Unit 3: Political Culture and Participation

Question 1

Protection of civil society groups in China

Answer 1

China’s constitution protects assembly and association, but the government uses coercive tactics and restrictions against groups that are perceived as a threat to its power. Leaders of human rights groups have been imprisoned and tortured for their political activism.

China’s constitution protects religious activities, but prohibits them from disrupting public order. The government sponsors religious groups and funds churches, temples, mosques, and other places of worship. Independent religious groups have attempted to create groups independent of sponsorship and monitoring, but risk persecution by the government.

Question 2

Protection of civil society groups in Russia

Answer 2

Russia’s constitution states that citizens have the right to gather peacefully, without weapons, and to hold meetings, rallies, demonstrations, marches and pickets. However, the government has criminalized the organization of protests that are not approved of by the government. Additionally, any groups that receive funding from international sources must register as “foreign agents” to be monitored more closely by government officials. In terms of religious groups, Russia allows more independent membership in different religious groups, but some religious groups face persecution by the government. In 2016, Russia passed antiterrorism laws that greatly restrict public missionary work by some religious groups such as Mormons from the Latter-day Saints Church.

Question 3

Protection of civil society groups in Iran

Answer 3

Iran’s constitution cites protection of assembly, but the government has used laws against domestic terrorism and coercive tactics to restrict independent groups. It also grants Islam status as the country’s official religion, but protects religious minorities such as Zoroastrian, Jewish and Christian Iranians. There is a sizeable Jewish population in Iran that are, along with members of the Baha’i faith, persecuted by the government. Human rights activists have been jailed in Iran for advocating to end the persecution of those who are Baha’i.

Question 4

Protection of civil society groups in Mexico and the UK

Answer 4

Mexico and the UK protect the rights of protest groups to demonstrate peacefully in public. Security forces are used to keep public order, but accusations of government using violence to suppress non-violent demonstrators are not as common. Protestors who do accuse government security forces of using excessively violent tactics are more likely to be allowed legal measures to gain compensation.

Question 5

Democratic vs. authoritarian political socialization

Answer 5

Though many agents of socialization (e.g., family, school, peers, media, and government) are similar across regime types, authoritarian regimes apply more concerted governmental pressures to socialize their citizens around conforming beliefs than do democratic regimes

Question 6

Protection of civil society groups in Nigeria

Answer 6

Nigeria’s legislature declined to pass legislation in 2018 that would have required more government monitoring of finances and approval of projects. However, when Amnesty International reported that the government was inadequately protecting religious groups from Boko Haram attacks, military leaders threatened to shut the group’s main office. Additionally, governmental authorities used lockdowns related to the Covid-19 pandemic to harass and assault civil society groups.

Question 7

Importance of civil society

Answer 7

• a robust civil society serves as an agent of democratization; the placing of restrictions on NGOs and civil society tends to highlight violations of civil liberties protected under foundational documents
• civil society organizations, to varying degrees, can monitor and lobby the government, expose governmental malfeasance, represent the interests of members, and provide members with organizational experience.

Question 8

Political culture/cleavages in Nigeria

Answer 8

Nigeria’s political culture has been shaped by its political history connected to British colonialism, which divided powers between different ethno-religious groups and shaped the development of its economy. It also shaped the use of a common law legal system and the development of an independent judiciary. Nigeria has ethnic and geographical social cleavages between Igbos in the east, Hausa-Fulani in the north, and Yoruba in the west, as well as religious and geographical cleavages between Muslims in the north, Christians in the south, and a diverse mix of Muslims, Christians and animists in central Nigeria.

Question 9

Political culture/cleavages in Iran

Answer 9

In Iran, the political culture of its theocracy is shaped by the principle of the Guardianship of the Islamic Jurist (Vilayat-e Faqih). This religious oversight ensures Iran as an Islamic theocracy even with the direct election of some government officials. The urban-rural social cleavage shaped citizen responses to the 2009 presidential election, with urban citizens more likely to support relaxing gender disparity laws than rural citizens who were more likely to support strict regulations.

