CPO2002 Intro to Comparative Government Exam 2 Study Guide Chp 7 Cultural Determinants of Democracy and Dictatorship Perspectives Cultural Modernization Theory economic development produces certain cultural changes that will lead to democracy Key change civic culture Primordialist Arguments culture is objective and inherited Culture has been fixed since primordial times Culture existed before political interaction and remains unchanged regardless of politics Set in stone Constructivist Arguments culture is constructed and built upon based off of historical events and social change Cultures are able to be manipulated and are never set in stone once in for all Culture responds to social economic and political actors Montesquieu Montesquieu argues that social culture impacts the way the government operates organizes and represents the people community Monarchy suits European states Despotism suits the Orient Asia Democracy suits the ancient world Montesquieu argues that it is only by chance that one country s type of government can be exported successfully to another country John Stuart Mill Different types of culture match with different types of government Government performance is determined by the moral and mental habits of those in charge Governments are still malleable and can be impacted by change or new concepts Dwelling on an idea for an extended amount of time can turn this idea into a source of familiarity which will lead to routine usage This quote explains how new ideas and changes can influence the government into a different direction Cultural Modernization Theory Argues that socioeconomic development does not directly cause or translate to democracy Development produces cultural change that fosters a friendlier climate for democracy to possibly take place Both Montesquieu and Mill s arguments are apart of Cultural Modernization Theory Cultural Modernization Theory states that primitive societies transformed by development will turn into civilized societies that are much more prepared for democracy Slide from Chp 7 Table representing Cultural Modernization Theory Immature society Large agriculture Small industry Small service Primitive culture Dictatorship Mature society Small agriculture Large industry Large service Civilized culture Democracy The above chart shows the typical living conditions or the set up of a community Agriculture shrinks while industry and service grow Primitive dictatorships have the possibility of moving into civilized democracy Problems with CMT There are no universally accepted conditions that determine whether a democracy can be classified as such This theory has to specify what about culture matters and how it has a causal relationship to democracy A lot of the terms used are nonscientific therefore they become nonfalsifiable Almond and Verba theorize that only culture can provide the psychological Civic Culture basis of democratization Three types of political culture Parochial no clear differentiation of political roles African tribes Subject ruler ruled Citizens are passive in their roles Centralized Authoritarian systems Participant citizens actively engage with the institution Suitable for democracy suitable for democracy Only participant or institution where citizens have an involved role is Almond and Verba described culture as how individuals think and feel about the political system They conducted surveys to measure the citizens response to understand how the citizens felt about their government Questions included the respondent s belief in the ability to cause change how positive their feelings toward government were and what type of change was preferred After surveying the U S U K Germany Italy and Mexico it was found that the U S and U K had the most stable democracies and had political cultures that resembled the civic culture They then assumed that civic culture was necessary for democracy Inglehart tested this theory by using levels of lift satisfaction levels of interpersonal trust and support for gradual versus revolutionary change to determine what type of culture existed in each country Inglehart also stated that civic culture was necessary for democracy Civic culture tends to be defined by a shared cluster of attitudes regarding high levels of interpersonal trust preference for gradual change high levels of life satisfaction and support for the existing political systems Civic culture studies are an improvement on Montesquieu and Mill s work but they were unable to illustrate that culture comes before democracy To identify the causality between civic culture and democracy subsequent empirical work has been completed This empirical work shows that experience with democratic institution is what causes democracy and civic culture Therefore cultural values are a consequence of democracy not a cause World Values Survey conducted in eighty different societies addressing issues of sociocultural and political change It is difficult to utilize surveys to study democracy and attitudes surrounding democracy Surveys have to be completed in authoritarian countries where respondents may not give their honest preferences In addition to honesty varying levels of intelligence and information asymmetry can play a role in how a respondent answers Religion and Democracy Clash of Civilizations conflicts in the world will be cultural rather than ideological or economic Samuel Huntington A civilization is the highest cultural grouping of people and the broadest level of cultural identity people have short of that which distinguishes humans from other species Huntington argues that Western democracy and Western values will antagonize other civilizations into conflict Islamic and Confucianist countries cannot sustain democracy Certain religious cultures are incompatible with democracy Catholic countries will find it hard to sustain democracy Violence will occur between Muslims and non Muslims Protestantism promotes democracy because of its connection to capitalism and development Modernization Theory Catholicism is antithetical to democracy because of its practice using one church and one truth Catholicism poses problems for the acceptance of more socially and politically unrestricted institutions such as democracy Huntington argues that Confucian democracy is a contradiction in that traditional Confucianism was never undemocratic Several arguments have been given for why Islam is incompatible with democracy Islam has a violent streak that
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