How do formal laws and informal political behavior shape a political system?

A political system is shaped by the interplay between formal legal structures and informal political behavior. While traditional analysis focuses on prescribed rules—such as constitutions, electoral systems, and governmental organizations—modern political science recognizes that the reality of how a state functions depends heavily on informal norms, habits, and shared understandings.123

These elements interact in several ways:

• Constraint and Prescription: Institutions, whether formal or informal, prescribe how political actors interact. Rational choice theorists argue that actors follow these norms to maximize rewards or avoid sanctions, while normative and sociological perspectives suggest that actors adhere to them due to perceived appropriateness or because they are taken for granted.23
• Path Dependency: Historical institutionalists emphasize that past institutional arrangements and informal practices become embedded over time, locking states into specific paths of development and shaping future responses to political pressure.23
• Political Culture: The system is also influenced by political culture—the collective values, beliefs, and emotions citizens hold regarding the legitimacy and function of their government, which provide the necessary context for formal rules to operate effectively.4