The systems analysis of political life might be used as a basis for teaching about the political process in all grades, including elementary school. A political system is part of an intra-societal environment including ecological, biological, personality, economic, cultural, and other systems, all operating in society and bound by an extra-societal environment which is the sphere of relations among national societies. This system, emphasizing the relationship of the political system to its environment, is regulated by "demands," one of the two major inputs from the environment; "outputs," the decisions made by the authorities; "support" for the system, and other major input; and "feedback," a concept which unifies the whole analysis. The three basic components of the system unified by the feedback process are the political community, the regime, and the authorities. The concept of politics as a feedback system focuses on the cycle of inputs and outputs and presents the political system as a conversion process that regulates itself in order to persist. This cycle is the political function of allocating authoritatively the valued things of society, which is an order-maintaining role. This theory of the political system deals with fundamental processes and relationships rather than isolated facts. (JH)