime Minister. He is, perhaps, the most powerful man in the world, the recognised head of the world’s wealthiest and most powerful state, the commander of it's armed forces and the centre of it's policy-making. ( Ed. 1957 ) The President, Congress, and the Senate are quite independent of one another, but naturally have to get on together.

The judicature is headed by the Supreme court; it’s members are appointed by the President but cannot be removed by him; he can only appoint when a vacancy occurs on a judge’s death or retirement. The Supreme Court, unlike British law-courts, can rule that laws passed by Congress and Senate, as well as acts of the executive, are illegal. It can do this because the United States has a written constitution (Britain has not, of course).

The Basic Principles of the USA Constitution

The Constitution is above President and Congress, and the Supreme Court decides if they are breaking it’s provisions.

Ed. Hence, Constitution

Supreme Court

President

Congress

The USA Parliament

France

In 1789 the “ancient regime”, the old order, in France disappeared in revolution.

Napoleon Bonaparte

Out of the revolution there appeared a statement of the Rights of Man and that famous motto “Liberty, Equality, and Fraternity”. Since 1789 France has seen many changes of government, but after each upheaval she has returned to a republican form of government. Like the United States, France has a written constitution.

France’s Modern Written Constitution is Based on the Napoleonic Code
(as are a number of other nations)

The Head of the French State is also a President elected by the voters. He is not the head of the government and so has not any great power. France like Britain has a Prime Minister, who is the head of the government (the executive); he and the cabinet he chooses, as in Britain too, must be members of parliament. The French parliament has two houses, a National Assembly and a Senate.

Because France has many political parties and none with an absolute majority, and because of certain clauses in the constitution, the French legislate (the National Assembly) controls the executive (the government) far more closely than the British parliament does. So France tends to have weaker governments than Britain or the United States. On the other hand, the judicature (the law courts) are perhaps more subject to government influence.

The French Legislative Parliament National Assembly

Most countries of western and northern Europe have governments like one or other of these three kinds.

(Ed. The British social system has evolved over nearly 1000 years, since the Norman invasion of 1066, and has stood the test of time and trial. The USA is a comparatively young social system established in 1780 of only 220 years that was designed at the beginning of it’s life with a written constitution. France underwent a complete social change in 1789 and is also a young social system of just over 200 years with a written constitution)

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9 Communism

The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR)

Since 1917 a new and rival form of government to parliamentary democracy has appeared. After the revolution in Russia (Ed. In 1917) the Communists created a state ruled by one party, the Communist Party. It was based on soviets, local councils elected by workers and peasants; the former rich and priests at first had no vote. The central government is called the Supreme Soviet; it has two chambers, one elected by the whole population in equal constituencies, the other (the Soviet of Nationalities), like the United States Senate, represents the different republics in the U.S.S.R. Not all members of the soviets are members of the Communist Party, but there is no other, so government is different from Britain, the U.S.A. and France.

The USSR Government Structure

There can be no opposition party to take over the job of government if the one in power loses the confidence of the voters. Theoretically the Supreme Soviet always expresses ‘the will of the proletariat for workers’, so it can never lose their confidence. The Supreme Soviet meets less often and has less real power than the parliaments of other countries. The ‘Praesidium’, (Ed. Is this the President and the Cabinet?) which it chooses and which is rather like the cabinet, has the power to make decrees (laws) and in fact does most of the governing and lawmaking. The executive part of government, then, is very strong in the USSR.

Since the 1939 - 1945 war many countries in eastern Europe and China have communist governments. These are not all quite the same in form. In some of them parties other than the Communist Party exist, though they do not have as much power; there have been recent signs that their parliaments may be given greater influence and more power to criticize and make laws. The real difference between communist government and the old democracies remains, however, that in all communist governments the executive is very strong and almost uncontrolled, while in one way or another in Britain, France and the U.S.A. it is checked by the legislative and judicature.

End of quote from an article by Lionel M. Munby M.A. (Cambridge)

It should be remembered that the concentration of power can be dangerous in that it not only corrupts but it also can lead to dictators and tyrants.

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The Russian Federation

In 1985 the USSR started a fundamental change from a martial communist society to a democratic multi-party one.

On the 17 March 1991 a referendum resulted in the overwhelming majority of citizens voting to change the USSR into a federation.

