Culture and Religions Implications of Democracy

C ULTURAL R ECEPTIVITY TO D EMOCRACY Democracy is a Western idea. To what extent can democracy, which is a Western product, take root in non- Western societies?

C ULTURE AND D EMOCRACY It is sometimes argued that democracy is not compatible with non-western culture. However, almost every civilization contains at least one liberal democracy. Therefore, liberal democracy is not incompatible with major non-Western cultures.

C ULTURE AND D EMOCRACY Yet, many non-western countries are still electoral democracies, and are not obviously heading towards liberal democracy. Examples of this trend can be found in: –10 Latin American countries; –8 African countries; –5 Orthodox Christian countries; –5 Muslim countries.

D ETERMINANTS OF C ULTURE Culture: Norms and Value Systems Education Economic Philosophy Political Philosophy Religion Language Social Structure

T HREE C ULTURAL D IMENSIONS  Religion  Political Culture  Ethnic Configuration

B ELIEF S YSTEMS AND P OLITICAL S TABILITY  Rulers cannot maintain their authoritiy unless they are legitimated by belief-systems  There is a three-way relationship between the belief-system, the social stratification, and the political institutions of a community. When they are congruent there is stability. Where one of the elements is out of kilter with the others, change and political instability occur.

R ELIGION Shared beliefs and rituals concerned with the realm of the sacred. Ethical Systems: Moral principles or values used to guide and shape behavior. Shapes attitudes toward work and entrepreneurship. Affects the cost of doing business.

W ORLD’S R ELIGIONS

R ELIGIONS AND F REEDOM

R ELIGION & D EMOCRATIZATION : G ENERAL Religious traditions have core elements that circumvent the realm of possible interpretations At certain points in time there are dominant religious interpretations Religious actors can be more or less supportive of democracy, independent of their religious affiliation Features of religions that have political consequences cut across the civilizations Abstract doctrines are often less important than differences in religious practices

R ELIGION & D EMOCRATIZATION : C HRISTIANITY Positive impact (Huntington 1991, Anderson 2004): Separate spheres of church and state Christian church-leaders in struggles against repressive countries But Authoritarianism of Catholic Church Catholicism antidemocratic until emergence of communism

R ELIGION & D EMOCRATIZATION : P ROTESTANTISM Positive impact Protestant ideas: priesthood of all believers, the idea of convent between rulers and ruled Protestant Ethic: Calvinist notions of ‘calling’ and ‘predestination’ encouraged the pursuit of wealth – economic development triggers democratization To the Calvinists, material success and wealth was a sign that you were one of the Elect, and thus were favored by God. Who better to shepherd a society populated by God's wayward children? The poor, the weak, the infirm? God was punishing them for their sins. This theology was spreading at a time when the rise of industrial capitalism tore the fabric of European society, shifting the nature of work and the patterns of family life of large numbers of people.

R ELIGION & D EMOCRATIZATION : P ROTESTANTISM Positive impact The organization of the Protestant Church (lay activism, self-supporting voluntary associations) The religious fragmentation promotes state’s neutrality and toleration Secularization in originally Protestant dominated societies

N ON-WESTERN R ELIGIONS : I SLAM Negative impact The incompatibility of the reliance on a fixed religious text and quasi-legal ordnance with democracy The divine sovereignty in Islam being opposed to the democratic notion of the sovereignty of the people A lack of a distinction between spiritual and political realms Western democratic values weak in the Muslim “civilization”

N ON-WESTERN R ELIGIONS : I SLAM No causal connection No single Islamic culture (cf. Norris and Inglehart 2004) The Muslim have similar democratic values as the West (Norris and Inglehart 2004) Favoring of religious leaders is a difference between the West and all other “civilizations” (Norris and Inglehart 2004) Universalism, scripturalism, spiritual egalitarianism, the extension of full participation in the sacred community and the rational systematization of social life (Gellner 1996) Arab countries not Muslim population (Stepan and Robertson 2004)

N ON-WESTERN R ELIGIONS : C ONFUCIANISM Aspects of Confucian culture that affect Democratization positively (Fukuyama 2004) Egalitarianism High social value of education Tolerant societies because of historical coexistence with other religious groups Subordination to one’s father is superior to the subordination to the emperor

R ELIGION & E CONOMIC I MPLICATIONS Christianity –“Protestant Work Ethic” and “The Spirit of Capitalism”. Islam –Favors market-based systems. –No payment or receipt of interest. Hinduism –Asceticism may have an impact. –Caste system plays a role. Buddhism –Little emphasis on entrepreneurial behavior. Confucianism –Loyalty, reciprocal obligations, and honesty in dealings.

R ELIGION C HALLENGES TO S ECULARISM Also, religiously-oriented parties have challenged Western secularism. –E.g. Turkey, India, Israel, countries in the former Yugoslavia, and Algeria. In Muslim countries, the choice is often between anti-Western democracy and non- democratic secularism.