Political Ideology Cows: https://www-formal.stanford.edu/selene/cows.html

Topic 3.1

• Civil society comprises a range of voluntary associations that are autonomous from the state, including local religious and neighborhood organizations, news media, business and professional associations, and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs).

  • Textbook Definition: Organizations and groups that work together to promote the best interests of society.

    • China’s Strength of Civil Society: Weak

    • Iran’s Strength of Civil Society: Weak

    • Mexico’s Strength of Civil Society: Growing

    • Nigeria’s Strength of Civil Society: Weak

      • Due to Boko Haram and ethnic cleavages

    • Russia’s Strength of Civil Society: Weak

    • The United Kingdom’s Strength of Civil Society: Strong

• The strength and variety of civil society organizations differs depending on the regime type in which they operate.

  • Civil society organizations can be limited by government registration and monitoring policies.

  • More likely to be promoted in democratic regimes compared to authoritarian regimes

    • Democratic regimes: civil society would point out shortcomings of government, freedoms they want to be protected, political stances, anti-government

    • Authoritarian regimes: not tolerated

• Though civil society organizations are not necessarily political, a robust civil society serves as an agent of democratization.

  • They bring the government more aware of the issues the citizen’s deem problematic, people then have more of a say of what goes on in democracy

• Across the course countries, civil society organizations, to varying degrees, can monitor and lobby the government, expose governmental malfeasance, represent the interests of members, and provide members with organizational experience.

  • A strong civil society tends to have fewer restrictions based on monitoring and regulating

  • Across course countries, the placing of restrictions on NGOs and civil society tends to highlight violations of civil liberties protected under foundational documents.

Topic 3.2

• Political culture is the collective attitudes, values, and beliefs of the citizenry and the norms of behavior in the political system.

  • It sets expectations about the exercise of power to establish a balance between social order and individual liberty.

  • Textbook Definition: The collective attitudes, values, beliefs, and norms widely shared by citizens.

• Political culture is influenced by factors of geography, religious traditions, and history, forming a population’s values and beliefs about the role of government, the rights of the individual, and the extent and role of citizens in controlling government policy making.

• Political culture is transmitted through the process of political socialization, which is the lifelong process of acquiring one’s beliefs, values, and orientations toward the political system.

  • How a person acquires their political values and beliefs

  • Ex: people tend to get their political beliefs from their families

• Family, schools, peers, religious institutions, media, and social environments, including civic organizations, play a crucial role in the socialization process and help develop political attitudes and values.

• Though many agents of socialization (e.g., family, school, peers, media, and government) are similar across regime types, authoritarian regimes apply more concerted governmental pressures to socialize their citizens around conforming beliefs than do democratic regimes.

  • Propaganda, censorship, etc in authoritarian regimes in order to convince people to support the regime as it is ran

Topic 3.3

• A political ideology is a set of values and beliefs about the goals of government, public policy, or politics.

• Individualism: belief in individual civil liberties and freedom over governmental restrictions

• Neoliberalism: belief in limited governmental intervention in the economy and society; supports privatization, free trade, deregulation, and the elimination of state subsidies (free market capitalist)

• Communism: belief in the abolition of private property with near total governmental control of the economy

  • China is communist but the government does not have total control of the economy

  • Not a true communist country in the world (according to this definition)

• Socialism: belief in the reduction of income disparities and the nationalization of major private industries

  • Free socialist countries: Norway, Sweden, Denmark

• Fascism: extreme nationalist ideology that favors authoritarian rule and the rights of the ethnic majority over that of ethnic minorities and the political opposition

  • Ex: Nazi Germany and Italy (Mussolini)

• Populism: political philosophy that supports the interests and rights of the common people over that of the elites

  • Ex: Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump

  • One of the most researched ideologies in the last 10 years due to a resurgence of populism globally (right and left populism)

Topic 3.4

• Political beliefs are a stance on a specific political issue, guided by ideology

• Contrasting political ideologies, including rule by law as opposed to rule of law, affect how the state treats its citizens and deals with specific problems, such as political corruption. 

  • Political beliefs associated with authoritarian regimes tend to rely on rule by law, in which the state uses the law to reinforce the authority of the state. 

  • Political beliefs associated with democratic regimes tend to rely on rule of law, in which the state is limited to the same rules as its citizens.

    • Political beliefs conform to political ideologies

      • Ex: if your political belief is socialism and the political problem is that people are poor —> welfare

• Beliefs about social and economic equality can be held by citizens in both democratic and authoritarian regimes but can be contrasted by the amount of enforcement responsibility transferred to the government and the amount of choice afforded to citizens to protect their health and material well-being (ranging from limited governmental social protections to a welfare state).

  • Regardless of the regime type, people have beliefs on a wide range of issues

  • Democratic States: citizens have more choice and the transference of enforcement power from the people to the government is willing (consent to be governed)

  • Authoritarian State: the amount of choice for the citizens will be limited or controlled

• Post-materialism refers to social valuing of self-expression and quality of life that leads to applying pressure on governments to address environmental issues and social and economic equality.

  • People have their basic, necessary needs met so they can worry about something else

Topic 3.5

• Political participation can be voluntary or coerced and may occur at the individual or group level.

  • Voluntary: sign a petition

  • Coerced: “you must vote”

• Political participation can range from behavior supportive of a regime (either independently or under state direction) to oppositional behavior that seeks to change governmental policies or overthrow the regime.

