The Cultural Determinants of Democracy and Dictatorship

Shorrocks & Martin POLI10201|2
The Cultural Determinants of

Democracy and Dictatorship
Lecture 6
POLI10201 Introduction to Comparative Politics
12/10/2018
Dr. Rosalind Shorrocks

rosalind.shorrocks@manchester.ac.uk
Office hours: Weds 10am-11am; Thurs 3pm-4pm
Book via SOHOL

Summary: The Economic Determinants of
Democracy and Dictatorship
• There is an empirical relationship between economic development and
both the emergence and survival of democracy
• One of the main explanations that has been given for this is that
economic development means that there are more citizens who are
well off, who then negotiate with the ruler, demand democracy, or
have an interest in sustaining democracy
• A dependence on natural resources can hinder democratization
because it breaks the link between ruler and citizens
• In some cases, foreign aid can hinder democratization. However, in
others it can be helpful, and it depends on the motivations of the aid-
donor.
Introduction
• Return to the key questions from yesterday:
1. Why do some states become democratic but others don’t?
2. Why does democracy survive in some states but not in others?
Learning Objectives
• Explain what is meant by ‘culture’ and how it is measured
• Theorise the relationship between culture and democracy
• Evaluate the empirical evidence linking culture and democracy
What is Culture?
• Norms, attitudes, beliefs, customs
• Two different views of culture:

• Primordialist: culture is something objective and fixed
• Constructivist: culture is something that is constructed or invented
• Political culture: norms, attitudes, beliefs, and customs that relate to

politics and citizens’ engagement with it

Culture and Democracy
• The idea that culture might influence democracy is not new, and was put
forward by Montesquieu (1689-1755) and John Stuart Mill (1806-1873)
• Montesquieu:
• Monarchy is suited to Europe
• Despotism is suited to the Orient
• Democracy is suited to ancient Greece
• “No one believes that every people is capable of working every sort of
institutions” (John Stuart Mill)

The Civic Culture (Almond & Verba, 1963)
• Only a civic culture is conducive to democracy
• A civic culture is participant and allegiant

• Citizens are willing to participate in the system
• They are also loyal to the system and don’t want to overthrow it
• Measure this using surveys to identify attitudes in the population

• Civic culture is present when there is a high preference for gradual
(rather than radical) societal change, high level of support for the existing
political system, high level of life satisfaction, high level of personal trust
Debates about The Civic Culture
• How do we measure it? What set of attitudes in a population shows a civic
culture?
• Is it really civic culture  democracy? Could it actually be that

democracy  civic culture?
• This is a problem when we observe a relationship at one point in time.
We need to look at over-time change.
e.g. Muller and Seligson (1994) Civic culture and democracy: the question
of causal relationships. American Political Science Review, 88(3): 635-652
Do you think that having a democratic system
is…?
A. A very good way of governing
this country
B. A fairly good way of governing
this country
C. A fairly bad way of governing
this country
D. A very bad way of governing
this country
responseware.eu
How satisfied are you with how the people now in
national office are handling the country’s affairs?
A. Very satisfied
B. Fairly satisfied
C. Fairly dissatisfied
D. Very dissatisfied

On the whole, are you 1) very satisfied, 2) fairly satisfied; 3) not very satisfied; or
4) not at all satisfied, with the way democracy works in your country?
A. Very satisfied
B. Fairly satisfied
C. Not very satisfied
D. Not at all satisfied

Critical Citizens (Norris, 1999)

Critical Citizens (Norris, 1999)
• Are we ‘dissatisfied democrats’? Declining trust and satisfaction with
governments is eroding support for democracy and participation in the
system
• Or are we ‘critical citizens’? Support remains for the system but

citizens are critical of its performance – and thus motivated to improve
it
• A modern civic culture?
• Update: Norris (2011) Democratic Deficit: Critical Citizens Revisited

Cultural Modernization Theory
• A cultural revision of the economic development story from the last lecture
• Modernization Theory: Economic Development  Social Change 

Democracy
• Cultural Modernization Theory: Economic Development  Cultural

Change  Democracy
Inglehart and Welzel (2005) Modernization, Cultural Change, and

