Political Culture and Political Symbolism: Toward a Theoretical Synthesis

1977 ◽  
Vol 29 (4) ◽  
pp. 552-583 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lowell Dittmer
Keyword(s):  
Political Culture ◽  
Analytical Framework ◽  
Status Quo ◽  
Theoretical Formulation ◽  
Theoretical Synthesis ◽  
Political Symbolism ◽  
The Status ◽  
Independent Variable ◽  
Political Symbol ◽  
Continued Use

The concept of political culture embraces some of the most basic, perennially fascinating concerns in behavioral political science; because of certain ambiguities in its theoretical formulation, however, there has been a tendency for the term to grow fuzzy with continued use. Its connection with related concepts, such as political psychology, political structure, and political language, has remained unclear, with the result that political culture has been difficult to isolate as an independent variable. Thus it has come to occupy a position on the periphery of politics, and is usually presumed to reinforce the status quo.This paper re-examines previous formulations of the concept and proposes a theoretical synthesis. The analytical framework is derived from semiological theory, a branch of science specifically designed for the analysis of meanings. The central variable is the political symbol. By analyzing the interactions of political symbols within a comprehensive semiological framework, the traditional concerns of political culture can be accommodated in a more precise and systematic way.

The transnational policy process for REDD+ and domestic policy entrepreneurship in developing countries

2017 ◽  
Vol 35 (8) ◽  
pp. 1418-1436 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sébastien Jodoin
Keyword(s):  
Developing Countries ◽  
Policy Process ◽  
Policy Reform ◽  
Analytical Framework ◽  
Status Quo ◽  
Domestic Policy ◽  
Governance Arrangement ◽  
Policy Entrepreneurship ◽  
The Status ◽  
Domestic Level

This article aims to understand the complex relationship between transnational pathways of policy influence and strategies of domestic policy entrepreneurship in the pursuit of REDD+ in developing countries. Since 2007, a complex governance arrangement exerting influence through the provision of international rules, norms, markets, knowledge, and material assistance has supported the diffusion of REDD+ policies around the world. These transnational pathways of influence have played an important role in the launch of REDD+ policy-making processes at the domestic level. Indeed, over 60 developing countries in Asia, Africa, and Latin America have initiated multi-year programmes of policy reform, research, and capacity-building that aim to lay the groundwork for the implementation of REDD+. However, there is emerging evidence that the nature of policy change associated with these REDD+ policy efforts ultimately depends on the mediating influence of domestic factors. This article offers an analytical framework that focuses on whether and how domestic policy actors can seize the opportunities provided by transnational policy pathways for REDD+ to challenge or reinforce the status quo in the governance of forests and related sectors.

scholarly journals Alternative governance arrangements for modular water infrastructure: An exploratory review

2018 ◽  
Vol 19 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 53-68 ◽  
Author(s):  
Katrin Pakizer ◽  
Eva Lieberherr
Keyword(s):  
Water Governance ◽  
Policy Instruments ◽  
Analytical Framework ◽  
Status Quo ◽  
Urban Water ◽  
Modular Systems ◽  
The Status ◽  
Formal Policy ◽  
Underlying Mechanisms ◽  
Governance Arrangements

This article presents an exploratory review of alternative governance arrangements for modular systems in the urban water sector in terms of policy instruments, organizational structure, and underlying mechanisms. We develop an analytical framework to review the literature on alternative arrangements for innovative technologies. The preliminary results highlight the importance of governmental involvement and formal policy instruments to ensure public and environmental health in the context of modular water infrastructures. This is in line with the status quo of conventional water governance arrangements. However, the findings also suggest that informal instruments supplement the formal ones and that instead of political-administrative accountability more horizontal mechanisms, such as answerability toward citizens and consumers, play an important role in the context of new water technologies.

scholarly journals Les Quinze à la croisée des chemins. Sur les formes possibles de l'Union européenne

2005 ◽  
Vol 27 (3) ◽  
pp. 485-500 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lucien-Pierre Bouchard
Keyword(s):  
Political Culture ◽  
Status Quo ◽  
The Political ◽  
Democratic Deficit ◽  
Conceptual Level ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Political Union ◽  
The Status ◽  
Union Model ◽  
Unique Style

The European Union (EU) does not typify any of the political union models that were proposed for the basis of Us formulation. Quite to the contrary, the Maastricht Treaty interweaves components of these prototypes, with the end result being rather disconcerting at a conceptual level. The Treaty does stipulate, however, that an Intergovernmental Conference take place in 1996-97; an important item on the agenda mil be defining the political union model that will set the stage for further European integration. This paper identifies and analyses the alternative political union models available to EU members, and attempts to discern which of them will, in most likelihood, be selected by the Conference. They are grouped into jour categories: status quo, federation, renationalisation and confederation. These models, each in their unique style, address such issues as alleviating the democratic deficit (explored further in paper) and buttressing the legitimacy of Brussells' institutions. The paper suggests that the Conference will ultimately choose between the status quo and confederation options ; but, faced with the difficulty of predicting which of these choices will win favour - especially given the debate unfolding on eastern EU expansion - it does not attempt to pinpoint the outcome of the Conference. It does conclude, however, that the renationalisation and federation options are not realistic in light of their weak foothold in Europeans' political culture.