On the 25 December 1991 the USSR was ended and replaced by the Russian Federation with a market economy.

In December 1993 a further referendum introduced and approved the Federation constitution.

Thus the transition from the USSR to the Russian Federation was completed. It should be noted that the transition appears to have involved disagreements, quarrels, and fighting (tanks bombarding the parliament building) as has always been the case for social change throughout history.

The Russian Federation is a federal presidential republic.

The president and government can issue numerous legally binding by-laws. The legislative element is called the Federation Assembly and consists of two chambers, the 450 member Duma and the 178 member Federation Council.

An executive element is formed from a multi-party government headed by the Chairman (prime minister), who is appointed by the president with the parliament’s approval. The President is elected by a popular vote, and appoints a cabinet that consists of the Chairman and his deputies, ministers, and selected other individuals.

Thus there is a power structure of -

The people’s vote.
The President.
The Chairman with deputies, ministers etc.

A judicial element is divided into four parts:

Courts of general jurisdiction (inc. military) – subordinate to the Supreme Court

Courts of arbitration (commercial) – subordinate to the High Court of Arbitration

Courts of constitution – subordinate to the Constitution

Courts of municipal (which hear more than 90 percent of all criminal and civil cases).

There are also courts of appeals and higher courts.

Judges are appointed for life by the Federation Council on the recommendation of the president.

Thus it would appear that the Russian Federation at 34 years old is the youngest western civilization in the world today (2025), and it remains to be seen how successful it will be. Only ‘time will tell’ and it is too early to judge.

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The People's Republic of China (PRC)

There are three elements to the SOMA of the country of China.

1 The nationalist Republic of China; the original rulers.

2 The Communist Party of China; a revolutionary force.

3 The People’s Republic of China; the new rulers.

History

After it’s victory over the nationalist Republic of China in the Chinese civil war, the Communist Party of China ruled over the mainland. The nationalist Republic of China’s army retreated to the island of Taiwan where the Communist Party of China’s army was not able to reach them.

On October 1949 the Communist Party of China established the People’s Republic of China to rule over all of China, including Taiwan. The constitution of the People’s Republic of China states that it is a socialist state under a people’s democracy led by the working classes. The state institutions apply the principles of democracy. The People’s Republic of China is one of the world’s socialist states that openly endorses communism.

Since 1976 the People’s Republic of China has built an incredible economy with it’s manufacturing industry becoming a world leader.

In 1979 the national Republic of China, which rules over Taiwan, began a process of changing to a multi-party representative democracy which appears to be based on the USA model.

Hence -

The People’s Republic of China is a communist one party democracy.

The Republic of China is capitalist multi-party democracy.

Unfortunately it appears that each claim to be the rightful ruler of all China thus making a war inevitable.

Government

The Parliament of the People's Republic of China

The government of the People’s Republic of China is under the control of the Communist Party, which controls the appointments in government institutions, with most senior government officials being members of the Communist Party.

The National People’s Congress is the constitutional highest authority of the state, but nominations for positions in it are controlled by the Communist Party, with another eight minor parties having nominal representation under the condition of recognising and supporting the Communist Party leadership.

A President is elected by the National People’s Congress - however it is the Communist Party of China that controls the appointment. Currently the General Secretary of the Communist Party of China, the President of the state, and the Commander of the Armed Forces are combined into one person, thus there is a concentration of power into this person. However the person is answerable to the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China’s National Party Congress which elects the person both into and out of the position of the General Secretary.

Please refer to the diagram below -

The Overall Power Structure of the People’s Republic of China

A Premier (prime minister) at the head of the government is nominated by the President and then elected by the National People’s Congress. The Premier is head of the State Council (cabinet) which consists of four vice premiers, state councilors and the heads of ministries and commissions.

The Power Structure of the Government of the People’s Republic of China

The Great Hall of the People

The government of the People’s Republic of China is by a central authority but with significant economical freedom of industry and services. Policies are often developed and tested out locally before being applied more widely, resulting in experimentation and feedback. Generally central authority refrains from drafting original policies - instead using informal networks and site visits to affirm or suggest changes to the newly developed local policy. Thus the central authority begins to draft formal policies only after a local policy has proved to be successful.

Hence the workers lead, and the central authority follows.

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The Communist Party of China

The Communist Party is the founding and ruling party of the People’s Republic of China.

