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Answer & Explanation:Read the case studies “The Democratization of Italy”, “Kashmir”, and “South Africa” in Chapter 2 of Cross-Cultural Perspectives and then appraise the impact of modernity on both the developed and developing worlds with respect to tradition, economic development, and politics. In your opinion, has modernity led to more difficulties in the developed or developing world? Justify your answer with examples from the text and information from at least one of the following countries, which can be found at the CIA World Factbook (https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/index.html):AfghanistanBrazilCote D’Ivoire (Ivory Coast)ChinaEgyptGermanyGreeceMexicoSaudi ArabiaVietnam Your initial post should be at least 250 words in length. Support your claims with examples from required material(s) and/or other scholarly resources, and properly cite any references. Chapter 2 is below.sections=ch02,c.pdfsections_ch02_c.pdfsections_ch02_c.pdf
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Chapter 2
Culture and Politics in the Past and
Present
Associated Press
Learning Objectives
By the end of this chapter, you should be able to do the following:
•
•
•
•
Think critically about the origins of contemporary culture and politics.
Understand the shared history of the developed and developing world.
Identify the role that culture has played in politics throughout history.
Analyze cultural and political differences using historical themes.
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Chapter 2 Introduction
“Those who cannot remember the past are doomed to repeat it.” (Santayana,
1905, p. 11.)
Implicit in this quote is the argument that history is a matter of recurrent themes, and in
order to understand today’s society, we must understand the past. How exactly does a society
wind up with its current culture and politics? We must look to history for guidance. The use
of history to explain the origins of a society’s culture and politics is a standard method of
social analysis. By knowing a society’s history and its relationship to its culture and politics,
you will have the ability to better analyze foreign societies.
This chapter explores the relationship between current culture and politics by looking at
history’s impact on contemporary society. The main goal of this chapter is to help you
develop the ability to connect history to contemporary politics and culture. We will integrate
the themes studied in the first chapter, especially the three dimensions of culture, and will
introduce three historical themes: the state, empire, and development. By the end of the
chapter, you should have the ability to “connect the dots” between history, culture, and
politics in order to explain and understand diverse societies.
Voices: What’s in a Song?
There can be more to a song than just a beat. In the
Balkans, a type of dance music is also a cultural and
political phenomenon with deep historical roots.
Situated between Russia, the Middle East, Central
Europe, and the Mediterranean, the people of the
Balkans have been influenced by, and have influenced,
many of the world’s prominent cultures.
In the 1990s, when many of the western Balkan
countries were fighting for their independence, a new
style of dance music rose in popularity: turbo-folk, a
Associated Press
mix of traditional Serbian and Bulgarian folk music,
Western European dance music, and Arabesque, a sound popular in Turkey and the
Middle East. Turbo-folk was more than just a mix of cultures; it was a symbol of
Serbian nationalism. When the subgenre first emerged, it was most popular among
the young Serbs that were fighting to keep breakaway regions under Serbian
control. People in the region began to associate the music with Serbian pride and
Serbia’s wars (Gordy, 2002). The marriage of traditional Serbian culture in the form
of folk music, along with the energy of the modern dance music, symbolized a
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modern, powerful Serbia to the Serbs that listened to it (Kronja, 2010; Gordy,
1999).
One of the most prominent turbo-folk singers was Ceca (pronounced tsay-tsuh), the
wife of a notorious Serbian gangster and war criminal who organized his own army
to fight in his country’s wars against Croatia and Bosnia-Herzegovina. Oddly enough,
Ceca’s songs dealt with typical disco themes like relationships and love, yet listeners
still associated them with Serbian identity and politics. It was the meanings behind
the folk songs sampled in the music that made Ceca synonymous with Serbian
pride.
The meanings behind symbols can change over time, and such was the case with
turbo-folk. Once Serbia made peace with its neighbors, the music’s popularity
spread throughout the region. Turbo-folk clubs even appeared in Croatia and
Bosnia, two of Serbia’s previous rivals. Without the war in the background, other
nationalities began to see the music as a source of pan-Balkan pride. Others,
however, still associated the songs with the war. As a result, turbo-folk remains
controversial today as people argue over what it truly represents to them (Kronja,
2010).
