Notes
Political culture and socialization
- Political culture is a society's shared values and beliefs about politics. Political socialization passes them on through family, schools, religion, media and the state.
- Political ideologies: liberalism (individual rights, markets), socialism (equality, state role in the economy), communism (no private property, one-party rule), fascism, and religious ideologies.
- Authoritarian states use state-controlled media and education to shape beliefs (China's "patriotic education," Iran's religious instruction).
Participation
- Voluntary participation: voting, joining groups, protesting.
- State-controlled participation: mobilized or required activities in authoritarian regimes.
- Civil rights and liberties vary: the UK protects expression strongly; Russia restricts NGOs and protests ("foreign agent" laws); China censors the internet (the "Great Firewall") and monitors citizens.
Social cleavages
Cleavages are divisions in society that can shape politics: ethnicity, religion, region, class, and urban vs rural.
- Nigeria: a Muslim north and Christian south; hundreds of ethnic groups (Hausa-Fulani, Yoruba, Igbo); conflict with Boko Haram.
- UK: regional identities (Scotland's independence movement).
- Mexico: indigenous rights (the Zapatista uprising in Chiapas, 1994), north-south economic differences.
- China: Uyghurs in Xinjiang and Tibetans face repression.
- Russia: Chechnya. Iran: religious and ethnic minorities.
- Governments respond with power-sharing (Nigeria's federal character principle), autonomy, or repression.
Civil society
Civil society is the network of voluntary groups (NGOs, unions, churches) outside the government. It's strong in democracies and limited in authoritarian regimes. Protests, such as Iran's 2022 "Woman, Life, Freedom" movement, show both its power and the risk of repression.
Practice
Family, schools and media all play roles.
This divide affects elections and conflict.
The government censors and blocks websites.
It began the day NAFTA took effect.
Examples include NGOs, unions and religious groups.
They limit independent civil society.
Ethnicity, religion and region are common cleavages.
Regimes organize rallies and limit independent action.
Free response
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Free-response question
Answer (a), (b) and (c).
(a) Define social cleavage.
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A division in society, such as ethnic, religious, regional or class differences, that can lead to political conflict.
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(b) Describe ONE social cleavage in Nigeria.
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Religious and regional: a mostly Muslim north and mostly Christian south, along with many ethnic groups like the Hausa-Fulani, Yoruba and Igbo.
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(c) Explain ONE way the Nigerian government has tried to manage this cleavage.
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Federalism and the "federal character" principle require government positions and resources to be spread among states and groups, and parties informally rotate the presidency between north and south.
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