Democracy: The Human Development Sequence
Cultural Modernization Theory (Inglehart and
Welzel, 2005)
• There are two cultural dimensions
1. Traditional versus secular rational

• Traditional: religion, traditional family roles, deference to authority, national
pride
• Secular-rational: cosmopolitan, support for divorce, euthanasia, abortion
• Industrialisation leads countries to move away from traditional

values to secular-rational values

Welzel, 2005)
• 2. Survival values versus self-expression values
• Survival values: emphasis on physical and economic security, ethnocentric world
view, low tolerance
• Self-expression values: gender, racial, and sexual equality, tolerance of diversity, civic
activism, high levels of interpersonal trust, desire for a greater say in how political
decisions are made
• Post-industrialisation leads countries to move away from survival values to

self-expression values
• Citizens’ physical and economic security needs and so they become less
important. See also Inglehart (2008) Changing Values among Western Publics
from 1970 to 2006. West European Politics. 31: 1-2: 130-146
Inglehart-Welzel Cultural Map (World Values
Survey, 2010-2014)

Welzel, 2005)
• The argument is that economic development  secular-rational and
self-expression values  these values are conducive to the emergence
or survival of democracy
• BUT: it could also be that economic development  democracy (last

lecture)  secular-rational and self-expression values
• At the moment we don’t know exactly –

it could be both

Religion and Democracy
• Huntington (1993) The Clash of Civilizations
• Different parts of the world are in cultural conflict with each other
• Certain religions are incompatible with democracy
• E.g. Islam: Huntington’s argument is that Islam has a violent streak

that predisposes Islamic countries to authoritarianism; Islam is unable
to disassociate religious and political spheres; and Islam treats women
unequally

Islam and Democracy
https://www.aljazeera.com/programmes/upfront/2016/09/reality-check-i
slam-compatible-democracy-160923193103650

Religion and Democracy: Empirical Evidence
• Surveys like the WVS show similar levels of support for democratic
government in Muslim-majority countries as in other countries
• Muslim-majority countries do have lower levels of democracy than

other countries, but:
• This is only the case in Arab Muslim-majority countries which are highly
dependent on oil production
• This is consistent with the resource curse from the previous lecture.
• Culture in the form of religion seems to have less explanatory power when it
comes to democracy than we might think

Religion and Democracy: Empirical Evidence
Emergence of Democracy (dependent variable)
Extension reading: Principles of Comparative

Politics, Chapter 6, p.212-219: ‘Appendix: An
Intuitive Take on Statistical Analysis.’
Extension exercise: chapter 6, p.221-222,
exercises 5 (dependent and independent
variables)
Back to the key questions
• Economic development is strongly associated with the emergence and

survival of democracy, but countries that are dependent on natural
resources may find it difficult to democratise
• Foreign aid can either help or hinder the development of democracy –
it depends on the motivations of the aid-giver

Back to the key questions
• Economics are not the full story – cultural differences also matter for the
emergence and survival of democracy
• Attitudes amongst citizens, especially support for democracy, are also
important, but it is difficult to establish the direction of the causal relationship
• Religious differences between countries matter less than we might think for
the emergence of democracy

Readings for this topic
Textbook chapter: Chapter 7: The Cultural Determinants of Democracy and Dictatorship.
The Civic Culture: Almond, Gabriel, and Verba, Sidney. (1963). The Civic Culture: Political Attitudes and
Democracy in Five Nations. Chapter 1: An Approach to Political Culture.
Critical Citizens: Norris, Pippa (2010) Democratic Deficit: Critical Citizens Revisited. Chapter 11: The
Consequences for Citizenship, Governance, and Democratization. New York: Cambridge University Press.
Cultural Modernization Theory: Inglehart, Ronald and Welzel, Christian (2005) Modernization, Cultural
Change, and Democracy: The Human Development Sequence. New York: Cambridge University Press.
Religion and Democracy: Norris, Pippa and Inglehart, Ronald (2002) Islamic Culture and Democracy:
Testing the ‘Clash of Civilizations’ Thesis. Comparative Sociology. 1(3-4): 235-263.

Tutorial Preparation
Principles, Chapter 6 Exercise 1: Classic Modernization Theory

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Shorrocks & Martin POLI10201|2