Political Culture & Political Ideologies

1. Political Culture & Political Ideologies Types of Political Culture Political Ideology

2. Introduction • Historic evolution of political traditions shape a country’s concept of who has authority to rule, who is legitimate power • Evolution can be gradual (UK) or forced (Iran) • Political Culture: collection of political beliefs, values, practices and institutions • If society values individualism then the gov’t will generally reflect that value • If a gov’t doesn’t value basic political values of the people, it will have difficulty remaining viable

3. Intro cont’ • Social capital: amount of reciprocity and trust that exists among citizens, and between citizens and state • Societies w/ low amounts of social capital may be more inclined toward authoritarianism and anti-individual gov’ts • Some argue that Islam is incompatible with democracy because they emphasize subservience • On other hand, democracy has flourished in India, South Africa and Turkey

4. Types of Political Culture • Consensus political culture: • Citizens may disagree on some political processes, but agree on how decisions are made or how problems are solved • By and large, consensus political culture accepts both legitimacy or the regime & solutions to major problems • Conflictual political culture: • Citizens are sharply divided, often on legitimacy and how to solve problems • Hard to come to conclusions when citizens agree or disagree on basics like capitalism v. communism • Religious differences may also threaten the legitimacy or stability of a regime • Political subcultures may arise; divisions will be so deep that gov’t will struggle to function properly

5. Political Ideologies • Political ideologies: political culture shapes political ideologies; ideologies are sets of political values held by individuals regarding the basic goals of gov’t & politics • Liberalism • Emphasis on individual political and economic freedom • Not the stereotype that liberalism has in the U.S. • Liberalism is the broad ideology in many democratized countries • Liberals seek to: • Freedom for all people • Freedom of speech • Freedom of religion • Freedom of association • People also have right to disagree with gov’t decisions and leaders • English riots • PM Cameron’s speech on English riots • PM Cameron on police powers during the English riots • English response to riots

6. Political Ideologies • Communism • Technically speaking- equality is valued over freedom • Liberal democracies value equal opportunity but tolerate inequality in society and economy • Communists: • reject the notion that personal freedom equals prosperity • argue that liberal democracies re created by the wealthy to protect the wealthy • Advocate a takeover of all resources by the state in order to eliminate inequalities and exploitation • Argue that private ownership should be abolished and needs of state are more important than society as a whole

7. Political Ideologies • Socialism: • Shares value of equality with communism but influenced by liberal value of freedom • Accepts and promotes private property/ownership and free market • believe the state has a strong role to play in regulating economy and providing benefits to the public • Benefits ensure some measure of equality

8. Political Ideologies • Fascism: • Confused w/ communism because both devalue the idea of individual freedom • Fascism rejects the value of equality, instead people exist in degrees of inferiority and superiority • State has the right and responsibility to mold the society and economy • The regime is authoritarian and can determine who is superior and who is inferior

9. Political Ideologies • Religions: • Important to group identity • Religion serves as a basis for interest groups and volunteer associations within society • Britain has an official religion, but their society is largely secularized- religious and political leaders are not the same • Iran bases its political system on Shia Islam • China has suppressed religious movements • In Nigeria sharia Law is legal in the Muslim, but not in the Christian south.

10. Conclusions • No matter how we categorize political cultures, they are constantly changing • Political values and beliefs tend to endure and typically political culture has shaped political systems • Political ideologies also play the key role in shaping political culture