Zentrum für Europäische Integrationsforschung Center for European Integration Studies Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Bonn Zentrum für Entwicklungsforschung Center for Development Research D i s c Indra de Soysa/Peter Zervakis (eds). u s Does Culture Matter? The Relevance of Culture in s i Politics and Governance in the o Euro-Mediterranean Zone n with a preface by El Hassan bin Talal P a ISSN 1435-3288 ISBN 3-936183-11-2 p Zentrum für Europäische Integrationsforschung e Center for European Integration Studies Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Bonn r Walter-Flex-Straße 3 Tel.: +49-228-73-1880 D-53113 Bonn Fax: +49-228-73-1788 C 111 Germany http: //www.zei.de 2002 Mohammed Arkoun University of Sorbonne, Paris. Klaus von Beyme University of Heidelberg. Franck Biancheri Prometheus Europe and Europe 2020, Paris. Stephen Calleya University of Malta. Dimitris Chryssochoou University of Exeter. Lawrence E. Harrison Harvard University. Ludger Kühnhardt Center for European Integration Studies, Bonn. Ergun Özbudun University of Ankara. Paul Salem American University of Beirut. Indra de Soysa Center for Development Research, Bonn. El Hassan bin Talal President of the Arab Thought Forum and the Club of Rome, Moderator of the World Conference for Religions and Peace. Erich Weede University of Bonn. Andreas Wimmer Center for Development Research, Bonn. Dimitris K. Xenakis University of Exeter. Peter Zervakis Center for European Integration Studies, Bonn. Documentation of a Joint Conference organized by the Center for Development Research (ZEF) & Center for European Integration Studies (ZEI) on June 19 and 20, 2001 in Bonn Co-sponsored by the Volkswagen Foundation Contents El Hassan bin Talal 5 Preface Andreas Wimmer 7 Introduction Indra de Soysa / Peter Zervakis 11 Culture and Governance in the Mediterranean – A Rational and Overview Lawrence E. Harrison 17 The Relevance of Culture in Democratic Governance – Lessons from the Western Hemisphere Klaus von Beyme 31 Culture in Politics and Governance – European Experiences Mohammed Arkoun 37 Penser L’Espace Mediterranean Erich Weede 69 Muslim and Western Civilization – Is Co-Prosperity and Peace Possible? Ergun Özbudun 87 Political Culture and Democracy in Turkey Paul Salem 99 The Crisis of Political Culture in the Arab World – A Conflict of Paradigms Dimitris K. Xenakis / Dimitris Chryssochoou 111 Euro-Mediterranean Formations – Cultural Imperatives of System Change Stephan Calleya 149 Cross-cultural Currents in the Mediterranean – What Prospects Franck Biancheri 159 Politics and Governance in the Mediterranean Ludger Kühnhardt 163 The Mediterranean - New Directions of Research and Policy- Making 4 El Hassan bin Talal Preface The publication of the present volume is a welcome event, since discus- sions of culture are all too often lacking from policymaking today. Eco- nomic and political measures are necessary for human welfare and to build communities; but economic and political security alone do not add up to human security. The Barcelona Process has not, unfortunately, delivered in this respect. The third dimension, culture, must be included – the individ- ual’s memory and expectations of his or her human dignity, group identity, aesthetic traditions and unique history. We are surrounded, at the beginning of a new millennium, by talk of a ‘clash of civilisations’. It is easy to forget that global technology and com- munications now link us together as a single world civilisation in which ‘clashes of cultures’ can and should be avoided – by discovering and build- ing upon common values. As the contributions below indicate, the role of culture in political systems around the ‘Greater Mediterranean’ embraces more than administrative and legislative distinctions thought to result from cultural differences. We ought also to be prepared to see how different in- stitutions and codes of conduct have arisen in different times and places to address the same perennial challenges: fair distribution of resources, family and social obligations, property ownership, help for the poor, availability of technology, protection of the weak, control of the strong, recording experi- ence and tradition. Throughout history the Mediterranean basin has been the scene of territo- rial, political and sectarian conflicts between rivals for control, whether empires, dynasties, regimes, theocracies; nevertheless the societies and populations that inhabited its shores and hinterlands, south and north, west El Hassan bin Talal and east, have never ceased to share ways of cultivating the land and the sea, to develop common technologies, to exchange not only their products but also their ideas – in short to create a modus vivendi that can be called ‘Mediterranean culture’ in its broadest sense. They now share a long and well-documented history