As a novice in the field of political culture, this thinking has lead me to this question. There are various backgrounds for understanding political culture. For some, it is characterised more on the societies' wealth (and value change) (Inglehart, Welzel) while others speak about a social capital (Putnam), etc. But in certain circumstances it could be difficult to see a mechanism through which these approaches operate. If institutions are ineffective to punish somebody for breaking the law civil society should put these institutions under pressure and force them to punish offender. The problem is when civil society mobilizes. When it finds the situation as necessary for improvement. Therefore my question is whether there exists some concept of political culture which deals with such a problem.
You might find some insight in writings about Collective Action, the question when and why social groups organize. Some recent writings look into endemic corruption as a large-scale collective action problem, this is probably related to the inefficient institutions you mention.
At the same time, you could have a look at legal philosophy, for example writings on social enforcement of norms. It analyses the difference between what is legal and what is perceived as right by social collectives. This aspect would be important to assess if he "necessary improvement" relates to institutions that protect actual offenders breaking laws widely perceived as legitimate, or to institutions that protect minorities from persecution by majority groups that wish to eradicate deviations from group norms. So this part is about sources of legitimacy of the laws, institutions and 'pressure' involved.
Thanks for your helpful answers... I was pretty sure that it will be necessary to use more concepts to deal with this idea... I just was not sure, whether I have not missed any concept of political culture which deals with proposed idea...
My field of interest is the elections' performance, so maybe the question of legality could be in this sense more complicated. For example, the secrecy of the voting act or indifference of citizens could be complications in pursuing the law. In my opinion, the punishments for breaking the Electoral Law are usualy not embodied in these laws and it is not clear what the consequences for violaters are... This fact highlights necessity of exploration of a triggers of citizens' mobilization...
- Badges
- Science topic
- Similar topics
- Political Science