Amazing Quotes 25: Political Order in Changing Societies 3

In the first part, Huntington discussed the overall thesis of the book, and how monarchy could influence and become the part of political development.

In the second part, Huntington explained the role of revolution and military institution in the political development of a country.

In the last part, Huntington put the explanation about the role of reform and political parties, as follows:

If there is any cleavage which is virtually universal in modernizing countries, it is the cleavage between government and university.

-- Page 371

Throughout history peasant revolts and jacquieries have typically aimed at the elimination of specific evils or abuses.

-- Page 374

The urban middle-class intellectual has aspirations which can never be realized and he hence exists in a state of permanent volatility. There is no mistaking his role. The peasantry, on the other hand, may be the bulwark of the status quo or the shock troops of revolution. Which role the peasant plays is determined by the extent to which the existing system meets his immediate economic and material needs as he sees them.

-- Page 375

Traditional polities do not have political parties; modernizing polities need them but often do not want them.

-- Page 403

The more hostile a government is toward political parties in a modernizing society, however, the greater the probable future instability of that society.

-- Page 407

The institutional strength of a political party is measured, in the first instance, by its ability to survive its founder or the charismatic leader who first brings it to power.

-- Page 409

In terms of political development, however, what counts is not the number of parties but rather the strength and adaptability of the party system.

-- Page 420

The party is a modern organization. But to be successful it must organize a traditional countryside.

-- Page 434

The source of political modernity is the city; the source of political stability is the countryside. The task of the party is to combine the two.

-- Page 434

In the modernizing world he controls the future who organizes its politics.

-- Page 461, the last sentence of the book.