Inglehart, R. (2000). Culture and democracy Inglehart, R. (2000). Culture and democracy. in Culture Matters: How Values Shape Human Progress, Lawrence E. Harrison, Samuel P. Huntington - editors, Basic Books, New York, 2000, pp. 80-97.

*The Author’s arguments about the relationship between culture and politics. First argument: cultural traditions are remarkably enduring and shape the political and economic behavior (Francis Fukuyama ( 1995), Lawrence Harrison ( 1985, 1992, 1997), Samuel Huntington ( 1996), and Robert Putnam ( 1993))

Second argument: the rise of industrial society is a result of coherent cultural shifts away from traditional value systems In this paper the author presents evidence that both arguments are true

Bottom up effect Development gives rise to changes towards rational, tolerant, trusting and postmodern vales. Top down effect However there are distinctive cultural values which persist when the effects of economic development are controlled. Cultural values are two types: 1: survival values (economic and physical security) 2. self expression values (interpersonal trust, tolerance and participation in dec. making) * Some societies emphasize survival values while some emphisize self expression values

Argument: Societies that emphasize self expression values are more likely to be democracies than societies that emphasize survival values. * Economic development seems to bring a gradual shift from survival values to self-expression values.

MODERNIZATION AND CULTURAL ZONES Huntington (1993, 1996) argues that the world is divided into eight or nine major civilizations based on enduring cultural differences. -- Western Christianity, the Orthodox world, the Islamic world, and the Confucian, Japanese, Hindu, Buddhist, African, and Latin American regions -- These civilizations were largely shaped by religious traditions that are still powerful today, despite the forces of modernization. * Huntington’s argument: political conflict will occur mainly along these cultural divisions, not along ideological or economic lines.

Putnam’s Argument: the regions of Italy where democratic institutions function most successfully today are those in which there is relatively a well-developed civil society centuries before (social capital). Harrison (1985, 1992, 1997): development is strongly influenced by a society's basic cultural values. Fukuyama (1995): a society's ability to compete in global markets is conditioned by social trust.

Modernization theorists (including the author of this chapter) have argued that: Economic development almost inevitably brings the decline of religion, parochialism, and cultural differences. (integration) But enduring cross cultural differences exist even though economic development tends to bring systematic cultural changes.

Contrast between: TRADITIONAL versus RATIONAL-LEGAL VALUES SURVIVAL versus SELF-EXPRESSION VALUES

Traditional Societies -- emphasize religion, absolute standards, and traditional family values; -- favor large families; -- reject divorce, abortion, euthanasia, suicide; -- emphasize social conformity rather than individualistic achievement; -- favor consensus rather than open political conflict; -- support deference to authority, and have high levels of national pride and a nationalistic outlook.

b) with secular-rational Societies They have the opposite preferences on all of these topics presented above. SURVIVAL and SELF-EXPRESSION VALUES Survival values are materialist emphasis on economic and physical security toward increasing Self expression values are postmaterialist -- emphasis on self-expression, subjective wellbeing, and quality of life.

-- These values are linked with the emergence of growing emphasis on environmental protection, the women's movement, and rising demands for participation in decision-making in economic and political life. Societies that emphasize survival values: -- relatively low levels of subjective well-being, -- relatively poor health, -- low on interpersonal trust, -- relatively intolerant toward outgroups, -- low on support for gender equality, -- emphasize materialist values, -- high levels of faith in science and technology,

-- relatively low on environmental activism, -- relatively favorable to authoritarian government. Societies that emphasize self-expression values: -- tend to have the opposite preferences on all these topics. Argument: societies that emphasize self-expression values are much more likely to be stable democracies than those that emphasize survival values.

CULTURE AND DEMOCRACY -- Almond and Verba (the Civic Culture): scholars started linking political culture with democracy -- By the 1990s, observers were concluding that cultural factors played an important role in the problems emerged in the process of democratization. -- Simply adopting a democratic constitution was not enough. -- Cultural factors have been omitted from most empirical analyses of democracy partly because, until now, we have not had reliable measures of them from more than a handful of countries.

-- When cultural factors are taken into account, they seem to play an important role. Economic development leads to two types of changes that are helpful to democracy: • It tends to transform a society's social structure, bringing urbanization, mass education, occupational specialization, growing organizational networks, greater income equality, and a variety of associated developments that mobilize mass participation in politics.

Economic development also leads to cultural changes that help stabilize democracy. -- It tends to develop interpersonal trust and tolerance -- it leads to the spread of post-materialist values that place high priority on self-expression and participation in decision-making. -- Insofar as it brings higher levels of well-being, it provides the regime with legitimacy, which can help sustain democratic institutions through difficult times.

A strong correlation between survival/self-expression index and the level of democracy have been observed. Virtually all of the societies that rank high on self-expression values are stable democracies; Virtually all the societies that rank low have authoritarian governments.

One interpretation would be that democratic institutions give rise to the self-expression values that are so closely linked with them. In other words, democracy makes people healthy, happy, tolerant, and trusting, and it instills post-materialist values (at least in the younger generation). Adopt democratic institutions and live happily ever after !!!!

Unfortunately, the experience of the people of the former Soviet Union does not support this interpretation. Since their dramatic move toward democracy in 1991, they have not become healthier, happier, more trusting, more tolerant, or more post-materialist. For the most part, they have gone in exactly the opposite direction. Latin America's history of constitutional instability is another example.

An alternative interpretation is that economic development gradually leads to social and cultural changes that make democratic institutions increasingly likely to survive and flourish. The latter interpretation has both encouraging and discouraging implications. Democracy is not something that can be easily attained by simply adopting the right laws

It is most likely to flourish in some social and cultural contexts than in others. The current cultural conditions for democracy seem relatively unfavorable in Russia, Belarus, Ukraine, Armenia, and Moldova. The good news is that the long-term trend of the past several centuries has been toward economic development . Economic development tends to give rise to social and cultural conditions under which democracy becomes increasingly likely to emerge and survive.

In the long run, modernization tends to help spread democratic institutions. Authoritarian rulers of some Asian societies have argued that the distinctive "Asian values" of these societies make them unsuitable for democracy ( Lee 1994). The evidence from the World Values does not support this interpretation. It suggests that Confucian societies may be readier for democracy than is generally believed.

Conclusions: -- Economic development seems to bring gradual cultural changes that make mass publics increasingly likely to want democratic institutions and to be more supportive of them once they are in place. -- Determined elites who control the army and police can resist pressures for democratization. -- But development tends to make mass publics more trusting and tolerant and leads them to place an increasingly high priority on autonomy and self-expression in all spheres of life, including politics.

Although rich societies are much likelier to be democratic than poor ones, wealth alone does not automatically bring democracy. If that were true, Kuwait and Libya would be model democracies. The evidence suggests that culture plays a much more crucial role in democracy than the literature of the past two decades would indicate.

The syndrome of trust, tolerance, well-being, and participatory values tapped by the survival/self-expression dimension seems particularly crucial. In the long run, democracy is not attained simply by making institutional changes or through elite-level maneuvering. Its survival also depends on the values and beliefs of ordinary citizens.