The constraining role of political culture in the deepening of new democracies: the case of Chile

A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Bachelor of Arts in Political Science with Honors.This paper examines the role of political culture in the development of Chilean democracy as a case study for other third-wave democracies in the Latin American region. The prioritization of political stability during the years of democratic transition - seen as essential by the political elite to prevent the political polarization that led to the 1973 coup d’etat - resulted in limited social reform and the dissatisfaction of the average Chilean with his political parties. Differences in the political culture of the political elite and at the mass level resulted in a delegitimization of democracy for the average citizen. The Chilean case highlights a growing issue of representation in Latin America and a general loss of faith in the democratic project

New strategies of civil society in China: a case study of the network governance approach

Since the turn of the millennium a second generation of Chinese civil society organisations (CSO) have started taking on issues such as rural migrant integration, social service provision, as well as community building. Organisations such as Beijing-based Shining Stone Community Action (SSCA) can be seen as the avant-garde of a second wave of humanistic, community-based CSO which are willing to help improve the strained state-society relationship in the People´s Republic of China (PR China). In order to advance their values and interests civil society practitioners are willing to engage with Chinese government officials. By gaining the trust of First-in-Command (FIC) cadres they manage to introduce ideas such as the principle of subsidiarity, solidarity and reciprocity. Civil society practitioners thereby initiate open-ended processes of communication, consultation and cooperation. Such processes help promote cross-sector collaboration between Chinese civil society organisations and local government agencies. These developments signify an incremental change from government control (guanzhi) to public management (guanli) and to network governance (zhili). As a framework for the case study the authors look at strategies for the establishment of cooperative relations, focusing on steering mechanisms and process factors. In order to further understand the dynamics of cross-sector collaboration they further explore the social capital dimensions of the principle of reciprocity and trust. To evaluate outcomes and impacts of cross-sector collaboration, the authors discuss the ability of collaboration partners to produce tangible results and to innovate. The findings show that successful experiments with cross-sector collaboration not only depend on structural factors but also on the skills and strategies of the individuals and organisations involved

The Politics of Economic Reform in Thailand: Crisis and Compromise

What explains the varying responses by Thai governments to changes in the international economic environment over time. To answer this the paper emphasizes the link between the nature of the political structure/policymaking environment and the government’s reform capacity. Thailand’s political structure typically undercuts the government’s reform capacity in two way. First, it is difficult to get needed reforms on the political agenda. Second, it is even harder to push reforms through the policy process to implementation. During the 1980s, Thailand was able to overcome some of the challenges inherent in its political system via an informal compromise between party politicians and technocratic reformers. This ‘pork-policy compromise’ gave the government the capacity to adopt certain reforms—reforms that laid the foundation for the economic boom of the late 1980s and early 1990s. Changes in the political structure in the late 1980s brought an end to this compromise, thereby reducing the government’s reform capacity.http://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/40024/3/wp638.pd

CULTURA POLITICA: EL ESTADO DEL ARTE CONTEMPORANEO

Although the concept of political culture was born in the 60s, its content has been varying in different scale since, and has produced a difficult and quite often pointless argument among political scientists, sociologists and even anthropologists. The purpose of this essay is to enter into debate from two apparently conflicting theoretical perspectives: the interpretative sociology, which seek out the meaning and codifications of the social action; and the more recent comparative politics advances, which attempt to explain the values and political attitudes change in contemporary societies

Theoretical Issues and Oppositional Politics in East and Southeast Asia

Two decades ago political opposition in various parts of East and Southeast Asia was primarily characterised by peasant insurgencies and radical student movements questioning the very basis of the capitalist path to development. Their campaigns were often conducted outside constitutional processes. In the last decade, however, capitalism and industrialisation has firmly taken root in the region and capitalism’s ascendancy is not in question. As a consequence, the nature of political opposition, the forms through which it is conducted, and the actors involved have undergone a transformation. Extra-constitutional challenges are limited and the predominant agendas of political oppositions in the region have decidedly narrowed to more reformist goals. The new reformers are drawn from new social forces generated by the very processes of rapid capitalist industrialisation, including elements from across a range of classes: bourgeois, middle and working classes. To differing extents and by varying means, they are shaping the contests over power in the region’s dynamic societies