engleski

Sociocultural Aspects of Transition

Political culture and democracy structure create the normative order in mutual combination. Two levels of institutionalization exist within this normative order: the first is implementation of democratic values and democracy structures by the law (democratic constitutions, the state of law) ; another level is the general consensus within society around the democratic values (the conviction) and structure of democracy (the political trust and support to the system, legitimacy). Viability and stability of democracy depend on the culture and structure congruence. In the transitional context, characterized by development discontinuity, incongruence of political culture and political system (structure) expresses itself as the main problem. Dynamics and contents of cultural changes do not correspond to structural changes, whereupon the new political system does not succeed in democratic consolidation. As a result of that, socio-cultural prerequisites (especially the political culture) are placed as the key factors on which democratic consolidation and efficacy of political systems in transitional societies are dependent. Socio-cultural factors determine the strength of political movements for democracy, as well as the strength of liberal reformers among political elite. They act as the social power which directs collective actions in the direction which will enable democratic solutions. Therefore, it is not possible to understand democratic changes within transitional societies without this crucial intermediation role of sociocultural factors, especially political culture. As a result, it can be affirmed that transition, understood as the process of efficient democracy realization in post-authoritarian societies, takes place both as the process of structural changes caused mainly by economic development and the process of democratic resocialization which continues with the adoption of civic culture values.

Socio-cultural factors and political system, political culture and democratic transition, democratic resocialization

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