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Comparative Analysis of Democratization prof. Fulvio Venturino. Comparative Politics Principles of Democracy and Democratization Chapter 3: Political Culture and Ethnopolitics. Political culture defined.
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Comparative Analysis of Democratizationprof. Fulvio Venturino Comparative Politics Principles of Democracy and Democratization Chapter 3: Political Culture and Ethnopolitics
Political culture defined • Political culture involves values, ideas, beliefs, attitudes, and orientations about politics • It may be studied at several levels • Here citizens are the main center of attention
The founding fathersGabriel Almond and Sidney Verba • cognitive orientations: the knowledge about the political system • affective orientations: the feelings about the political system • evaluational orientations: the opinions about the political system, blending feelings with knowledge
Culture and democracy • Research question: which variety of political culture best support the development of a stable democracy? • Civic culture: cultural mix comprised of a majority of participants (UK and USA), tempered by a significant minority of subjects (Italy and Germany) and some parochials (Mexico)
Post-materialismRonald Inglehart • For a nation, it is not always possible to obtain everything one might wish … several different goals are listed. If you had to choose among them, which one seems most desirable to you? • Maintaining order in the nation • Giving the people more say in important political decisions • Fighting rising prices • Protecting freedom of speech
Respondents’ classification • 1 and 3: pure materialist • 1-3 first choice and 2-4 second choice: prevalently materialist • 2-4 first choice and 1-3 second choice: prevalently post-materialist • 2 and 4: pure post-materialist
Is ethnic diversity inimical to democracy? • The development of democracy is generally more difficult in ethnically heterogeneous than in ethnically homogeneous societies. However, the construction of democracy is not impossible in even deeply ethnically divided societies. What is key is that careful attention must be paid to how democratic institutions are designed, and whether or not they fit a particular ethnic and cultural context.