An emerging “Islandian” sovereignty of non-self-governing islands

2017 ◽  
Vol 72 (1) ◽  
pp. 56-78 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gerard Prinsen ◽  
Séverine Blaise
Keyword(s):  
New Caledonia ◽  
Analytical Framework ◽  
Status Quo ◽  
Comparative Analyses ◽  
Development Indicators ◽  
Political Independence ◽  
The Status ◽  
New Form ◽  
Global Research

Comparative analyses have found that non-self-governing islands tend to have much better development indicators than sovereign islands. Perhaps unsurprisingly, since 1983 no non-self-governing island has acquired political independence. This paper argues that rather than merely maintaining the status quo with their colonial metropoles, non-self-governing islands are actively creating a new form of sovereignty. This creation of an “Islandian” sovereignty takes place against the backdrop of debates on the relevance of classic Westphalian sovereignty and emerging practices of Indigenous sovereignty. This paper reviews global research on the sovereignty of islands and from this review, develops an analytical framework of five mechanisms that drive the emerging Islandian sovereignty. This framework is tested and illustrated with a case study of the negotiations about sovereignty between New Caledonia and its colonial metropole, France.

scholarly journals The Polar Silk Road and China's role in Arctic governance

2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 121
Author(s):  
Heljar Havnes
Keyword(s):  
Natural Resources ◽  
Analytical Framework ◽  
International Order ◽  
Status Quo ◽  
Silk Road ◽  
The Arctic ◽  
Commercial Development ◽  
Republic Of China ◽  
The Status ◽  
Recent Developments

The People's Republic of China (PRC) wants to become a key regional actor in the Arctic. PRC's underlying priority in the region is gaining access to commercial opportunities from trade and natural resources. To this end, PRC is building its domestic capacities for research and commercial development in the Arctic, increasing its involvement in multilateral forums on Arctic governance and deepening ties to Arctic nations, especially Russia.Attitudes towards PRC among Arctic nations are diverging, but Beijing generally faces high levels of skepticism and opposition to its Arctic involvement, explicitly grounded in perceptions of PRC as a state undermining the rules-based international order and potential military build-up in the high north.The analytical framework in this article builds on an outline authored by Exner-Pirot in 2012 (Exner-Pirot, 2012) to detail the current schools of thought within Arctic governance, and builds on it by including more recent developments in Arctic governance, incorporating the updated Arctic policies of most Arctic countries and connecting it to PRC.This article contends that Beijing wants to change the status quo of Arctic governance and shift it towards a more accommodating approach to non-Arctic states. This article finds, based on the stated Arctic strategies of the eight Arctic states and PRC, that there are different views on Arctic governance where Arctic countries for the most part indicate an openness to a Chinese entry into the Arctic, albeit in diverging ways. This creates a complex governance scenario for PRC to navigate as it seeks to become a key Arctic player

scholarly journals Political Culture and Nigeria’s Democratic Experience in the Fourth Republic

2021 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Chigozie Joseph Nebeife ◽  
Markus Arum Izang ◽  
Al Chukwuma Okoli
Keyword(s):  
Political Culture ◽  
Good Governance ◽  
Vital Role ◽  
Status Quo ◽  
Political Life ◽  
Democratic Culture ◽  
Democratic Practice ◽  
Fourth Republic ◽  
The Status ◽  
Democratic Experience

Since Nigeria’s return to civilian rule in 1999, the quest to sustain and mainstream democratic practice and governance has continued to play a vital role in the country’s political life. While electoral democracy is universally acclaimed as the quintessence of good governance, Nigeria’s democratic experience has been apparently contradictory. This paper explores some contemporary issues of democracy and governance in Nigeria from the standpoint of the country’s prevailing undemocratic political culture. The descriptive qualitative analysis focuses on salient aspects of democratic culture. The paper posits that Nigerian’s democratic prospects have been undermined by its persistent undemocratic political culture. With reference to the country’s Fourth Republic, the paper highlights the critical implications of such an anomalous culture for Nigeria’s democratic aspirations and governance experience, noting that radical civic re-orientation is a desideratum for any change to the status quo.

scholarly journals Accounting for Culture in Policy Transfer: A Blueprint for Research and Practice

