It is the most rudimentary form of political system, which occurs among the primitives.
Eg: – Hunting and gathering tribes like
- Eskimos (North west Canada)
- soshoni Red Indians
- Kung Bushmen
- Arunta
The characteristics of band system are as follows:
- Band organization is characteristic of most hunting and gathering societies.
- Each band is a small, egalitarian, flexible, kinship-oriented, flexible politically autonomous group.
- Each band is a grouping of people without a permanent office of leadership. Instead leadership of primus inter panes or the first among the equals type, within the band, leadership roles tend to be informal and based primarily on personality characteristics. These Leaders are situational. They have good sense, skill and luck, whenever a situation arises for guidance and direction, an experienced man comes forward to do the needful. That person becomes a temporary leader.
- In each band, decision-making is open to all and there is consensus. No one gives orders by virtue of holding an established office. Rather the members of the group congregate and discuss a problem with each person free to offer an opinion, and decision is reached through group consensus. Every adult member participates in the group congregation. In other words, every family has its representative in the group. At the same time every one participates and discusses the issue. Both are the elements of democracy
- In each band, the mechanisms of social control are based more on kinship than on a formal political structure. Self-sufficient family groups organize into a loose federation or a band Kinship friendship and proximity knit the families into a band.
- There is no overarching political organization which unites several bands into a larger structure Thus; there is no central authority for all the bands.
- The absence of large-scale political organization, coercive authority, formal leadership, and social stratification is related to the lack of control over productive resources. Foraging for naturally occurring foods and the nomadism this entails make the monopolization of resources difficult. All members of band have equal access to resources. Hence, the idea of private ownership of important resources is absent. if productive and socially valued resources cannot be monopolized and controlled, or if the means for tapping these resources cannot be controlled, then there is little basis for the exercise of power. An individual who is not able to control .a valued commodity, so as to create dependence in others, and cannot threaten to withhold that commodity, is in no position to give orders and to be obeyed.