Political Culture: a Case Study of Modern Greece TITLE of THESIS/Tftre DE LA TH.&
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HAS BEEN MICROFILMED .MICROFILM~ETELLE QUE EXACTLY AS RECEIVED NOUS L'AVONS RECUE Omwa, tanada KIA ON4 POLITICAL CULTURE: A CASE STUDY OF MODERN GREECE by % John Costouros 3.A. , University of Alberta, 1975 A THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIRMIENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF ARTS in the Department Of Political Science John Costouros 1979 - SIMON FRASER UNIVERSITY - - - - All rights reserved. This thesis may not be reproduced in whole or in part, by photocopy ' or other means, without permission of the author. PARTIAL COPYRIGHT LICENSE I hereby grant to Simon Fraser University the right to lend my thesis or dissertation (the title of which is shown below) to userr of the Simon Fraser University Library, and to make partial or single copies only for such users or in response to a request from the iibrary of any other university, or other educational institution, on its own behalf or for one of'its users. I further agree that permission for multiple copying of this thesis for scholarly purposes may be granted - by m'e or the Dean of Graduate Studies. It is understood that copying -5> or pub1ication of this thesis for financial gain shall not be allowed without my written pennission. ) Title of Thesis/Dissertation: Political Culture: A Case Study of Modern Greece Author: (signature John CostouroX - (name) APPROVAL Name: John Costouros Degree: Master of Arts Title of Thesis: Political Culture: f? Case Study of Modern Greece. Examining Committee: Chairperson: Dmureen Cove11 Dr. Paul warwick Senior Supervisor Dr. LCGdTohen Dr Mar ~e&~Tearns Exdrnaf Exammer qssistant Professor Department of Sociology and Anthropology Simon Fraser University Date Approved: ABSTRACT This thesis examines the relationship between political culture and political stability by focussing on a specific case: that of modern Greece. In particular, the attempt is made (a) to analyze the nature .of modem Greek political cul- ture; (b) to explain the conditions and factors under which it evolved over ti-nd, (c) to draw the connection between this political culture and the prospects for stable democracy in Greece. The theoretical framework for the study of Greek political culture relied heavily on the "civic culture" approach of ' Almond and Verba (The Civic Culture, 1963) and the closely- related "cultural fragmentation" approach of Rosenbaum (Political Culture, 1975). The applicability of these approaches to the Greek case was examined with the aid of historical, socio- 4 logical, and anthropological works on modern Gre.ece and, where appropriate, on studies of the cultures of other Mediterranean societies. Material on contemporary Greek politics came from secondary sources in both Greek and English as well as the recent newspaper and periodical literature. The basic finding of this study is that modern Greek political culture possesses most of the characteristics of the "fragmented" type. Accordingly, there has been an "incongruence" between the political culture and the political system since the birth of the modern Greek state in the 1820's. when western democratic institutions were first introduced into the predomi- nantly "parochial" Greek society. ff iii. From the 1820's to the present, under the influence 09 significant historical events, modern Greek political culture was further transformed and fragmented. Such events included many territorial and civil wars, military dictatorships, abrupt population expansion and a continuous involvement in the polltical and economic affairs of the country- by Great Britain and latterly, by the United States. I Another important finding of this study is that political orientations are strongly associated with the socio-economic characteristics of the population. Among the peasants and pastoralists of Greece, parochial and non-participant attitudes , - and values such as mistrust, suspicion of the motives of others, lack of cooperation, selfishness and patronage seemed to result from a traditional culture which had been adapted to the ecological conditions of the country. Alienated political orientations of individuals from the working and lower middle classes were shown to be influenced by the relative scarcity of economic opportunities, the lack of effective labour organiza- tions and the growing income inequalities. Conversely, the existence of allegiant political orientations among many upper class individuals was explained in terms'of their high socio- economic position and of the privileges and economic advantages that they enjoyed within society. Political socialization was, also, found to be a very conservative process. The political culture is mostly trans- mitted rather than shaped by such agents as family, school and mass media. The family encourages the maintenance of tradi- tional and parochial values and the use of clientage networks iv. and connections in reaching political goals. The sch~ol,as a result of the political elite's stubbqrnness to do away with an unpopular form of language and an anachronistic educational curriculum, enhances allegiance to the nation while neglecting to cultivate positive orientations toward the staTe and its institutions. The mdss media, through its subjective and dis- torted fashion of news coverage and its biases interpretations of political events, contribute to the maintenance of frag- mentation and dissensus in the political culture. Finally, the perpetuation of fragmentation and political instability was seen as the direct result of many failures of the Greek political elites to respond suocessfully to rising poli- tical demands and to direct the nation's political culture toward integration. Since the War of Independence (18211, the political elites have been divided in their attitudes toward vital political questions and toward the role of the masses in the political system. Thus, the legitimacy of the politidM system has been and is constantly challenged by the clashes of the political elite members and by the frequent interference of the army in the political scene. Taking into account the fragmented nature of the Greek political culture, the thesis concluded with the observation that future political stability in Greece would greatly depend on the ability and willingness of the politicians to unite and cooperate with each other and on the extent to which new political-and economic developments, such as the accession of Greece to the EEC, ' would trigger further integration among the masses. However, the overall prognosis was not optimistic in this respect. v. To my wife, parents and the people of Greece. I would like to th'ank my senior supervisor, Dr. Paul Warwick and my second ,' supervisor, Dr. Lenard Cohen, for their 3- patience,'oonti,nued support and assistance toward the comple- tion of this thesis. CONTENTS Chapter Title Page 2 Approval Abstract iii Dedication vi Acknowledgements vii Table of Contents viii List of Tables X 1. INTRODUCTION Notes I1