Since 2018 the People’s Republic of China’s constitution states that a defining characteristic of it’s socialism is the leadership by the Communist Party and that the People’s Republic of China is a one party state.

Communist Party of China.

The highest institute of the Communist Party is the National Party Congress, which meets every five years to elect the party’s leader, referred to as the General Secretary, together with official groups such as the Politburo. The General Secretary has authority over the party, and hence state, but is answerable to the Central Committee of the National Party Congress which elects the person both into and out of the position.

Please refer to the diagram below -

Communist Party of China’s Power Structure

Communist Party of China’s Headquarters in Beijing

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India

As it appears that in 2025 A.D. India is the 4th largest economy in the world and is regarded as being the 3rd largest in the foreseeable future, it’s SOM has been included in this article.

Source of following information - Oxford Encyclopedia, 1955, Volume 1, Mankind.

Past Indian Civilizations

Pre-Aryan
The existence of the earliest known pre-Aryan civilization of India was only brought to light between 1920 and 1930. Excavations at the sites of Mohenjodaro in Sind and Harappa in the Punjab showed that there had been cities in northern India going back to a date between 3000 and 2500 B.C. Like the ancient civilizations of Mesopotamia and Egypt, these very early people developed their civilizations in river valleys, especially in the valley of the Indus, from which the name of India was derived.

Aryan
This term really refers to language only, not to race. The Aryan invaders who came about 1500 B.C., are the most important as they brought with them a branch of the IndoEuropean languages, which has profoundly effected all the languages with which it has come into contact, and which is the basis of most of the languages spoken in India today, except In the south.

The Aryan society was organized into four classes: the nobles, who were the war lords and rulers, the priests, who organized the social structures, the common people with their own customs, and the serf or slave class, with their own behavior patterns. These divisions became greatly modified and from this developed the Caste system which is the base of the Hindu society.

Hindu and Buddhist India.

Hindu Religion

Within a few years of Alexander the Great’s death (323 B.C.) an empire known as the Mauryan arose which drove the Greeks from the Indus valley, and brought most of India under one rule. This Empire lasted for about ninety years, under three great rulers, the best known of whom is Asoka. He must have been as efficient and strong a ruler as his predecessors, since he held together his great empire. But he is known to us for his preaching of peace and gentleness, courtesy to the aged, the poor, the servant, and the slave. Horrified by his one and only war, he accepted Buddhism and devoted the rest of his life to spreading it’s doctrines.

Buddhism Religion

Until Asoka’s conversion Buddhism was little more than a sect of Hinduism; he made it a state religion. But his peace plans failed, as peace plans so often do, and not long after his death in 232 B.C. his Empire vanished and India reverted to it’s normal condition of perpetual war.

For many centuries kingdoms rose and fell, and India endured endless warfare. Moslem power increased and the Hindus suffered cruel suppression. By the 16th century the first of the great Mogul Emperors established his power, and founded an Empire which lasted, though in a weakened state, until the British took control in the 18th century.

During the 16th century the first European trader settlements began in India. The Portuguese came first and then the Dutch and the English and later the Danes and the French. They settled along the coast, forming companies to trade and send merchandise to Europe. In 1600 A.D. the English East India Company was formed and after a struggle the other traders were driven out and England became the predominate power in India that replaced the Islamic Mogul empire; to the great relief of the Hindu population.

India’s Independence From Britain

The ‘Government of India’ Act of 1935 provided for immediate self-rule in the provinces and ultimately for a federation of the whole of the sub-continent.

With the end of the 2nd World War the Indian Congress refused to co-operate with the ruling powers via passive resistance. However the campaign of civil disobedience led to much violence. Meanwhile ever-increasing responsibility (power) was being placed in Indian hands. The lower grades of the civil service had always been placed in Indian hands. Now more and more higher civil service posts were open to them. Indian officers began to be appointed in the Indian army which previously had been all white British officers.

In 1947 British rule ended and India became fully independent of foreign rule.

End of information from Oxford Encyclopaedia, 1955, Volume 1, Mankind.

