Political Culture

Where does it come from?

What difference does it make?

Sources of political culture:Family Media

Friends

Schools Economy

Affiliations,

Memberships

Polity

Region,

Country

Global society

What shapes political culture?

Different views:

• Family, school, society through primary political socialization

• The regime and political system, as a consequence of the ways in which people experience it – secondary political socialization

Different views:

Political culture

Society

Experience with

political system

Political Culture

Some questions and problems:

• Difference between political culture and national character?

• How can we characterize political culture(s)• What difference does political culture make?• Do you need a democratic political culture in

order to sustain democracy?– If so, what constitutes a democratic political culture?

• Is it sufficient for elites to be committed to democracy or must ordinary citizens be so committed as well?

Argument:

• Political culture is one of several factors which influence how institutions operate, how political processes play out:

• Political culture is a source both of problems and resources to solve them

Mass political culture:

• Attitudes and orientations toward leadership influence the support which different kinds of leaders (elected or un-elected) will enjoy

• Degree of homogeneity or fragmentation (e.g. presence or absence of distinct identities, subcultures) influences the agenda of politics, the problems with which political leaders and the system must cope

Some examples:

• The United States:– the presidential election of 2000: Bush gained authority once the

courts decide that he won– Responses to 9/11

• Canada: problems of language and region• Nigeria: problems governing an ethnically and religiously

divided society– North: Muslim– East & West: more western, more Christian

• Building democracy in Russia and other ex-Soviet states

Some problems:

• How can a people govern themselves if there is no agreement on who the people are -- i.e. who belongs and who does not?

• Must mass and elite be committed to liberal democracy if liberal democracy is to survive?

• Is political culture cast in stone or does it change?

Sources of change:

• Impact of events – war, invasion, economic crisis

• Impact of politics and politicians, positive and negative - can create greater or lesser trust, hostility

• Social and economic change – emergence of new classes or groups

• Impact of time and acculturation

Some examples and some questions

• How has Newfoundland and Labrador political culture changed? – Is it the same as it was 30 or 50 years ago? – What would your parents or grandparents say?

• How has Canadian political culture changed over the last 30-50 years?– What is constant and what is not?

Reminder:

Annotated bibliography due Friday, Oct 5th

(Paper copy preferred or, failing that, bibliography submitted in the body of your

message)

Remaking German political culture:

• Imperial Germany (1871-1918)– A fragmented and divided society– prevailing values authoritarian

• The Weimar Republic (1918-1933)– democratic regime, established following surrender– highly fragmented– regime lacked legitimacy: some groups supported it,

others tolerated, but few loved– aristocracy, business elites, military fail to support

regime when it was challenged– totalitarian regime established by legal means

Postwar Germany

• Occupied, divided into 4 occupation zones• Liberal democratic regime established in

the three Western zones• Communist regime in the eastern (Soviet)

zone• Problem for both east and west: how to

establish new regimes in a country which had given fervent support to Nazism

Solutions:

• In the east, the solution is Communism: remake the economy (end capitalism) and you end Nazism

• In the west, political culture is gradually reshaped:– Bonn Basic Law (temporary constitution – still in effect)

establishes citizen rights, liberal democratic order– West Germans initially quiescent, accepting… proud of

economic achievements– Holocaust eventually acknowledged, dealt with in schools– Political system gains acceptance, in part because of

economic success, stability, integration into Europe

Contemporary Germany:

• Problem of bringing together east and west

• Different experience of ‘Ossies’ and ‘Wessies’

• Problem of who belongs:– East v west– Immigrants and refugees

• Question of Germany’s role in the world

Contrasts between Germany and Austria

• Austria’s self image as victim

• Limited de-nazification

• Reluctance to come to terms with Holocaust

• Today: far greater support for parties of the right

Remaking political culture in countries transiting to democracy:

• What does it take to remake elite political culture?

• What does it take to remake mass political culture – if it has to be remade?

Reminder:

Annotated bibliography due Friday, Oct 5th

(Paper copy preferred or, failing that, bibliography submitted in the body of your

message)