POLITICAL CULTURE

M.Usama 110603010 M.Abdullah 110603004

Group Members

The definition of political culture

Types of political culture

What does Political Culture do?

Trends in political culture of Pakistan

Ways by which positive trends can be added

TOPICS TO BE COVERED

The broad pattern of political orientations shared by a large group of people (a nation, a region, a class, an ethnic group)

Political Culture

These models were given by American Political Scientists Gabriel Almond and Sidney Verba in their book “The Civic Culture” on 1963.

They said the Political Culture can be determined by three factors;

Awareness of Government, Expectations of Government and Political Participation

The Civic Culture

They examined the political culture of five democratic countries which includes’

Italy Germany Mexico US UK

There are three types of Political Culture Parochial Culture

Subject

Participant

Types of Political Culture

In this citizens have no cognitive orientations towards the political system.

Societies do not except anything positive of government nor they except to participate in politics as, its elite domain

The government is seen as enforcer of its own laws and rules and realm of politics is avoided

Parochial Culture

The citizens focus on output aspects of the system This tends to be manifested in citizenry that excepts

positive action from government, but that does not tend to be politically active themselves

They too see politics game of power and influence by elite domain engaged

Subject Culture

It focuses on both input and output aspects of the system

Citizens have high expectations of government and personnel participation in politics e.g. voting at the time of elections

It is centralized to principles of democracy

Participatory Culture

Through this process of Political socialization, the central values of political culture are transmitted from one generation to another

What does Political Culture do?

Aziz writes about the political trends in Pakistan that “The political history of Pakistan and the way the game of politics has been played so far have ensured a weakening of the democratic spirit and a corresponding strengthening of the dictatorial ghost.” (2001:129)

Trends in Pakistan Political Culture

Political parties of Pakistan are not properly organized from their inside structure,

absence of party elections, domination of any family or group or ethnicity on the

party and which limits the scope of party in terms of its voters and specially aims and objects which shrink as well and loses the national character.

The weak organization and improper working of political parties paves the way for coalition governments,

they exert their whole energy for maintaining the coalition set up and remain in continuous pressure from partner groups.

Lack of clear majority of anyone political party also shows that people do not trust any of these partners that is why all enjoy less support.

It is the clear will of people which is the expression of their choice and establishes a stable political system strongly supported by the common masses.

The present political trend in Pakistan is forming coalitions amongst different political parties, which is the reason of current instable conditions.

Coalition set up is considered temporary arrangement in political scenario everywhere in the world

since it is based on interests of various groups and when they are not served it is broken and leads to more instable conditions.

Another significant factor which has contributed and worsened the problem of political instability is the dysfunction of federal system.

The people of various cultures exerted to obtain a separate home land where they can prosper shattered because of faults in maintaining a just federal system.

This led to the increase in mistrust on national leaders and more trust on ethnic leadership who exploited the emotions of people for their selfish interests.

The unjustified acts and emotion provoking acts of the leaders made people question their identity and legitimacy again after the independence

the best example of Bangladesh can be referred here.

There should be a strong political organization in the Parties

elections within the Parties should be conducted Family Politics and ethnicity Should be Avoided Political socialization should be done to increase the

turnout in elections. The demands of new provinces should be addressed by

the federation and its units

Ways by which positive trends can be added

The political culture in Pakistan is very weak. Most of the Political parties in Pakistan is doing family based politics or ethnic politics. Moreover the collation government is weakening the federation and its units by maintaining the power.

Conclusion