NATIONALIST POPULISM AND POST-COMMUNISM

Pridham and Lewis noted, 9 some democracies have managed the transition but ultimately failed to consolidate. Theoretically, every new democracy in the CEE, including new EU members, could fail to consolidate. Although the accession to the EU was broadly perceived as the final stage of this transformation, at present, not all CEE countries can be labelled as a consolidated democracy. 10 Various definitions of political culture exist. 11 Some scholars employ the term political culture to embrace all the attitudes, beliefs, value orientations and sentiments towards politics that give order and meaning to the political process. However, the extended definition of political culture also embraces a behavioral dimension that pays a significant attention to the patterns of behaviour. Another group of scholars, especially those of an anthropological background, try to underline the symbolic dimension of political culture. A number of quantitative research surveys have been conducted by scholars in various parts of the globe. Among them, Almond and Verba’s pioneering study on the political attitudes present in the USA, Great Britain, Germany, Italy and Mexico plays a significant role. 12 However, although the existing quantitative surveys provide an interesting collection of data on the political attitudes and patterns of behaviour, they are far from presenting a full-scale picture of the state of the political culture in particular countries. Apart from the attitudinal and behavioural dimension, the term “political culture” also embraces an important symbolic dimension. 13 A political culture is a complex phenomenon that cannot be simply imposed on a particular society from the outside. The transformation of political institutions, as well as the transformation of social and economic structures alone, appears to provide insufficient conditions for enforcing change in attitudes and value orientations. In fact, the political culture can be considered to be a slow changing entity. I would argue that it has not undergone 9 Ibid. 10 See, for example, R. Markowski, “Polski system partyjny po wyborach 2001 roku”, Przyslość polskiej sceny politycznej po wyborach 2001 (Warszawa: Instytut spraw publicznych 2002) for the Polish case; and S. Szomolányi, “Dva rozdielne prípady demokratizácie – načo ich vôbec porovnávať?”, S. Szomolányi (ed.) Španielsko a Slovensko. Dve cesty k demokracii. (Bratislava: Stimul, 2002) for the case of Slovakia. 11 See, for instance, G. Almond, S. Verba The Civic Culture . (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1963); L. W. Pye, S. Verba Political Culture and Political Development (Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 1965). 12 G. Almond, S. Verba The Civic Culture . (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1963). 13 Complementary character of quantitative analysis and analysis of social symbols is stressed, for example, in the article of A. Pribersky, “The Symbolic Dimension. Anthropology and the Analysis of CEE Political Cultures”, F. Plasser, A. Pribersky Political Culture in East Central Europe (Aldershot: Avebury, 1996).

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