Question 10

Political culture in Russia

Answer 10

In Russia, political culture was shaped with the fall of the USSR and economic chaos that this created in the early 1990s. Russian politicians can often gain more popular support with policies that reassert Russia’s
regional influence in defiance of NATO such as thee takeover of Crimea from Ukraine in 2014.

Question 11

Political socialization

Answer 11

the lifelong process of acquiring one’s beliefs, values, and orientations toward the political system

Question 12

Political Ideologies

Answer 12

Individualism—belief in individual civil liberties and freedom over governmental restrictions

Neoliberalism—belief in limited governmental intervention in the economy and society; supports privatization, free
trade, deregulation, and the elimination of state subsidies
Neoliberal beliefs support privatization of government controlled industries, free trade to lower tariffs on imported goods, deregulation of governmental controls on business, and the elimination of state subsidies for industries.

Communism—belief in the abolition of private property with near total governmental control of the economy

Socialism—belief in the reduction of income disparities and the nationalization of major private industries

Fascism—extreme nationalist ideology that favors authoritarian rule and the rights of the ethnic majority over that of ethnic minorities and the political opposition

Populism —political philosophy that supports the interests and rights of the common people over that of the elites.

Question 13

Civil society against/lobbying the government in Mexico

Answer 13

In Mexico, some political scientists trace the origins of democratization to the role that civil society groups played in the aftermath of the 1985 earthquake in Mexico City. Civil society groups formed in order to try rescuing those trapped in the rubble and to help address the lack of electricity and drinking water. This led to the creation of the Democratic Revolutionary Party (PRD) whose candidate is widely thought to have won the 1988 presidential election over the PRI dominant party candidate. This set off a chain of public movements to pressure PRI to reform Mexico’s elections and resulted in a non-PRI candidate being elected president three times since 2000.
During the Covid-19 pandemic, the pluralism that had developed in Mexico with the organization and work of many different civil society groups allowed civil society groups to advocate for and work to implement different social and health policies.

Question 14

Civil society against/lobbying the government in Nigeria

Answer 14

Nigeria’s labor unions are a good example of civil society groups that advocate for governmental policies
more favorable for the workforce. The Nigeria Labour Congress is an umbrella organization for nearly 30
labor unions in Nigeria that represent the interests of about 4 million workers.
Civil society groups and NGOs in Nigeria organized pressure in 2018 to reject proposed national legislation that would have required more government monitoring of the finances and approval of projects by some civil society groups and NGOs.

Question 15

Civil society against/lobbying the government in the UK

Answer 15

The United Kingdom is home to international NGOs that strive to shape policies and change governmental behaviors. Oxfam, Save the Children, (poverty) Amnesty International (human rights), and the British Medical Association (health care policy)are examples of civil society pressure groups. Local governments in the UK have offered financial aid to civil society groups during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Question 16

Political culture

Answer 16

the collective attitudes, values, and beliefs of the citizenry and the norms of behavior in the political system. It sets expectations about the exercise of power to establish a balance between social order and individual liberty.

Question 17

Examples of rule-by-law in China

Answer 17

China used a large-scale protest movement in Hong Kong to extend its authoritarian rule in the governance of Hong Kong in 2020. In 1997, China’s government took control of Hong Kong as a special administrative region (SAR) of China, and protestors voiced opposition to restricted electoral policies and due process rights. These protests were met with violence by Hong Kong security forces. In 2020, the National People’s Congress passed a law allowing the NPC’s Standing Committee to make national security laws that prohibited separatist and subversive activities that interfere with the Hong Kong SAR.

Question 18

Examples of rule-by-law in Iran

Answer 18

Mir-Hossein Mousavi and his wife have been under house arrest in Iran since 2011. Mousavi was a former prime minister who ran for president in 2009 against Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. The government’s quick reporting of an electoral victory by Ahmadinejad triggered speculation of electoral fraud and protests against Ahmadinejad’s forces. Iran also increased its restrictions of the internet and monitoring of social media to catch and punish citizens it deemed as trying to overthrow Iran’s Islamic theocracy. When Mousavi publicly supported the 2011 Arab Spring protests, he and his wife were detained and have not been released.

