Terrorism & Political ViolenceDr. Wm. Eric Davis

Modernization & Political Culture

© Copyright, Wm. Eric Davis, Ph.D (All Rights Reserved)

"Culture”

One is dealing with culture, or a cultural theory, when a topic is described in the language of “values.”

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VALUE

Values are basic propositions about what is right or wrong in a moral sense.

What Should be done or how people ought to behave.

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Grid-Group Analysis

The GROUP dimension indicates the extent to which one has a strong (or weak) group identification.

The GRID dimension indicates one’s attitude toward rules of behavior.

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Strong versus Weak “Group” ID

Strong Group ID – person sees himself or herself in group terms, as members of an identifiable group.

Weak Group ID – person sees himself or herself as an individual with no expectations or norms of behavior. The person wishes to be treated as an individual.

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Strong Grid versus Weak “Grid”

Strong Grid –Those with strong Grid (prescription) orientation either believe that either

rules/prescriptions are necessary for social order, or that they have no choice but to obey.

Weak Grid – Those with weak grid orientation believe that rules/prescriptions are made by oneself and bind only the individual.

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The 4 Basic Cultures

FATALIST

HIERARCHIST

INDIVIDUALIST

EGALITARIAN

GROUP

WEAK STRONG

STRONG

W E A K

GR ID

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The Basic Political Cultures

FATALIST

“Apathy”

HIERARCHIST

“Order”/“Virtue”

Thomas Hobbes

INDIVIDUALIST

“Liberty”

John Locke J. S. Mill

EGALITARIAN

“Equality”

Karl Marx M.L.K.

GroupWEAK STRONG

STRONG

WEAK

GRID

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The Game That Cultures Play:A Spatial and Game Theoretic Analysis

William Eric Davis, PhD.

A Paper Prepared for Presentation at the Western Political Science Association Annual Conference, Rivera Hotel, Las Vegas, Nevada, March 8-10, 2007.

© Copyright, 2007. William Eric Davis. All Rights Reserved.

Figure 1: The Active Political Cultures and their Values.

Figure 2: Individualist, Egalitarian and Hierarchy Indifference Curves.

Table 1: Payoffs to each Culture and to Society for Various Points

J K L M N O PNo

Coop

Individualist 5 10 -5 -5 8 8*

-80

Hierarchist 5 -5 10 -5 8*

-88 0

Egalitarian 5 -5 -5 10*

-88 8 0

Society 30 5 5 5 5 5 5*

-30

SUM 45 5 5 5 13 13 13 -30

* = The option that gives the maximum loss to that player (the row) or to society, respectively. Shaded area provides the maximum payoff to that player or society. Shaded areas indicate the maximum payoff to that player (the row).

Table 2: Payoffs to Cultures and Society for J-Point Compared to Extreme Points

J A D GNo

Coop

Individualist 5 5 -10 -10 0

Hierarchist 5 -10 -10 5 0

Egalitarian 5 -10 5 -10 0

Society 30 -10 -10 -10 -30

SUM 45 -25 -25 -25 -30

* = The option that gives the maximum loss to that player (the row) or to society, respectively. Shaded area provides the maximum payoff to that player or society. Shaded areas indicate the maximum payoff to that player (the row).

Peace and Prosperity in an Age of Incivility

By William Eric Davis

A book that represents an analysis by a brilliant political scientist who explains why nations achieve domestic peace and prosperity -- and peace with other nations.

It combines cultural factors with economic factors. 14

Modernization Theory

Modernization theory is the notion that there is a particular way for a nationto achieve peace and prosperity (usually by democracy, capitalism, globalization, and interdependency).

Modernization is economic, political, and social development. It is the route to “civilization”, where nations settle disputes peacefully.

Balance of Critical ValuesDr. Davis’ contribution is that there is something else that leads to social, economic and political development happen (democracy, prosperity, peace, modernization, civilization).

Balancing the 3 critical values (liberty, order, and equality) maximizes peace and prosperity. Democracy is both a cause of and consequence of the balance.

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Balance is Inevitable

The West was the first to achieve relative balance.

All nations are being driven toward a balance and will inevitably end up there (in the “developmental plane”).

If Dr. Davis is as smart as he thinks he is, it should one day usher in an era of unprecedented peace and prosperity.

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Radical Forms of the Values

Radical forms of the values (anarchy, communism, totalitarianism) is destructive of peace and prosperity.

Democracy is biased against radical forms. It forces compromise and negotiation –consensus- and the only possible point of consensus is the center (balance).

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PARETO OPTIMAL

A Pareto Optimal Point is one where no “player” can be made better off without making another player worse off.

There may be several Pareto points, but once one is achieved it becomes difficult to move the outcome away from it, perhaps impossible.

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John Nash

NASH EQUILIBRIUM

A Nash Equilibrium Point is one where no player can improve his or her condition by switching to any other alternative given the choices of other “players.”

A different choice might “maximize” benefit to player “A”, but it is an unlikely outcome because other players would act against it becoming the final outcome because other options are better from their perspective.

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An Example of a Nash Equilibrium

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STRUCTURE INDUCED EQUILIBRIUM

A Structure Induced Equilibrium Point is achieved when institutions (say, of government) bias the process toward that outcome.

A Constitution, or supermajority requirements to achieve change, would be examples of institutional bias against change from the status quo policy.

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A MAJORITY EQUILIBRIUM

A Majority equilibrium point is majority preferred to any alternative, thus it is a self–enforcing outcome (in a democracy).

Any movement from such a status quo point would make a majority of voting “players” worse off than under the status quo. Therefore, this status quo, once achieve, will not likely change in a democracy.

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The New Modernization Model (NMM)

The New Modernization Model (NMM) asserts that balancing the 3 critical values is the route to modernization for a nation.

It brings democracy (political modernization), prosperity (economic modernization), and peace (social modernization).

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Tetrahedron

THE DEMOCRATIC PEACE

The Democratic Peace refers to the observation that democracies rarely fight each other in armed aggression.

When they do, it is brief, does not escalate, and is quickly resolved through diplomacy; after which they become friends or allies again.

The last sustained military confrontation was the War of 1812 between the US and Britain.27

What About Virtue?

Radical Muslims, for example, say that America is not virtuous (as they define it). They assert their version of virtue must take precedence over prosperity, even peace. (They focus on the next life, not the earthly one). The response I would make to that is if maximum peace and prosperity is the result of democracy and balance of values, then how can it NOT be considered virtuous? What is more moral than peace and prosperity if practically everyone else wants it? Is it not God’s will to prosper his people?  The alternative is more poverty and violence. How moral is that?

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Something to Think About

If one believes in God and believes that God gave mankind freewill, then what right does any human have to try and take it away?

Does this not go against God’s intent?

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