CITIZENS, SOCIETY, & THE STATE

1. CITIZENS, SOCIETY, & THE STATE

2. Presentation Outline • Civil Society • Interest Groups • Political Socialization • Cleavages

3. 1) Civil Society • Civil society is defined as citizens who organize themselves outside of the control of the government • For civil society to exist citizens must be able to voluntarilyorganize themselves “The spirit of democracy cannot be imposed from without. It has to come from within." Mohandas K. Gandhi

4. Parent-Teacher School Association in India Greenpeace Japan protesting nuclear energy Examples of civil society Students protesting tuition fee increases in Britain Protests in Egypt (2011) which toppled the Mubarak regime

5. Emerging civil society in the newly established state of South Sudan

6. 2010 Freedom House Scores What correlations do you see here between civil society and regime types?

7. 2) Interest groups An interest group is defined as a group of citizens with a common interest (labor, business, the environment, etc.) These groups are generally organized and influence the government’s policymaking process

8. Examples of Interest Groups Interest: British business interests in Japan Interest: The Environment Interest: Ontario Dairy Farmers Interest: Chicago public school teachers Interest: Catholic Issues Interest: right to own guns

9. Interest groups articulate their interests to the government (interest articulation) by lobbying, protesting, writing petitions, and funding political candidates and parties • All interest groups hope that their platform (ideas, positions) will be put into actual government policy or law (interest aggregation)

10. Types of interest group systems • Pluralist: interest groups compete to influence government policy- this is the most democratic type of system • Corporatist: a limited number of interest groups (usually two or three) work with the government to make policy • State controlled: interest groups do NOT operate freely and are largely organs of the Party in power-common in authoritarian regimes

11. Pluralism The UK Government Aggregates pluralist interests into policy

12. Corporatism in Mexico under PRI rule, 1934-2000 How does corporatism limit the representative and democratic process? Government Articulates interest and influences policy Articulates interest and influences policy Aggregates interests into government policy Labor Business/Industry

13. Right: All-China Federation of Trade Unions Left: All-China Women’s Federation State-controlled interest groups Bottom Right: Communist Youth League

14. 3) Political socialization • Political socialization is defined as the way citizens obtain their views and beliefs about government Political socialization asks: how did you come to believe what you believe (ideology). After all no one is born with an ideology! • How does this definition contrast with political culture?

15. Examples of agents of political socialization Social Media Mainstream media The Family Church or other religious institutions School Political party

16. In democratic regimes the family and the media tend to be the major agents of political socialization • In authoritarian and totalitarian regimes the state is actively involved as an agent of political socialization through schools and organizations

17. Political Socialization in North Korea

18. 4) Cleavages • A cleavage is defined as a division in society (class, gender, race, religion, etc.) • There are two types of cleavages • Coinciding cleavages divide citizens in a state on several issues and create instability • Cross-cutting cleavages create unity amongst citizens who are divided on other issues but united on one and create stability

19. Coinciding cleavage Coinciding Cleavages in Apartheid South Africa (Before 1991)

20. Coinciding cleavages often lead to unrest, violence, and separatism Kurdish separatists in Turkey

21. Cross-cutting cleavage Cross-cutting cleavage in Iran: Shi’a Islam