The broad pattern of political orientations shared by a large group of people (a nation, a region, a class, an ethnic group)

Political culture the broad pattern of political orientations shared by a large group of people (a nation, a region, a class, an ethnic group)

Three levels of political culture*

System Pride in a nation

National identity

Legitimacy of government

Process Principles of government

Role of citizens

People’s basic political beliefs

Policy Role of government

Government policy priorities

i. National pride and patriotism tend to create a political culture that is conducive to legitimacy.

ii. All nations strive for political legitimacy. In other words, they desire their citizenry to believe that laws should be obeyed.

1. Legitimacy can be based on tradition, ideology, divine right, majority rule, etc.

2. Legitimacy is the key to minimizing the threat of violent internal conflict.

ii. Legitimacy can be undermined by

iii. Boundary disputes (East Timor)

iv. Disputes with leader recruitment (Marcos in the Philippines)

v. Leaders defying proper procedure (Indonesia under Sukarno)

vi. When the people’s needs aren’t being met

vii. There is a growing belief that democracy is the only legitimate form of governance

viii. National pride does not come from affluence

ix. What matters is a sense of history – every generation has its own readings of it – and its own historical myths

x. Patriotism is a double-edged sword

xi. National identity – a sense of a nation’s (ethnic group’s) uniqueness, particular qualities, place in the world, role in history

xii. Also a double-edged sword: “us vs. them”

i. Three patterns that describe citizens’ role in the political process

1. participants —informed citizens that make performance-based decisions

2. subjects —passive obedience

3. parochials —politically ignorant (illiterate, rural, etc.)

ii. In order for citizens to trust the political process they must first trust each other (cleavages can destroy political culture)

Legitimacy of government defines fundamental understanding between citizens and authorities

High legitimacy makes society easier to govern, reduces conflicts in society

Low legitimacy has opposite effects

The Process Level

Principles of government

Major global question of the 20^th century: democracy or authoritarianism? Solved in favour of democracy

The next major global question: how to make democracy work?

Role of citizens

3 types of citizen role, 3 types of political culture:

participants – informed about politics, make political demands, expect politicians to deliver public goods

subjects – passively obey the government and laws

parochials* – are barely aware that the state exists

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*From “parish” – local church community

i. A political culture thrives when a government can meet the policy expectations of its citizens.

ii. Big government vs. Small government?

iii. Public support of government intervention tends to decrease as affluence increases.

b. Cultural Congruence

i. Political cultures and political cultures are mutually reinforcing in stable systems.

ii. A democratic political structure will not thrive in a culture that does not foster democratic responsibilities (Brazil).

Role of citizens 3 types of citizen role, 3 types of political culture:

participants – informed about politics, make political demands, expect politicians to deliver public goods

subjects – passively obey the government and laws

parochials* – are barely aware that the state exists

Parochial - Where citizens are only remotely aware of the presence of central government, and live their lives near enough regardless of the decisions taken by the state

Subject - Where citizens are aware of central government, and are heavily subjected to its decisions with little scope for dissent.

Participant - Citizens are able to influence the government in various ways and they are affected by it.

Industrial democracies are generally characterized by the dominance of the participant orientation, although both subjects and parochials are present, too.

In a preindustrial democracy (example – India), even though democratic institutions are present, most citizens behave as subjects or parochials

In communist countries (authoritarian industrial), the level of political participation is usually high, but the vast majority of citizens act as subjects – in the absence of real political freedoms. Few citizens are allowed to be parochial: the state draws people into politics.

In some democracies, too, voting is obligatory

Subcultures

Within national political cultures, there are subcultures, characterizing political attitudes of different groups within society. In conflictual cultures, there are deep rifts between subcultures

The rifts are caused by such factors as:

Class

Ethnicity or race

Religion

Regional differences

•10.Totalitarian regim e In a totalitarian regime, the key word is total. Thus, under totalitarianism, the political system's allocation of values and its control penetrate into virtually every aspect of its people's lives. The totalitarian political system demands complete obedience- the behavior and even the thoughts of its population.

