Part Two: Political Culture in Canada – The Context of Ideas September 27th, 2001

POLITICAL CULTURE: What is It? value consensus regarding the appropriate method of making political decisions and the appropriate spheres subject to political decision-making constitution (formal rules of the game)/political culture (operational rules of the game)

POLITICAL CULTURE: What is It? CHARACTERISTICS consensus -- not monolith mixing of different ideologies/philosophies political culture as a range enduring -- not transitory evolving – not frozen

POLITICAL CULTURE: Why is It Important? does not determine specific political outcomes defines the range of legitimate political processes how decisions are made defines the range of possible political outcomes what decisions are made

POLITICAL CULTURE: What is It? PROCESS elitist participatory

POLITICAL CULTURE: What is It? outcomes the relative balance between the individual and the community focus on equality vs. acceptance of inequalities

The Left/Right Ideological Spectrum The Left – social democratic The Right – neo-conservative More Gov’t Less Gov’t emphasis on the common good/collective well-being community must be more important than the individual allowing individuals to pursue their own self interest will result in the greatest common good community is only made up of individuals

The Left/Right Ideological Spectrum The Left – social democratic The Right – neo-conservative More Gov’t Less Gov’t government regulation of the economy policies to redistribute income policies to help disadvantaged groups free markets fewer government regulations/lower taxes no special treatment for special interest groups

IDEOLOGIES Accept Inequality Red Tory (conservative), social conservatives neo-conservative, neo-liberal US Individual Liberty General Welfare Canada Social Democratic Equality