2020 ◽  
pp. 147892992096535
Author(s):  
Daniel Bertram
Keyword(s):  
Research Agenda ◽  
Institutional Context ◽  
Policy Transfer ◽  
Status Quo ◽  
Research Culture ◽  
Research And Practice ◽  
Future Studies ◽  
The Status ◽  
Independent Variable ◽  
Constructivist Approaches

In recent years, the burgeoning literature on transnational dissemination of policies has moved beyond orthodox models to incorporate the institutional context by means of social-constructivist approaches. This article engages in a critical review of the status quo by arguing for the importance of an overlooked key variable in policy transfer research: culture. Particularly, it is contended that culture plays an under-acknowledged role in co-shaping transfer dynamics both as a dependent and as an independent variable and consequently deserves a more thorough embedment in mainstream research. To this end, operational recommendations for how future studies can measure, incorporate, and isolate cultural factors are offered and a feasible research agenda is proposed.

Turning "liberal Critics" into "Liberal-Conservatives": Kurt Sontheimer and the Re-coding of the Political Culture in the Wake of the Student Revolt of "1968"

2009 ◽  
Vol 27 (1) ◽  
pp. 39-59
Author(s):  
Riccardo Bavaj
Keyword(s):  
Political Culture ◽  
Status Quo ◽  
Political Order ◽  
The Political ◽  
The Status ◽  
The Stability ◽  
Student Revolt

The student revolt of the late 1960s had far-reaching repercussions in large parts of West German academia. This article sheds light on the group of liberal scholars who enjoyed a relative cohesiveness prior to "1968" and split up in the wake of the student revolt. The case of Kurt Sontheimer (1928-2005) offers an instructive example of the multifaceted process of a "liberal critic" turning into a liberal-conservative. While he initially welcomed the politicization of students and the democratization of universities, he became increasingly concerned about the stability of West Germany's political order and placed more and more emphasis on preserving, rather than changing the status quo. Sontheimer was a prime example of a liberal critic shifting and being shifted to the center-Right within a political culture that became increasingly polarized during the 1970s.

scholarly journals Steering clear of politics: local virtues in Helsinki's design activism

2017 ◽  
Vol 24 (1) ◽  
pp. 566
Author(s):  
Eeva Berglund
Keyword(s):  
Political Culture ◽  
Status Quo ◽  
Political Debate ◽  
Middle Classes ◽  
Language Of Science ◽  
The World ◽  
The Status ◽  
The Media ◽  
The 1960S ◽  
Neutral Language

Abstract Practical projects around the world are exploring and prefiguring ecologically feasible futures. The ideas informing these initiatives are familiar from degrowth discourses. But particularly where activists hail from the professional middle-classes of wealthy cities - architects, designers and other 'creatives' in Helsinki for example - they risk being dismissed by the media as well as by academics as vacuous life-style experimenters. Looking at Finland, the sense that this activity is not truly political or transformative can be further enhanced by activists' own reluctance to enter into explicitly political debate and their preference for discussing futures in the neutral language of science. Connecting today's situation to precursors in the 1960s, however, we can see how these local projects are embedded in local political culture, including a Finnish tendency to play up scientific rationality as a tool for managing collective affairs. This contrast with many other degrowth discourses shows the significance of local histories in influencing the space available for people to work out alternatives to the status quo. Keywords: social movements; Finland; urban/DIY activism; design

scholarly journals On the Cusp of Water War: A Diagnostic Account of the Volatile Geopolitics of the Middle East

2010 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ahmed Abukhater
Keyword(s):  
Middle East ◽  
Water Allocation ◽  
Arid Regions ◽  
Analytical Framework ◽  
Status Quo ◽  
Water Conflict ◽  
Palestinian Territories ◽  
Universal Principles ◽  
The Status ◽  
Occupied Territories

This paper provides a diagnostic account of the nature and severity of the trans-boundary water resources conflict in the Middle East and how it is intertwined with issues of high politics. The concepts and analytical framework provided in this paper represent universal principles that, while applying to the Middle East water conflict, are also reflective of and applicable to many other disputes over natural resources around the world. This aspect about the research is particularly of great interest to the quest and scope of many other researches, considering the Palestinian-Israeli conflict is regarded as the sine qua non from which many troubling aspects emanate in different part of the Middle East and beyond. By outlining the problem and the root causes and nature of the water crisis in arid regions, this paper seeks to provide evidence of lack of equitable water sharing in the status quo water allocation and ample justification for the need to apply equitable principles to promote cooperation and peace. More precisely, this research will reflect on the way in which conflicting representations of hydrological resources have created tension, conflict, and injustice in general, with particular emphasis on the Middle East water conflict issues of the occupied territories, namely the Palestinian territories and the Golan Heights.

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