Lecture 6; cultural determinants of democracy Flashcards
Primordialism argument implies ____
That democracy is not for everyone
what are constructivist arguments regarding culture
a democratic culture is required for democracy
cultures are malleable
cultures are not impenetrable barriers to democratization
What are John Stuart Mills main arguments
no one believes that every individual is capable of working every sort of institutions
even those who wanted civilized government could not sustain it without the right mental and moral habits
problems with Montesquieu and Mills argument
If culturalist arguments are to have any explanatory power, they must distinguish and specify what is that matters.
Otherwise it will never be possible to conclude that culture does not matter
According to almond and verba what are the three types of political culture
Parochial
Suitable for traditional system of African tribes
Subject
Suitable for centralized authoritarian systems
Participant (civic)
Suitable for democracy
What did Inglehart conclude about culture
that culture determined was determined by
levels of life satisfaction
levels of interpersonal trust
support for gradual versus revolutionary change
and finally that civic culture was necessary for democracy
What are collection action problems
Are basically prisoners dilemma games with lots of people
Accordingly each of a large number of individuals has (in the simplest case) two options when it comes to behavior
Contribute, Or don’t contribute to the general enterprise
If not enough people contribute the groups goal is obtained
But if the group goal is obtained, then every member of the group enjoys its benefits, whether she contributed to its achievement or no
Putnam beleived that
Features of social organization, such as trust, norms and networks, that can improve the efficiency of society by facilitating coordinated actions
Connections among individuals- social networks and the norms of reciprocity and trustworthiness that arise from them
Coleman believed that norms are ____
created when an action has similar externalities for a set of individuals but markets in the rights of control over the action cannot easily be established, and no one actor can successfully engage in an exchange to exchange to gain control over the action
Ill do this for you now if you do that for me
Path dependence
the idea that where you get to depends on where you’re coming from, and that some destinations are not reachable from here
Inability to escape inefficient inertia not a result of individual preferences or irrationality
Trajectory is reinforced by organizational learning, cultural habits, mental models of the social world
Robert Putnam on why some democratic governments succeed and others fail
The main explanation is rooted in civic traditions
The development of distinct solutions to collective dilemmas in north and south Italy
The south
Strictly autocratic in its political arrangements
Central regulation
Hierarchy dominated by landed aristocracy with feudal powers
The north
An unprecedented form of self government emerged