All organizations are subordinated to the totalitarian state. Every act the individual citizen is subject to scrutiny by the state in the name of the interest. The state might define the acceptability of films and plays, what jobs individuals will have, prohibit the activities of organized them, prevent families from moving without approval, and so on.

Totalitarian regimes, even more than authoritarian regimes depend use of extensive coercion for their survival. The state use military, security forces, and other instruments of violence to suppress any citizens group that challenges its authority. To sustain its pervasive control, the totalitarian regime also makes extensive use of the agents of political socialization, especially the media, the educational system, and cultural forms.

•Often the totalitarian state is dominated by a single leader, venerated in a cult of personality by a single political party. George Orwell's novel 1984 (is a vision of the totalitarian state, and other recent examples include Afghanistan under the Taliban, Cambodia under Pol Pot, Korea, and Sudan.

•Some political systems are probably best classified on a continuum be totalitarianism and authoritarianism. These are authoritarian regimes whose political systems do extend their control into important nonpolitical domains but not exercise the totality of control associated with absolute totalitarianism. Belarus, Congo under Mobuto Sese Seko (1965-1997), Indonesia under Suharto (1966-1998), Iran, Myanmar, and Saudi Arabia are examples this continuum of countries that are not totalitarian regimes but do assert exclusive control over culture, religious practice, and social life.

11.Democracies and nondemocracies. One of the most common ways to classify political systems is to distinguish democracies from nondemocracies.

•From our education, as well as our other socialization and experiences, most of us have an intuitive sense about which countries are democracies and which are not.

•In its classic sense, true participatory democracy is government of and by the people—there is active, direct participation by all citizens in the authoritative allocation of values.

•Realistically, there is no such political system;

•If our definition is less strong, democracy might entail the relatively equal capacity of all citizens to influence the distribution of values.

•It would be difficult to make a persuasive case that this condition holds in any political system, including Japan or the United States.

•In every political system, some are more equal than others. In every political system, some make public policy decisions and others observe.

•An alternative concept is representative democracy, a system in which the citizens elect people to represent them in the political process and to allocate values on their behalf for the society.

•Another general term used to describe a representative democracy is a republic.

•In fact, the majority of the countries in the world, in their formal title, call themselves republics (examples, from the A's: Republic of Albania, Democratic and Popular Republic of Algeria, People's Republic of Angola, Argentine Republic, Republic of Armenia, Republic of Austria, Republic of Azerbaijan; you might think some of these A "republics" are not particularly democratic).

•Kuwait seems to meet this criterion for representative democracy because its citizens elect representatives.

•Yet few would classify it as a democracy, since about half of its resident adult population (those who cannot trace their Kuwaiti ancestry to 1920) are not allowed to vote in legislative elections and no Kuwaiti women voted prior to 2005.

•Thus the definition needs to be refined to specify that the elections for representatives must be held under conditions of universal (adult) suffrage.

•Cuba meets this condition, but few would consider it a democracy because, among other reasons, there are very limited choices for governmental office—all candidates are members of the single (Communist) party.

•Democracy is a political system in -which virtually all citizens periodically vote in order to select political leaders from among alternative contenders. is governance by leaders whose authority is based limited mandate from a universal electorate that selects among genuine alternatives, and has some rights to political participation and opposition.

•

•Perhaps a democracy not only must ensure voters among alternatives but also must allow them:

•to exercise freedoms of speech,

•assembly,

and political opposition.

•We can classify a political system as a liberal democracy when citizens have not only electoral democracy

•but also these more extensive political rights and liberties regarding participation, personal freedoms, and opposition.

The term non-democratic refers to forms of government, or proposed implementations of such, which are diametrically opposed to democracy.

"Non-democratic" may refer to:

•Authoritarianism

•Democratic deficit

•Fascism

•Monarchy

•Political repression

•Totalitarianism

12.Authoritarian regime the most common concept applied to nondemocratic systems is authoritarian regime. Most authoritarian regimes, like dictatorships, lack a limited mandate. But authoritarianism adds another dimension: the political actions and decisions of the ruler are not constrained, while the political rights and freedoms of the citizens are significantly limited. In other words, under authoritarianism, the population has few, if any, political rights. An authoritarian regime places severe restrictions on the activities of individuals and groups who desire to influence the allocation of values by the political system. The great majority of the population is not allowed to participate in any political activities except those expressly encouraged by the regime. Citizens are not permitted to question the political institutions, procedures, or public policies of an authoritarian regime.

