"The Systems Paradigm of David Easton"

"Political systems are defined by Easton as 'a set of interactions, abstracted from the totality of social behavior, through which values are authoritatively allocated for a society'. Underlying this seemingly straightforward definition are, however, a number of assumptions which lend direction to systems analysis. For one, the emphasis is upon interaction as a variable....if we stress interactions in Easton we must therefore stress process as well, for Easton's is not a stable, but a dynamic model, in which the system and its individual actors engage in processes designed to secure the maintenance and dynamic equilibrium of the system itself".

"Easton's model is one which uses, as its major unit of analysis the political system itself, in which political life is viewed as a system of behavior....Presuming a system implies that it may be analytically distinguished from its surroundings, or what Easton refers to as the environment"

"Surrounded as it is by a physical, cultural and economic environment, not to mention other political systems, it must functionally interact with these potential sources of influence. Inputs from the environment as well as from within the system may be classified as basically of the demand or support variety".

"Crucial to the consideration of input/output analysis is the learning and corrective capacity of the system. As in communications theory, we refer to this as feedback..This information or feedback acts as new input into the system, whether or not the information comes from outside the system or from other actors within the system (withinputs).