Source of following information - Wikipedia

Modern Indian Civilization History

During the late 16th and the 17th Centuries, the European trading companies in India competed with each other ferociously. By the last quarter of the 18th Century the English had outdone all others and established themselves as the dominant trading power in India. The British administered India for a period of about two centuries and brought about revolutionary changes in the social, political and the economic life of the country via a country wide railway system. It was British private enterprise that first built the Indian railways in the 1840s and controlled them for the purpose of trade and business, initially totally and later in part, until 1947 when the Indian government was able to take complete control. However a side effect of the railway was that it enabled aid to reach famine areas, and military force to stop the constant civil wars, and unite the country.

Government of India 2025 A.D.

The government of India is considered a parliamentary democracy, which means that the executive branch of government is held accountable to the legislative branch. Under this system of government, India has both a President, who is the Head of State, and a Prime Minister, who is the Chief Executive of the executive branch.

The country is politically divided into 29 states and 7 territories. It’s government is divided into 3 branches: the legislative, the executive, and the judicial. This same model is used at a state level as well. The following takes a closer look at the branches of government in India.

Indian’s Parliament

Structure of the Government

1 The Legislature

Lok Sabha (House of the People): The lower house of parliament, members are directly elected by the people.
Rajya Sabha (Council of States): The upper house of parliament, members are elected by the elected members of the State Legislative Assemblies.

2 The Executive

President: The head of state, the President has considerable powers but functions on the advice of the Cabinet.
Prime Minister: The leader of the majority party in the Lok Sabha, the Prime Minister is the functional head of government.
Cabinet Ministers: These are heads of various departments or ministries, such as finance, defense, health, and education.

3 The Judiciary

Supreme Court: The highest court of India, it has the final say in interpreting the Constitution and federal laws.

High Courts and Lower Courts: These deal with state laws and are under the administrative control of the respective state governments.

Legislative Branch

The legislative branch consists of a Parliament, divided into two houses: the Council of States and the Assembly of the People.

The Council of States (known as the Rajya Sabha) has a constitutional limit of 250 members. The President may appoint 12 members for their expertise in science, art, social sciences, or literature. The remaining members are elected by the legislative branches at the state and territory levels of government.

The Assembly of the People, known as the Lok Sabha, is considered the lower house of Parliament and has a constitutional limit of 552 members. The President may appoint 2 of these members from the Anglo-Indian community if it is decided that this population is not represented in this legislative branch. Other reserved seats include: 84 for representatives of the Scheduled Castes and 47 for representatives of the Scheduled Tribes. Both are groups of disadvantaged indigenous people.

Although the legislative branch is responsible for passing laws, it’s work must be approved by the judicial branch with respect to the Constitution before it may become law. The legislative branch does have some authority over the executive branch of government.

Executive Branch

The executive branch is made up of the President, the Prime Minister, and a Council of Ministers who are selected by Parliament.

The President is elected by groups from both houses of the Parliament and the legislative branches of each of India's states and territories. The President .leads the Council of Ministers with guidance from the Prime Minister and appoints a number of seats, including: state Governors, Attorney General, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, Chief Election Commissioner, and the Cabinet Secretary. The President also acts as the Commander-in-Chief over the military. Hence the position of President has considerable power.

The Prime Minister is the leader of the political party with a majority in Parliament. He serves as the Chief of Government, an advisor to the President, and the head of the Council of Ministers. This position also has the power to dismiss Ministers and propose legislation to Parliament.

Judicial Branch

The judicial branch of government is similar to that in European countries as it has retained many features from the British colonial era. This branch works independently of the legislative and executive branches. It consists of the Supreme Court of India, the High Courts at the state level, and the District and Sessions Courts at the local level.

The leaders of the Supreme Court are appointed by the President; these positions include the Chief Justice and 30 associate judges, who are recommended by the Chief Justice of India.

Refer to the diagram below.

Power Structure

Federal Structure

India follows a federal system where the powers and functions are divided between the Central government and the State governments as in the USA. Additionally, there are Union Territories which are directly administered by the Central government.

End of source of information from Wikipedia.

India has a huge population of approximately 1500 million (2025 A.D.) with a large and increasing economy. It is regarded a possible 3rd world power in the foreseeable future and could thus hold the balance of power between the western power of the USA and it’s allies, and the eastern power of China and it’s allies. This would be a position of great responsibility.

In order to provide an effective administration of the huge population, six levels of management are required to divide the population into manageable sizes. The basic unit of size is the urban ward and the rural village.