Question 19

Examples of rule-by-law in Nigeria

Answer 19

When Amnesty International reported in 2018 that the government was inadequately protecting religious groups from Boko Haram attacks in central Nigeria, military leaders in Nigeria threatened to shut
the group’s main office in Nigeria.

Question 20

Examples of rule-by-law in Russia

Answer 20

In Russia, the constitutional changes adopted by popular referendum in 2020 grant Russia’s president legal
immunity upon leaving office indicating a change in Russia’s law to prevent holding a government official
legally accountable for corruption while in power.

Question 21

Economic policy to help citizens in UK

Answer 21

The government of the United Kingdom moved towards neo-liberal economic policies in the late 1970s, with Margaret Thatcher as prime minister through the 1980s. Thatcher supported neoliberal reforms that would reduce the UK’s ownership and management of its major industries such as airlines, telecommunications, auto manufacturing and energy. The goal was to allow the free market to make the newly private companies more cost effective and profitable while reducing the state’s cost of employing and providing benefits to workers. While the UK still has some socialism in its government-run health care, education system and public housing subsidies for the poor, the government still allows the private control of most major industries like airlines, telecommunications, auto manufacturing and energy.

Question 22

Economic policy to help citizens in China

Answer 22

Deng Xiaoping’s government of China moved towards neo-liberal economic policies in the late 1970s. He supported a transition to a more mixed economy with state-managed capitalism, reducing the role of SOEs and increasing the role of privately controlled companies. This resulted in more privately-owned factories that paid workers more but with fewer costs of Iron Rice Bowl benefits and less job security for workers. China has seen many worker protests related to job layoffs and poor working conditions in some of these privately controlled factories, but China lacks direct elections to shape governmental policies. The CCP continues to support state-managed capitalism and uses agents of political socialization to try to shape public support for these policies.

Question 23

Responses to separatist movements in authoritarian (China) vs. democratic (UK) states

(to maintain sovereignty)

Answer 23

• Authoritarian governments are less likely to grant authentic powers to regional governments, such as in China in Tibet and Xinjiang. In 2020, the National People’s Congress passed a law allowing the NPC’s Standing Committee to make national security laws that prohibited separatist and subversive activities that interfere with the Hong Kong Special Autonomous Region (SAR). This allowed China’s central government to extend its authoritarian rule in the governance of Hong Kong.
• Democratic governments are more likely to grant regional governments authentic powers to shape policy, such as the 1998 Good Friday Agreement in Northern Ireland, which shared executive powers between Protestant and Catholic governmental leaders to reduce violent political behavior.

Question 24

Referenda

Answer 24

• allow citizens to vote directly on policy questions

Ex 1: The United Kingdom has used referenda to decide questions about
the devolution of powers to regional assemblies, the separation and creation of an independent nation-state, and their
withdrawal from the European Union.

Ex 2: Changes to Russia’s constitution that were approved in a 2020 public referendum restricted same-sex
marriages by making marriages in Russia legally restricted between one man and one woman.

Question 25

response to informal political participation UK

Answer 25

• tens of thousands of students engaged in mass protests in 2010 against the Conservative Party’s budget austerity cuts that included tuition increases for some university students. The government did not reverse its budget policies. The protests took place across the United Kingdom.

Question 26

response to informal political participation Mexico

Answer 26

Mexico’s government is usually protective of the right to protest, such as women’s rights protests in Mexico City. International Women’s Day is an annual event of grassroots activism and protest, but the protective fencing outside Mexico’s palace in 2021 became a place where activists posted artwork to protest and memorialize women killed in murders.

Question 27

response to informal political participation China

Answer 27

The Chinese government uses surveillance technology to catch and punish those who use the Internet and social media platforms to criticize the CCP. It also requires Internet publishers to register with the government for permits, reducing the amount of news content available on the Internet and social media.

Question 28

response to informal political participation Iran

Answer 28

Iran uses surveillance technology to catch and punish those who use the Internet and social media to promote protests and rights for gay citizens, and to block websites and social media platforms that are critical of the government.

