Chapter 9: Political Culture

What is POLITICAL CULTURE?

POLITICAL CULTURE:

The attributes of a group of citizens that share a common pattern of political attitudes

-> Explains HOW people behave within a system

-> Dictates how a culture interprets foreign influences, what they consider legitimate power and how they relate to authority, community and individual freedom

What are the FEATURES OF POLITICAL CULTURE:

FEATURES OF PC:

1) Can change, but slowly

2) Is not equivalent to a GREATER/LESSER accumulation of political knowledge

4) PC is always collective and never individual

How can Political Culture be an INDEPENDENT VARIABLE?

PC can be an INDEPENDENT VARIABLE (a contributing factor)

-> Shared attitudes can influence the political system and how it works

EXAMPLE: If a society values authority, they are more tolerant to authoritarianism

How can Political Culture be a DEPENDENT VARIABLE?

PC can also be a DEPENDENT VARIABLE (an outcome)

-> It can be the HOW and WHY it changes over time

-> PC differs across societies BECAUSE it is shaped by historical, social, economic, or institutional factors

EXAMPLE: Post-colonial societies may develop political cultures that fear or are distrustful of authority

What are 2 EXAMPLES of NON-WESTERN POLITICAL IDEAS?

NON-WESTERN POLITICAL IDEAS:

1) ASIA: Promotes values of social harmony, hierarchy, and duty (more prone to authoritarianism)

-> predetermined societal roles

-> family over anything

2) RUSSIA: Conflict between slavophiles and pro-westerners

-> Slavophiles reject individualism and embrace familiarism

-> Want to create a separate identity from the west who exploited them

What is the PRINCIPLE OF LIBERATION and its examples?

PRINCIPLE OF LIBERATION:

How non-Western societies digest and interpret western thought

1) CHINA: Peasants as proletariat (there were no workers in China, remodel of marxism)

2) AFRICA: Racial proletarization as a result of colonialism borders

3) INDIA: Swaraj (self government/ independence) abhors coercive power

What is FANON'S PRINCIPLE OF LIBERATION?

FANON'S VIOLENCE THEORY:

Violence is a cathartic and unavoidable response to colonialism's dehumanisation and oppression

-> The colonised individual can only regain their identity through violent attacks on colonial government

What is POLITICAL ORDER and its examples?

POLITICAL ORDER:

The keeping and maintaining of political control and stability

1) CHINA: Fear of chaos

2) ISLAM: Reaching a state of equilibrium in political transactions

3) INDIA: Old caste system gone, but group politics still reign, witht he state as a mediator

What are the different VIEWS ON LIBERALISM?

VIEWS ON LIBERALISM:

1) WEST: Liberalism = modernity and progress

2) ARABS: Experiences liberalism through colonial mandates, so were happy with socialist regime change in the 50s-60s

3) TURKIYE: Secular liberals equally as intolerant as islamists (e.g., Ataturk banning hijabs)

4) BRAZIL: Liberalism is the ideology of the aristocracy to institutionalise the slave economy

5) RUSSIA: West vs Slavophiles

6) INDIA: liberalism blended with communitarian and spiritual traditions