The Six Levels of Management

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The Origins of Democracy

The Ancient Greek political structure.

Ancient Greece is, at present, regarded as the birthplace of democracy. This is based on the literature of the time which had developed to an advanced level and survived owing to the dry climate. However there may have been other earlier democracy which left no records owing to a lack of literature and/or a climate that disintegrated what records were made.

It appears that ancient Greece evolved democracy through four stages as follows –

Monarchy, where a War Lord was established as a King and a stable rule followed via hereditary line. (Mycenae 2000 BC)

Oligarchy, where a small group of powerful citizens ruled by power and military force. (Sparta 500 BC)

Aristocracy, where the rule is by hereditary aristocrats/nobility based on family, wealth and social position. (Athens before 500 BC)

Direct democracy, where the rule is by a majority vote by the voting citizens. (Athens after 500 BC)

With regards to a direct democracy, it is the voting citizens who decide the rule directly by their vote, as in a referendum. This is different from a representative democracy where the voting citizens vote for people to represent their wishes to a ruling authority.

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The ancient Greek political structure was dictated by the geography of the region in which they settled. This was a land of mountain ranges, with small coastal plains that faced outwards to the sea. Each of these plains was settled by a self-governing community, which initially contained only as many people as the land would support. This was the basis of the polis, or city state. Most Greek cities clustered around a rocky outcrop, or acropolis, which could be defended in times of crisis.

In about 800 BC populations began to expand, and small city-states, consisting of a city surrounded by towns, villages, and agricultural land, began to evolve. By about 500 BC Athens had become the richest and most important city-state in Classical Greece as well as the cultural and intellectual centre of the Greek world. Democracy was born in Athens ; the citizens ( free men ) had the right to vote on all matters of government, and any citizen could serve for a year as a city magistrate paid by the state. But in 404 BC Athens was crushed by Sparta, a rival city-state, where the small elite ruled over their subject peoples with the help of a well trained army.

Homer’s Iliad provides a picture of an early feudal society of king’s, nobles, and common fighting men. Each kingdom followed it’s own course in working out the structure of government. The first struggle lay between the kings (monarchy) and the nobles (aristocracy). Then pressure came from other influential citizens (oligarchy) and from the general mass of free male citizens (democracy). When a state plunged into chaos, a strong man, who was often benevolent and public spirited, would emerge to bring order to the city state.

Unquote.

Reference; Geddes and Grosset, Atlas of World History.

Thus the ancient Greek Athens appeared to have had a democracy in the form of referendums via mob rule enforced by the sword and spear.

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Small city states in the hills of the Greek peninsula such as Athens, Sparta, Corinth, and Thebes were the beginning of Greek civilisation. Their citizens lived a hard life on the thin mountain soil and soon took to the sea, building navies which took over power when Minoa fell, and trading with the older civilisations of Egypt and Asia Minor. As a result new overseas city states of Greek colonists were founded on the coasts of Italy (Naples), Sicily (Syracuse) and around the Black Sea and Aegean Sea in addition to the original colonies in Asia Minor which grew up at about the same time as Athens and Sparta.

Sparta

The Greeks valued freedom above everything though they thought of it in different ways. Spartan life was based on physical fitness and military training to defend and expand their homeland ; in this both men and women took part with the stronger dominating the weaker. ( Ed. Sparta appears to have been a military dictatorship where War Lord ‘Kings’ ruled over a warrier aristocratic assembly, with the rest of the population being farming serfs and slaves.)

Athens

Athens gave much greater freedom to it’s citizens to say and even do what they chose. So in Athens the great philosophers were to be found. Democritus, who first produced an atomic theory, Socrates who died for his freedom to speak his mind, Plato, Socrates’ great disciple, and Aristotle. From the writings of Plato and Aristotle European civilisation has drawn many of it’s ideas.

Athens elections were by a show of hands or casting black and white pebbles, as follows -

Between 336 and 323 B.C. Alexander, son of the ruler of Macedon in northern Greece and educated in Athens, reunited the Greeks and then conquered the empires of Persia and Egypt. He even entered India and defeated some of the kings on the Indus.

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Reference; Anon

( Ed. Thus in approximately 500 BC Sparta appeared to be a martial society with Athens a democratic one. Which would you have preferred that you and your family lived in? )

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