Those enduring influences that have shaped, and continue to shape, a polity; usually, but not exclusively, through its political culture

Formative Factors:
What are they?

1. Geography

Ease of defense and control; natural resources; topography; stability and acceptance of borders; size

Major defining events: wars, colonizations, famines and depressions

Power of deep commitments to unite or splinter a society: Reformation; Confucianism; democracy, socialism; capitalism/free-trade

Past patterns of governance affect the present: centralization, monarchy
The transition to democracy: has it happened?

Biggest tensions with an polity are usually economic; affected by the level of development (materialist values), speed of development, and form of development