1. What is it?
   1. See last week
2. Why is it significant?
   1. Ronald inglehart - world values survey - "the study of political culture is based upon. The assumption that autonomous and reasonably enduring cross cultural differences exist and that they have important litical consequences"
      1. I.e. there is a spill over from, say, being a particular religion, or haing particular opinions about day to day xperiences into politics
      2. Tat cultural factors matter a great deal in understanding the determinants of order and instability/conflict...of democracy and the lack of democracy.
         1. What about Rawls's idea of reasonableness?
         2. Look at cold war and the cultural divide between divided east and west and how the US felt that European regimes, because of their cultures, would be vulnerable to communist pressure from within.
            1. So, for example, it was thought by US that the culture of places like France and Italy might make them vulnerable to communist radicalisation. So much effort went in to trying to shore up those bits of their cultures, civic education and so on, that supported western rather than communist values.
            2. Similar things are happening today in the "nation building" in, say, Iraq, Afghanistan an so on. I is a feature of post conflict nation building.
         3. For democratic processes and institutions to take hold and work there has to be something in the culture, the nation psyche, that supports democracy.
            1. For example, for a democracy to work, you need people who, however much they may disagree, can agree to allow others to disagree and to win on democratic terms.
            2. Whereas in some cultures, letting your opposition win might be fought against violently.
            3. Or divisions within a country may be so ingrained that you would never trust someone form outside your own social grouping regardless of how legitimate heir victory might be.
3. National identity - cultures, subcultures and conflict
   1. Nation building and modernisation
   2. New states and social cohesion
      1. Look at post-colonial Africa. Many nations were cobbled together pseudo-nations.
      2. Different mechanisms are used to try and counter this. E.g. Federal constitution in Nigeria, program's of civic education in schools installing the new national identity.
         1. Doesn'talways work - look at Biafra
   3. Eg Ulster, Yugoslavia, Sri Lanka, Rwanda, Sudan, Chechnya
      1. Recent post conflict areas. Their internal conflicts were centred on sharp cultural. Divisions - nationalist, loyalist, catholic, Protestant, king billy, James II and so on. Hutu, Tutsi. African, Arabic Christian, Muslim an so on.
         1. Some of these cultural conflicts are technically unresolved. You can't make a catholic become a proddie etc.
   4. These can be the basis for ethnic cleansing type stuff - but it needn't be that dramatic. The in-group/winners form more of the national interest did identity for example, loses feel less well represented.
   5. These sub cultures can also be the basis of political allegiance. E.g. Liberals and nonconformists.
   6. Two ideas of nationalism. Civic nationalism and ethnic nationalism. Anthony smith.
      1. It may be distinctively British for example, to be proud of our democracy, fairness and pluralism. As against white supremacy type nationalism.
4. Comparing political cultures
   1. The civic culture. See Almond and Verba study between early fifties and early sixties.
      1. The looked at five countries. GB, USA, Mexico, West Gemany, Italy and the study revealed:
         1. Three main types of culture (mixes of alums and attitudes and shared orientations toward the political system and the role of the individual within it). "Ideal type"
            1. Parochial political culture. No clear differentiation of political roles and expectations exist among actors...no clear awareness of or evaluation of the political world.
            2. Mexico
            3. Subject political cultures. In which institutional and role differentiation are apparent, but in which the citizen is largely passive.
            4. Germany and italy
            5. Participant political culture. I which citizens have a sophisticated awareness of political roles and institutions and have an active orientation towards politics.
            6. We'remore likely to be critical of government than other two types. And therefore more inclined to want to get involved if the don't like something.
            7. Only US. But compare with Nock's idea of the US as a mo or less laid back army on the march with no political psyche.
            8. They concluded GB was not quite in any of these groups. GB was what they called a civic culture. Both differential and prepared to get involved.
5. How useful are cultural explanations in politics?