To the people of the Balkans, turbo-folk is not just another style of dance music. It
has a special meaning linked to the region’s cultural and political past. In the songs,
some may hear a fusion of Turkish and European cultures. Others may hear their
nation’s struggle for independence or survival. What ties these and other reactions
together is history; one cannot understand turbo-folk as a cultural and a political
phenomenon without taking into consideration the long history of the Balkan
Peninsula and its people.
1. Are there any subgenres of pop music that have symbolic meaning in your culture?
What are they, and what do they represent politically and culturally?
2. Why might a person make a political issue out of popular music?
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2.1 Origins of Contemporary Culture and Politics
Cultural symbols and traditions, for example, will make more sense to you if you can place
them in a society’s historical context. The issues most important to a society will be clearer
to you if you know how they have been impacted by, and are products of, that society’s
history. For example, you may have heard of the cultural symbol the “evil eye,” a wide-held
belief among many Mediterranean cultures, that a certain look or glare can cause injury or
bad luck for the person at whom it is directed (Story, 2003). As a by-product of the “evil
eye,” some cultures created additional symbols to be used as “protective measures.” Still
common today, in places such as Afghanistan, Pakistan, Turkey, Armenia, Iran, and Greece is
the nazar, an eye-shaped amulet believed to protect against the “evil eye.” It is a visible
symbol, hung in offices and homes, and incorporated into jewelry. Thus the nazar is the
symbol that has grown out of the society’s history of the “evil eye.”
History’s relationship with culture and politics can be looked at in three ways: tradition,
legacy, and collective memory. We will start the chapter looking specifically at each of these
relationships.
Traditions
Traditions are social institutions that contribute to a society’s culture and influence how
people behave politically. Inherently, they originate in the past and, after constant practice,
become so engrained in a society that they are followed with little thought. For example,
cultural traditions in Afghanistan’s regions are so ingrained in society that the Afghan
government has found it extremely difficult to convince its citizens that they are part of a
larger Afghan identity. In general, the Afghan people have greater loyalty to their own similar
ethnic group, whether that is Pashtun, Tajiks, or Hazaras, than they do to their governing
national body. While in South America, a shared history of anticolonial revolution has become
a tradition of defying foreign powers (Banuazizi & Weiner, 1988; World Bank Country Study,
2005).
Case Study: Afghanistan and Tribalism
Tribalism is generally defined as loyalty to the ethnic group rather than to the
state. Especially in rural areas, tribal identities usually supersede national ones.
Afghanistan was never colonized by outside powers, and it is one of the few
countries of the world to have inherited the boundaries of a pre-modern, indigenous
kingdom. This kingdom emerged in the 1700s on traditional dynastic lines based on
the family of the monarch. The modern, nation-state ideal never had any popularity
in Afghanistan. The creators of Afghanistan were mostly members of the Pashtun
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ethnic group, but they did not attempt to build a nation-state around Pashtun
identity. In fact, more Pashtuns live in Pakistan than in Afghanistan.
With that said, Afghanistan is one of the world’s more ethnically diverse countries.
Its largest ethnic group is the Pashtuns, who inhabit most of the southern portion of
Afghanistan. Northern Afghanistan is inhabited by the Uzbeks, Tajiks, and
Turkmens. The Hazaras of Afghanistan’s central mountains speak a form of Persian
but are considered to be a separate ethnic group, in part, because they follow Shiite
rather than Sunni Islam. Smaller groups are found elsewhere in the country (Ewans,
2002).
Approximately half of the people of Afghanistan speak Dari as their first language.
Dari speakers are concentrated in the north. Three separate ethnicities are ascribed
to the Dari-speaking people: the settled farmers and townspeople in the west and
north are Tajik; the traditionally semi-nomadic people of the west-center are
Aimaks; and the East Asian-appearing villagers of the central mountains are, as
already noted, Hazaras. Approximately 11 percent of the people of Afghanistan
speak Turkic languages. Other ethnic groups in Afghanistan include the Baluchis, the
Nuristanis (who speak five separate languages), and the Pashai, all of whose
languages fall in the Indo-Iranian branch of the Indo-European family, and the
Brahui, who speak a Dravidian language related to those of southern India. Each of
these ethnic groups offers unique languages, customs, and traditions (Ewans, 2002).
