Conceptualizing Culture in Political Studies

Abstract

The notion that cultural difference is a prime constituent of the boundaries of sociopolitical communities has featured strongly in both anthropological thought and nationalist historiography. The historical development of political studies also reflected these assumptions. From at least the time of Montesquieu, political theories of the constitutive effects of culture were expressed in terms of ‘national character’. This idea of state identity held sway for almost two hundred years and it was not until after the Second World War that it give way to the now familiar concept of ‘political culture’. A principal concern of the political culture school was with the prospects for democracy in various parts of the world. The devastating impact that fascism had had in Europe, and the growing strength of communist authoritarianism to the East, demonstrated that there could be no complacency about support for democratic institutions.