• Certain political conditions make it more likely that citizens will engage in violent political behavior, including when citizens feel that more conventional options for political participation are ineffective or unavailable.

  • Revolution is only reverted to when the people have tried less costly options (revolution either costs money, lives, damages, etc. and people will try to affect change with as little damage possible)

• Formal political participation (including casting ballots in elections) can be encouraged across regime types to enhance legitimacy, gather input, act as a safety valve, or apply a check on governmental policies, though authoritarian regimes are more likely to use citizen participation to intimidate opposition or give an illusion of influence, while democratic regimes hold elections to allow citizen control of the policy-making process.

  • Formal/Institutional Examples: Elections, referenda, personal contact

    • voting, running for officer, working for a campaign, supporting a party

  • Informal/Non-institutional Examples: protests, civil society, political violence terrorism

    • Terrorism: use of violence to accomplish a political goal or objective

• Referenda allow citizens to vote directly on policy questions and are used for a variety of reasons, including as a means to promote democratic policy making, to allow a chief executive to bypass the legislature, and to oblige citizens to make difficult and potentially unpopular decisions on public policy issues. (the government puts an issue on the ballot for people to vote for)

  • The United Kingdom has used referenda to decide questions about the devolution of powers to regional assemblies, the separation and creation of an independent nation-state, and their withdrawal from the European Union.

Topic 3.6 And 3.7 sent by isabella

Topic 3.8

• Social and political cleavages can be described as internal divisions that structure societies and may be based on class/wealth, ethnicity, religion, or territory.

• Examples:

  • China: ethnic and regional divisions between the majority Han ethnic group and at least 55 recognized ethnic minorities, such as the Uighurs in the northwest and the Tibetans in the southwest, and between areas that have developed at different rates.

    • China is close to 99% Han Chinese —> minority groups are truly minorities in China

    • Uyghurs are a Muslim minority group and China has imprisoned them in reeducation camps to reform them to traditional Chinese society

    • China believes that Tibet should be part of China and a number of important geological features important to China

  • Iran: religious divisions between the Shi’a Muslim majority and members of other religions, such as Christianity, Judaism, Zoroastrianism, and Sunni Muslim have resulted in a threatening atmosphere despite official recognition; within practitioners of Islam, there are divisions between the Shi’a majority and those who are Sunni; religious division

    • There are also ethnic cleavages between the majority Persians and several ethnic minorities, including Azerbaijanis and Kurds.

    • Sunni and Shi’ism Muslims disagree over what relationship is needed to the prophet Muhammad to be a religious authority

  • Mexico: ethnic divisions between the Amerindian (indigenous) population and whites and mestizos, and regional divisions between the north and the south; geographic division

  • Nigeria: ethnic divisions among more than 250 ethnic groups (including the 3 main groups: Hausa-Fulani, Yoruba, and Igbo), and religious and regional cleavages between the north (predominantly Muslim; which is why Boko Haram is there) and the south (where Christians and animists are concentrated); ethnic division

  • Russia: cleavages between ethnic Russians, who are more than 80 percent of the population and tend to be Russian Orthodox, and minority, non-Russian populations (including the Chechens in the Caucasus region/the Stan-region, who are predominantly Muslim).

    • Russia inherited issues from the Soviet Union

  • United Kingdom: ethnic and regional differences between nations such as the Scottish, English, Welsh, and Irish; religious differences between Protestants and Catholics in Northern Ireland; and racial tensions between whites and non-European minorities whose heritage is related to the United Kingdom’s colonial history.

• Major social and political cleavages differ across course countries and affect voting behavior and party systems as well as informal political networks.

  • Strong cleavage between two religious or ethnic groups, chances are they have different political beliefs —> impacts voting behavior

  • Evidence that shows people trust people more that look, think, and act like them (people will vote candidates that are similar to them)

    • In Nigeria, this translates into a party system (happens a bit in Mexico)

• Course countries have responded differently to social cleavages and their political consequences. 

  • Even stable regimes are increasingly dealing with radical/terrorist religious elements that have sprung from long-standing cleavages. 

  • State responses can range from brute repression to recognition of ethnic/religious minorities and creation of autonomous regions and/or representation of minorities in governmental institutions.

• Examples of the use of social and political cleavages to strengthen legitimacy and hold onto power can be found in all course countries. Such cleavages may also lead to conflict and undermine legitimacy

• Social cleavages have different impacts in course countries. 

  • Separatist movements have emerged in China, Iran, Nigeria, Russia, and the United Kingdom as a result of the social cleavages. 

  • Other groups demanding autonomy, but not independence, have emerged in Mexico and the United Kingdom. 

  • Ethnicity has played a more significant role in Nigeria than in Mexico because of different colonial histories and a greater diversity and politicization of ethnic/religious identities in Nigeria.

Topic 3.9

• Challenges governments face in securing stability in multinational states include: 

  • Conflicting interests and competition among groups and political parties 

    • If people are able to vote and the results of their votes lead to elected officials who represent their interests and change furthers their interest; they won’t turn to violence

    • Violence is the last resort

  • Perceived lack of governmental authority and legitimacy 

  • Pressure for autonomy/secession, intergroup conflict, terrorism, and civil war 

  • Encroachment of neighboring states that sense government weakness and vulnerability

    • Ex: in 2008 when Russia invaded Georgia, there was an ongoing internal battle for influence between a pro-western and pro-Russian forces in Georgia —> Russia senses a weakness and invaded sensing that they could turn Georgia back into a satellite state