•However, the nonpolitical aspects of people's lives, such as occupation, religion, and social life, are not generally under the direct control of the political system.

In some countries, these other areas of life are still significantly controlled, but the control is by traditional societal values or by overriding religious values, not by the political system. Singapore, as well as Libya(in the time of Kaddafi) and Zimbabwe, could be characterized as authoritarian regimes.

13.Civilizations “Civilization” in the singular:

French 18th-century usage: “civilization” as opposed to “barbarism”. Connotes “modern society”

In the broadest terms, “the human civilization” as a product of development of the human species – there may exist other civilizations on other planets

“Civilizations” in the plural: The largest, longest-living, transnational cultural entities which have emerged at different stages of history in different parts of the world Samuel Huntington:“A civilization is the broadest cultural entity. Villages, regions, ethnic groups, nationalities, religious groups all have distinct cultures at different levels of cultural heterogeneity. The culture of a village in southern Italy may be different from that of a village in northern Italy, but both will share in a common Italian culture that distinguishes them from German villages. European communities, in turn, will share cultural features that distinguish them from Chinese or Hindu communities. Chinese, Hindus, and Westerners, however, are not part of any broader cultural entity. They constitute civilizations…

A civilization thus is the highest cultural grouping of people and the broadest level of cultural identity people have short of that which distinguishes humans from other species.

It is defined both by common objective elements, such as language, history, religion, customs, institutions, and by the subjective self-identification of people.

People have levels of identity: a resident of Rome may define himself with varying degrees of intensity as a Roman, an Italian, a Catholic, a Christian, A European, a Westerner.

The civilization to which he belongs is the broadest level of identification with which he strongly identifies. Civilizations are the biggest “we” within which we feel culturally at home as distinguished from all the other “thems” out there.”* “A civilization… is neither a given economy nor a given society, but something which can persist through a series of economies and societies, barely susceptible to gradual change. A civilization can be approached, therefore, only in the long term, taking hold of a constantly unwinding thread – something that a group of people have conserved and passed on as their most precious heritage from generation to generation, throughout and despite the storms and tumults of history.”

14.Democracy From our education, as well as our other socialization and experiences, most of us have an intuitive sense about which countries are democracies and which are not.

•In its classic sense, true participatory democracy is government of and by the people—there is active, direct participation by all citizens in the authoritative allocation of values.

•Realistically, there is no such political system;

•If our definition is less strong, democracy might entail the relatively equal capacity of all citizens to influence the distribution of values.

•It would be difficult to make a persuasive case that this condition holds in any political system, including Japan or the United States.

•In every political system, some are more equal than others. In every political system, some make public policy decisions and others observe.

•An alternative concept is representative democracy, a system in which the citizens elect people to represent them in the political process and to allocate values on their behalf for the society.

•Another general term used to describe a representative democracy is a republic.

•In fact, the majority of the countries in the world, in their formal title, call themselves republics (examples, from the A's: Republic of Albania, Democratic and Popular Republic of Algeria, People's Republic of Angola, Argentine Republic, Republic of Armenia, Republic of Austria, Republic of Azerbaijan; you might think some of these A "republics" are not particularly democratic).

•Kuwait seems to meet this criterion for representative democracy because its citizens elect representatives.

•Yet few would classify it as a democracy, since about half of its resident adult population (those who cannot trace their Kuwaiti ancestry to 1920) are not allowed to vote in legislative elections and no Kuwaiti women voted prior to 2005.

•Thus the definition needs to be refined to specify that the elections for representatives must be held under conditions of universal (adult) suffrage.

•Cuba meets this condition, but few would consider it a democracy because, among other reasons, there are very limited choices for governmental office—all candidates are members of the single (Communist) party.

•Democracy is a political system in -which virtually all citizens periodically vote in order to select political leaders from among alternative contenders. is governance by leaders whose authority is based limited mandate from a universal electorate that selects among genuine alternatives, and has some rights to political participation and opposition.