Political Culture

Paper Summary:

This paper assesses the issue of political culture and whether its varying nature in different countries affects the establishment and maintenance of democracy. The paper achieves this by first offering a definitional explanation of political culture and how its characteristics alter depending on the country in question. The paper then examines the manner in which democratic processes are affected by national political culture. Two countries ae used as examples in exemplifying the inherent links between the two concepts; Pakistan and Slovakia. The paper contends that political culture is a vital component in the democratic process. Therefore, if a respective political culture fails to either understand or believe in the underlying principles of democratic thought, it becomes very difficult to instil a culture based on democratic principles. The paper further contends that further factors such as; national history; religious beliefs and the role of the military have a large part to play. Indeed, the two example countries provide us with prove of this fact.

From the Paper:

"Let us look at out first example country, Pakistan. Since independence from Britain in 1947, much of the political culture of Pakistan has been formed on the same theoretical basis as that of the British Raj. When the British left what is know known as Pakistan, the democratic forces they attempted to instil were often contradictory in their nature. On the one hand, democratic representative government was established, but underpinning it lay the same subject based culture that had endured during British rule."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Almond, Gabriel and Verba, Sidney. "The Civic Culture", Boston, Brown and Little, 1965.
• Goldman, Milton F. "Slovakia since independence: A struggle for democracy", Westport: Pragger, 1999).
• Hague, Rod and Harrop, Martin "Comparative Government and Politics", London: Palgrave, 2001.
• Huntington, Samuel P. "The Clash of Civilisations and the Remaking of the World Order", London: Simon and Schuster, 2002.
• Khan, Rahmat Ibad. "Impact of Political Culture on Political Development of Balachistan", High Education Commission for Pakistan: Pakistan Research Repository, 1996.

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