Question 29

response to informal political participation Russia

Answer 29

Russia allows more access to the Internet, but has reduced critical information by demanding anonymity of users and blocking social media platforms that refuse to provide encryption data

Question 30

China’s cleavages

Answer 30

Ethnic and regional divisions between the majority Han ethnic group and at least 55 recognized ethnic minorities, such as the Uighurs in the northwest and the Tibetans in the southwest, and between areas that have developed at different rates.

Attempt to regulate:
–The government’s use of force and coercion to suppress
separatist movements by some Tibetan Buddhists and
Uighur Muslims.
– The selection process for the National People’s Congress
attempts to recruit members from throughout China’s
regions and official minority groups.

Question 31

Iran’s cleavages

Answer 31

In Iran, religious divisions between the Shi’a Muslim majority and members of other religions have led to a threatening atmosphere despite official recognition. There are also ethnic cleavages between the majority Persians and several ethnic minorities, including Azerbaijanis and Kurds.

Attempt to regulate:
– Baha’i practitioners have been persecuted for heresy.
– Recognized religious minorities like Jews and Zoroastrians are guaranteed a few seats in the national legislature.

Question 32

Mexico’s cleavages

Answer 32

Mexico, ethnic divisions between the Amerindian (indigenous) population and whites and mestizos, and regional divisions between the north and the south
(The Zapatista uprising of 1994 = lack of poverty reduction policies in southern Mexico, less economically developed than northern Mexico = government’s implementation of NAFTA, which benefitted northern Mexico.)

Attempt to regulate:
– Used its military to respond to an ethnic uprising of
indigenous peasants in Chiapas.
– Mexico officially has a federal form of government that
allows state governments to enforce policies that are not
uniform throughout the country.

Question 33

Nigeria’s cleavages

Answer 33

Ethnic divisions among more than 250 ethnic groups (including Hausa-Fulani, Yoruba, and Igbo), and religious and regional cleavages between the north (predominantly Muslim) and the south (where Christians and animists are concentrated)

Attempt to regulate:
– Nigeria’s executive branch uses ethnic quotas for hiring to
recognize and address different ethnic and religious
cleavages
– Nigeria expanded the number of its states from 3 (1960) to
36 (1996) to help prevent separatist movements by
empowering more ethnic groups.
– The use of military special forces to stop acts of terrorism byBoko Haram.

Question 34

Russia’s cleavages

Answer 34

Cleavages between ethnic Russians, who are more than 80 percent of the population and tend to be Russian Orthodox, and minority, non-Russian populations

Attempts to regulate:
– Since 1992, Russia twice used its military to respond to an
ethno-religious uprisings by Chechen separatists
– Russia’s Federal Assembly is bicameral legislature, but
changes to the legislative election systems have diminished the role of local voices.

Question 35

UK’s cleavages

Answer 35

The United Kingdom has ethnic and regional differences, religious differences (Protestant-Catholic), and racial tensions between whites and non-European minorities due to its colonial history.

Attempts to regulate:
– Formal power sharing agreement for the governing of
Northern Ireland between Protestant and Roman Catholic
leaders
– Allows for the election of local governing bodies such as
regional parliaments in Scotland, Northern Ireland and
Wales

Question 36

Nongovernmental organizations

Answer 36

civil society groups that provide services governments can also provide such as volunteer
fire departments to groups that provide advocacy for foster children.

Question 37

Civil Society

Answer 37

voluntary associations independent from the state, including local religious and neighborhood organizations,
news media, business and professional associations, and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs)

Question 38

Neoliberalism

Answer 38

referring to the removal of barriers and restrictions on what internal/external economic actors can do; beliefs
in limited governmental intervention in the economy; privatization of government controlled industries, free trade to lower
tariffs on imported goods, deregulation of governmental controls on business, and the elimination of state subsidies for
industries

Question 39

Authority

Answer 39

state’s legitimate right to enforce a power

Question 40

Welfare state

Answer 40

a government that takes responsibility for providing key social services such as healthcare, education, housing
and retirement benefit

Question 41

Post-materialism

Answer 41

social values of self-expression and quality of life issues such as environmental issues and social and economic equality such as LGBT rights and abortion rights.