10 6 and 10 8 Notes Chapter 7 Cultural Determinants of Democracy Intro o culture and democracy Does democracy require a democratic culture Are certain cultures incompatible with democracy Cultural Arguments o Primordialist s arguments treat culture as objectives and inherited imply that democracy is not for everyone o constructivist arguments treat culture constructed or invented cultures are malleable and not fixed cultures are socially constructed Cultural Argument problems o Problem 1 What is it about culture that matters The specifics are vague Are particular morals incompatible Are certain customs problematic Most theorists point to non cultural things that matter as well such as development If culturalist arguments are to have any explanatory power they must distinguish and specify what it is that matters Problem 2 What is the causal relationship between cultural economic and political factors Does culture cause democracy Does it also cause economic development Or does democracy and development cause culture A civic Culture Culture how individuals think and feel about the political system Three types Parochial suitable for traditional system Subject suitable for centralized authoritarian systems Participant suitable for democracy A civic culture a high level of interpersonal trust a preference for gradual societal change a high level of support for the existing political system and high levels of satisfaction Civic culture can be characterized by belief individuals can influence political decisions positive feelings toward the political system belief other citizens are trustworthy preference for gradual societal change Surveys and Democracy citizens attitudes about democracy are now commonplace We then use these surveys to make inferences about how democratic survival institutional legitimacy World Values Survey has conducted interviews in eighty societies addresses issues of sociocultural and political change Main question Democracy may have problems but it s better than any form of government Could you please tell me if you strongly agree agree disagree or strongly disagree dictatorships preferences To study the emergence of democracy surveys would need to be conducted in Even if surveys were allowed in dictatorships would the respondents reveal their true A common problem with all surveys is that individuals often understand the same question in vastly different ways People in democracies are more willing to complain more than people in dictatorships struggling democracies Huntington claimed that certain cultures are incompatible with democracy Islamic and Confucianism countries cannot sustain democracy Catholic countries wind it hard to sustain democracy Violent conflict will be particularly prevalent between Muslims and non Muslims Growing evidence that cultures are invented constructed and malleable rather than primordial inherited and unchanging unlikely that particular religions or civilizations are permanently incompatible with Often depends less on the content of religious doctrine and more on the interests of All religions have historically been compatible with a broad range of political democracy religious leaders institutions Most arguments that particular religions are incompatible with democracy are implicitly based on observations of the world at a particular point in time not a particularly good way of developing theories Some Empirical Evidence Emergence of Democracy Increased wealth makes transitions to democracy are more likely High economic growth makes transitions to democracy less likely Countries that are predominantly catholic are more likely to become democracies Having a Protestant or Muslim majority has no effect on whether a country becomes Ethnic religious and cultural diversity do not appear to impede or aid the emergence of democratic or not democracy Survival of democracy increased wealth increases democratic survival high economic growth increases democratic survival having a Muslim majority has no effect on democratic survival having a protestant majority increases democratic survival having a catholic majority decreases democratic survival Ethnic and cultural but not religious diversity decreases for democratic survival Experiments and Culture We have examined how culture might affect democracy using survey evidence and statistical analyses we now look at some experimental results o ultimatum and dictator games Ultimatum Game Players there is a proposer and a responder The proposer is given a divisible pie money Procedure o step 1 the proposer offers some of the pie to the responder o Step 2 the responder knowing the offer and size of the pie has to accept or reject the offer The outcome Dictator Game o if the responder accepts she gets to keep the offer and the proposer keeps the rest o If the responder rejects then neither player receives anything the dictator game is exactly the same as the Ultimatum except that the responder is not given an opportunity to accept or reject the offer o o the proposer dictator merely dictates the division test of fairness as opposed to the ultimatum game Ultimatum Dictator If the players are self interested we would expect the proposer to offer where is close to zero and keep the rest 1 for him We would expect the responder to accept this offer because 0 If the players are self interested we would expect the proposer to offer zero and keep external impositions external forces impose democracy Bottom up transition citizens overthrow an authoritarian regime in a popular revolution Top down transition The dictatorial ruling elite introduce liberalizing reforms that everything for himself Chapter 8 Democratic Transitions ultimately lead to transition External impositions o Findings democracy democracy Bottom up East Germany 1989 intervention by the UN or dictatorial states leads to a reduction in Intervention by democracies produces the trappings of democracy such as elections and legislatures but fails to meaningfully increase the level of o The collapse of communism is seen as inevitable But the collapse of communism came as a complete surprise to almost everyone o Because everyone thought Germany seemed stable they were not in a dire position in their economic citizen they were prosperous the government opened up the Berlin wall due to protesting o Why did the collapse of communism in Eastern Europe not occur earlier o Why are revolutions so rare Why are they hard to predict o Collective action theory
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