1. Are there any examples of tribalism in your culture? How have they influenced the
culture and politics?
2. What would have to happen for Afghanistan’s people to become more loyal to the
state?
Cultural and political traditions can also be understood through the lens of path dependence.
Path dependence is a way of thinking about how people and societies stick to their
traditions, even when it might seem like breaking them is a good idea. In short, path
dependence exists when the costs of changing a tradition (the path) outweighs the potential
benefits therein (Pierson, 2000; Pierson, 2004). A good example of path dependence can be
seen with the United Nations. This institute is often criticized for being outdated, but the
amount of leadership, time, and effort it would take to reinvent the institution and to change
its 65-year traditions is too much for the international community to bear (Fasulo, 2009).
These and many other traditions that originate in history resist change and have the
potential to constrain how societies deal with political problems in the present.
Legacy
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Events and traditions of the past can still be a part of politics and culture in myriad ways;
that is, they leave a legacy. The issues that mattered to people in the past leave a legacy on
how people think and act in the present. For example, in the 19th century, Japan and some of
the most powerful countries in Europe such as the United Kingdom imposed their will upon
the Chinese people by capitalizing on a weak and fragmented Chinese government. That led
to the first Anglo-Chinese war (1839–1842) known as the First Opium War, which was fought
between the United Kingdom and the Qing Dynasty of China over diplomatic relations, trade,
and administration of justice. Chinese officials wanted to stop what was perceived as an
outflow of silver and to control the spread of opium by confiscating supplies of opium from
British traders. The British government objected to the seizures and used its newly
developed military power to enforce violent “redress” (Tsang, 2007). The Chinese call this
period of their history the “century of humiliation,” and their leaders often refer to it when
discussing current foreign relations. While the 21st century is unlikely to be a repeat story
for China, the memory of the 19th century frames China’s foreign policy decisions as well as
its domestic politics (Cohen, 2003).
Unresolved conflicts from the past can also be important issues on today’s political agenda.
The conflict between the Israelis and Palestinians is a classic example of how unsettled
issues, even those that are centuries and millennia old, are still important to people.
Currently, Palestinians and Israelis both claim that the land between the Sinai Peninsula, the
Dead Sea, and Lebanon belongs to them. These claims stem from a protracted conflict
between these groups that dates back to the 19th century. Other related issues, some of
which date back to biblical times, also complicate the Israel-Palestine problem.
Did You Know? Roots of the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict
The roots of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict can be traced back to the late 19th
century with the rise of Zionism and Arab Nationalism. Beginning in the 1860s,
Arab nationalism, the ideological movement that celebrated the Arab civilization,
was growing. The Arab nationalistic movement called for political union in the Arab
world, with its central premise being that the peoples of the Arab world constitute
one nation bound together by language, culture, and religion (Choueiri, 2000).
During this time, the Levant (the geographic region and cultural zone of Western
Asia, including Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, and the Palestinian region) was Arabic. The
language spoken was Arabic. The majority of people living in the area were Arabic.
As Arab nationalism was rising, the Jewish “Zionist Movement” was growing as well.
The Jewish desire to “return to Zion” had been part of Judaic religious thought for
more than a thousand years. However, it wasn’t until the 1870s and 1880s when
the Jewish population of Europe (and to a lesser extent the Middle East) began to
actively discuss the establishment of a Jewish Nation in the “holy land.” This Zionist
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Movement of the late 19th century was due, in part, as a result of the widespread
persecution of Jews in Russia and Europe (Harms and Ferry, 2008).
The desires of the Zionists to create a Jewish state in Israel, coupled with the
desires of the Arab Nationals to maintain Arab Palestine formed the foundation of
the protracted conflict within the region.
1. Do you think it is possible for this Israeli-Palestinian conflict to be resolved? Why or
why not?
