Democracy has to contend with various elements at the societal level. These elements can be cultural, national, in terms of nationalism, and racial. They can be understood in certain terms as they have conceptualized over time. This being said, they also have to affect democracy in the long term.
Cultural elements are a large element when it comes to democracy. Culture can be defined as the language, beliefs, values, and artifacts that are a part of a society. Another aspect of culture includes cultural norms. Part of these norms often includes laws. These refer to the standards of behavior society sets for their citizens. For example, the United States includes laws such as tax and criminal laws. This impacts democracy because, as Schmitter and Lynn mentioned, democracy has a set of rules and understanding of how they work. With modern democracy, there are less restrictive and less routine methods of participation. This being said, the established democracy has more stability because they already have norms, but it takes time conflict, and often chaos, in order to achieve this. Ultimately though, norms are heavily based upon culture. Regarding democracy, culture has a significant impact. Belief systems and ideologies evolved over time, allowing for a heavier transition into democracy. For example, during the 1820’s, there was a widening of suffrage, which leads to an increase in democracy. Russia is another example of how culture impacts democracy; since they did not want equal rights for minorities, it meant that they would not promote democracy.
Another major aspect of culture is religion. Religion itself has a played as a critical contributor/influence towards the transition to democracy, “A striking shift in the doctrine and activities of the Catholic Church, manifested in the Second Vatican Council of 1963-65 and the transformation of national Catholic churches from defenders of the status quo to opponents of authoritarianism” (Huntington, 13). Huntington notes the role religion played in democratization specifically during the third wave. This is because of the heavy correlation between Christianity and Democracy. Since a large portion of the Protestant countries became democratic, democracy as a concept began to sweep across other countries, which goes back to the influence of external factors. Lipset noted how Catholics and socialists were good for democracy, but fascists and communists totalitarian values, were not. Essentially, religion often entails the social beliefs of people, which thus influence a country’s attitude towards becoming and remaining, democratic.
Nationalism has also played a role, affecting democracy in the long run. Historically speaking, Nationalism often appeared to be based upon a doctrine of exclusivity. On the other hand, democracy is typically based on inclusivity. Despite this, historically, and currently, these two concepts coexist. A democratic system is one in which people contemplate how to organize themselves. Large factors contributing to this include the question of what constitutes the nation, as well as which cultural boundaries should be drawn. This demonstrates how democracy and nationalism are mutually dependent; nationalism lays out those allowed to participate in a democratic system, while democracy entails the process of defining the nation’s cultural boundaries.
Democracy, to a certain extent, cannot exist without nationalism because of its requirement of minimum levels of cultural homogeneity. Again, this ties cultural elements into a democracy because without certain levels of cultural homogeneity, the political system cannot work. Nationalism allows for a common national identity and trait, which in return encourage trust and legitimacy. Diamond notes his point of representation versus governing, which emphasizes the notion that representatives do what the people want them to do, addressing Olsen’s point of state-society relations. Political systems are contingent upon value systems; if there is no value system, there is no political system.
Nationalism can understand as a country’s pride and unity, which is why there is such a close link between democracy and nationalism. When there is a strong sense of nationalism, there are higher levels of individual’s willingness to support the welfare state. Moreover, when individuals are more supportive of their state it correlates with higher levels of trust. As Bratten and Van de Walle noted, a weak state is one that is not supported, resulting in no democratization. If there is not trust, then there will not be support. This support can only come if the people agree upon basic values, which will thus result in levels of homogeneity, a common trait of nationalism. Ultimately, democracy requires there to be shared political values, which means social unity.
Finally, a third element democracy must contend with is race. Race played as a barrier in the democratization process. Marx focused on the racial divisions in consolidated democracies. He specifically examined South Africa, the United States, and Brazil. Throughout history, there has been racial discrimination, resulting in an ingrained institutionalized racial inequality. This serves as a major barrier that new democracies must face. When there is a history of consistent racism, which goes against democratic values, a country will be less likely to become a democracy, let alone remain one. Religion, again, comes into play because of the relationship between Catholicism and slavery, Tannenbaum argues that “the Catholic doctrine of the equality of all men in the sight of God” produced better treatment of slaves and generally greater racial tolerance than did the more exclusive Dutch or British Protestantism” (Marx, 184).
Another key component of the conceptualization of race is miscegenation, racial mixing. This has an economic explanation. The privileged economic classes contributed to racism. Marx used the United States and South Africa an example. Neither countries wanted economic competition from non-whites, which resulted in apartheid, along with Jim Crowe laws in America. The Jim Crowe laws, specifically, increased the amounts of money spent for no gain, but non-whites were paid far less for labor. In regards to apartheid, when the Dutch settled in South Africa, there was a codification of racial supremacy, resulting in no unity, while also laying the groundwork for an apartheid state. This was a major issue for democratic states to face because with racism they could not be a true democracy. Ultimately, until races were equally seen and heard, nations could not be democratic.
Throughout the year’s new democratic states had to face various elements such as cultural, national (nationalism,) and race, all of which impacted and determined their chances of successfully transitioning to a democracy, and remaining one. As these elements have been conceptualized, it allows people to understand what truly goes into the making and making of a democracy.