Unfortunately, many scholars of democracy theory and proponents of democratic culture have approached the Weimar Republic already holding the assumption that a democratic culture is necessary for a functioning democracy. With this assumption in place, they then debate whether Weimar Germany really possessed a "democratic culture." A democratic culture is often taken to entail Toqueville's "associationism," a vibrant public sphere, formal outlets for political dissent, and informed political debate. Such inquiries have provided little insight into the nature of healthy democracies because they are based on a faulty assumption, that culture is a condition or even a determinant in the formation of a society's political structure.
As Berman observed, passionate civic engagement among a nation's citizens, without an adequate institutional foundation to channel such passion, can actually be averse to functional democracy. Berman suggests, then, that a "democratic culture" may be a necessary but not a sufficient condition for a functioning democracy. In fact, Berhman suggests that structural factors such as political institutionalization are far more crucial to a healthy democracy than cultural factors.
Although Berman's examination of the Weimar Republic's political culture and its effect on the Republic's eventual political fate is refreshing for the field of democracy theory, he still falls into the trap that other scholars of democracy theory have. Berman's conclusion that a democratic culture is necessary, but not sufficient and sometimes even averse in certain circumstances, is off-the-mark because it assumes that culture must be a condition or factor of consequence in the formation of a functional democracy. Like other theorists, Berman insists on treating culture...
Hats and Globalization The hat stand in South Korea is visible in the picture "global" in a cultural sense because it is reflective of the cultural changes swirling all around the South Korean market. It sits, first of all, in front of a Western bakery shop -- a Dunkin' Donuts -- which is in and of itself an emblem of a foreign culture within the Asian culture of South Korea. The
However, at the same time, the globalization of this same area has been a contributing factor to the rise of Islamic extremism in the area, which has helped restrict women's rights in many of the villages in the area. As a result, it is difficult to describe the overall impact of globalization on traditional non-Western communities, because there is no standard response. In addition, it is difficult to describe the
Globalization and Culture It is stated in the work of Lieber and Weisberg that culture "in its various forms now serves as a primary carrier of globalization and modern values and constitutes an important arena of contestation for national, religious, and ethnic identity." (2002, p.273) Technology was envisioned by Bill Clinton to be such that would further the cause of liberty however the other side of technology is more ominous in
This is indicative of the mutual effect of globalization and the business place in the world of work. Globalization necessitates the foreign expansion of business, while such expansion necessitates the adaptation of the work paradigm towards a more independent style. Furthermore, the rate of change in terms of technology and business necessitates the rapid adaptation of the workforce to keep up with new technologies. This, concomitantly with the need
For Giddens, the globalization of these abstract systems offers individuals opportunities and crises in which they must continually rebuild their own lives and identities. From his perspective, the increasing integration of systems does not necessarily signify greater worldwide social integration. In fact, the crises that arise from contradictions between the different abstract systems can actually lead to greater problems of social integration. Regardless of whether one looks at globalization from
The San played into this as it was expected of them and as they did so they began to accept the expectations and beliefs of the rest of the world with regard to their identity. As a group it became what was expected of it and the individuals of the group did the same. Two years ago the bushman took their government to court because they alleged they had been effectively
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