2. If this conflict cannot be resolved, how might this legacy impact future generations?
The Israeli-Palestinian conflict is one example of an intractable conflict, in which a
protracted issue between people, based on historical grievances, is unlikely to be settled in
the future. Frozen conflicts are similar, as they are simply intractable conflicts that have
reached a peaceful status quo but are still unresolved. Intractable and frozen conflicts exist
throughout the world in places like Moldova, Cyprus, Taiwan, Kashmir, and the South China
Sea. These conflicts are typically founded upon and passed along through the culture’s
collective memory.
Middle Eastern Conflict and Shuttle
Diplomacy
The Six Day War in 1967 was an example of where
an intractable conflict can lead to.
Do you feel this conflict could have been avoided? If
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so how? If not, why not? What role did culture played
in this conflict?
Collective Memory
Historians and cultural analysts tend to study collective memory, which is “the way that
people reconstruct a sense of the past” (Confino, 1988, p. 1,386). If memory is an individual’s
way to remember history, collective memory is a society’s way to remember the past.
Collective memory relates to culture, specifically identity, as well as myriad dimensions of
contemporary politics.
A society’s collective memory can also include
“forgetting” part of the past in order to move
forward—it is not simply failing to remember, but
instead actively choosing to put aside the past and
its traumas in order to create a clean slate and
make room for the new (Nietzsche, 1989). For
example, while Germany was divided into a
Democratic West and a Communist East for forty
years, after the fall of communism and the
Imagebroker.net/SuperStock
reunification of Germany as a whole, Germans
A German monument in remembrance of
the 1945 Dachau death march. How do
chose to move beyond their years of separation and
memorials like this one function in our
now have become one of the most powerful
collective memory? Would a less tragic
members of the European Union. They have actively
monument be as powerful?
chosen to focus on the future and their present
unified state, rather than the disjointed and unhappy past.
Collective identity is also inherently political. For example, how should a society memorialize
a war? Should the war be remembered as heroic or tragic? Other dimensions of culture, such
as beliefs and values, are likely to influence one’s opinion on the matter. Also, societies are
highly unlikely to find consensus on a war memorial or any other matter of collective
memory.
Collective memories can also be manipulated by leaders to achieve political goals. They can
use memories as analogies for current problems and decisions—one common analogy is
likening a diplomatic standoff to Munich in 1939, when the allied powers regrettably
appeased Nazi Germany. Leaders that wish to take aggressive action during an international
crisis will liken their situation to Munich and implore others in their country to help avoid
“another Munich” (Khong, 1992).
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Case Study: “Another Munich”
After British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain met with Adolf Hitler at the
Munich Conference in 1938, he declared that he had brought “peace for our time.”
The Munich Conference has haunted Western policymakers and political think tanks
ever since, becoming an endemic component of international policy. For example,
the fear of “another Munich” was one of the driving forces behind NATO military
operations in Kosovo in the late 1990s (Kaplan, 2007). In the lead-up to the Kosovo
intervention, Slobodan Milošević had effectively broken up Albanian cultural
autonomy in Kosovo. Some 40,000 Yugoslav troops and police replaced the original
Albanian-run security forces. A punitive regime was imposed that was condemned
as a police state. Poverty and unemployment reached catastrophic levels, with about
80% of Kosovo’s population becoming unemployed. By the time NATO issued an
“activation warning” for both a limited air option and a phased air campaign in
Kosovo, there was an estimated 250,000 displaced Albanians, 30,000 of whom were
in the woods without shelter. Winter was fast approaching. Before the end of the
bombing, Milošević and others were charged by the International Criminal Tribunal
for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) with crimes against humanity including murder,
forcible transfer, deportation, and “persecution on political, racial or religious
grounds” (Clines, 1999; Gellman, 1999).
1. What role did collective memory play in this example?
2. What could have been done differently to avoid “another Munich”?
3. What is a recent example of “another Munich”?
Governments will also engage in rewriting history in order to alter social identity to its
advantage. One account of Iraqi politics during the Saddam Hussein era argues that his
government took great efforts to rewrite history. Despite being securely entrenched in power
and having suppressed all political opposition, the Ba’thist regime that ruled Iraq from 1968
to 2003 still felt the need to engage in a massive rewriting of the nation’s history and cultural
heritage. Under the regime of Saddam Hussein, culture was bureaucratized: all expressions of
creativity not in conf …
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