Transcript Nations and Society PowerPoint Notes

Nations and Society
Ethnicity, Nationality, Citizenship
 Ethnicity
– specific attributes and
societal institutions that make people
culturally different from one another
– Ascription – institutionalizing and
“passing down” of these attributes at
birth
– Not inherently political
Ethnicity, Nationality, Citizenship
 National
Identity – institution that
binds people together through
common political aspirations
– Implies a demand for freedom through
sovereign self-rule
– Nationalism – pride in one’s people,
belief in sovereign political destiny
Ethnicity, Nationality, Citizenship
 Citizenship
– individual or group’s
relationship to the state
– Individual swears allegiance, state
provides rights in return
– Purely political, the basis for patriotism,
or pride in the state itself
What Causes Ethnic and National
Conflict?
 Top-Down
View
– Conflict is created by elites
– Can be prevented by controlling political
leaders who are responsible
– Use of outside force can be effective
 Bottom-Up
View
– Conflict results from long-standing
friction between groups
– Use of outside force will be useless
Development of Attitudes and
Ideology

Political Attitudes – views about the pace
and scope of change between freedom
and equality
– Radicals – dramatic, revolutionary
change
– Liberals – evolutionary transformation
– Conservatives – skeptical of any change
in existing institutions
– Reactionaries – seek to restore
institutions that formerly existed
Development of Attitudes and
Ideology

Political Ideology – views about the
fundamental goals of politics
– Liberalism – high priority on economic
and personal political freedom
– Communism – believes people benefit
only from economic equality, not
freedom
– Social Democracy – strong emphasis on
equality, but reserves a role for private
ownership and market forces
Development of Attitudes and
Ideology

Political Ideology – views about the
fundamental goals of politics
– Fascism – hostile to the ideas of equality
and freedom, holds that people and
groups can be classified as superior and
inferior
– Anarchism – rejects the notion of the
state altogether for the purpose of
achieving true equality and freedom
Political Culture
 Political
Culture – basic norms for
political activity in a society
– determines what ideologies will
dominate a political regime
– unique to each country or group
Changes in Political Culture

Two arguments:
– Political culture is subject to change
 Global culture is “coming together”
– Modernization
– Globalization
– Democratization
 Post-modern, secular-rational values and
self-expressionism will define values and
cultures of the future
Changes in Political Culture

Two arguments:
– Political culture is more resistant to change
than other institutions
 Cultural identity will supplant ideology as
the “dividing line” in global politics
 Intense changes in technology,
globalization, will force societies to retreat
into old identities as a source of constancy
and certainty
 Sept. 11th attacks, Rise of Putin in Russia,
evidence of this theory?