of exchange and coexistence that can serve as a useful model for approaching and understanding other terrae mediae. Our differences remind us that there may be more than one way to address simi- lar problems that reflect common concerns. Today, unless we find more and better ways to exchange ideas, experiences and skills among cultures, we risk not just historical misunderstanding but disaster. I would like to see a ‘School of Mediterranean Humanities’ in which to broaden the horizons of Euro-Mediterranean thinking and begin to see our neighbours in terms of shared histories and the expression of iden- tical values in diverse languages. Only in this way can we begin to move from a culture of mere coexistence and survival to a culture of cooperation and peacefulness, not only along the Mediterranean littoral but around the world. 6 Andreas Wimmer Introduction Does culture matter? What a strange question to ask since it seems to be so obvious that it does, in everyday life as well as in politics and in the daily business of governing a country. The sultan of Oman rules over his country by traveling, with his huge tent, from one assembly of men to another, giv- ing advice on local affairs and trying to resolve disputes that have arisen between different sections of the local community. Contrast this to how a German city such as Bonn, is ruled. We will certainly find some interesting parallels, especially when it comes to the role of dispute resolution, but we will also find striking differences that we can easily attribute to different political cultures; different ways to understand and define what a govern- ment is supposed to do, different notions of the limits of its power, and completely different ideas when it comes to determining who is entitled to rule and who is not. As soon as we go beyond such contrasting images, however, and the stereotyping associated with them, the issue becomes much more compli- cated. This is why we have put a question mark behind "culture matters". Just how much of the differences in politics can we attribute to cultural dif- ferences and how deep these differences truly reach is a matter of debate. Can we go as far as to say that certain systems of values are not compatible with certain political institutions? These questions are not only of academic concern. They are politically burning, considering, for example, the debate on Asian values. Some authors and politicians maintained that Western style democracy is not able to flourish on the soil of a Confucian culture of authoritarianism. The recent transition to a democracy in Taiwan, however, has caught many adherents of the culture-matters-thesis by surprise. Andreas Wimmer The link between culture and governance too, needs a question mark. It is by no means sure that a transparent system of government, tightly follow- ing the rules of law and avoiding favouritism and corruption, is only possi- ble where Protestantism or some equivalent of it provides the norms for such behaviour. And we do not know enough on how stable and resistant to change everyday cultures of bureaucratic behaviour are. Consider a sheep herder in Eastern Anatolia. He usually does not come into touch with gov- ernment officials, because he still manages to live the independent live of a villager. However, his son wants to study and to become a white collar worker. In order to get admitted, the father presents a sheep to the director of the high school who gladly accepts the present. Is this a traditional cul- ture of reciprocity transferred into the modern school setting, where it re- sists change? Or is handing over and accepting the sheep a rational transac- tion, easy to abandon, as soon as the director of the school can choose pupils on a different basis then on the gifts received, for example on the basis of a nation-wide system of exams? The debate on Asian values and the example of the sheep growing man speak to the issue of culture in politics and in governance. They are not only important in development research, but also for development practice. If culture matters, then it should be taken into account by development agencies, which is not the case today. Donor countries should not insist on democratisation or on good governance in their co-operation programmes with developing nations. They should be much more culturally sensitive, respecting different, non-Western modes of running a government and or- ganising politics. "We", mostly Western donors, should abstain from de- manding from "other" peoples what "their cultures" inhibit them to do or we should help them change their cultures first, not their system of gov- ernment. The questions not only touch central concerns of the Southern Hemisphere, but also of the North, and more specifically of Europe. They touch the heart of the European project. After the end of the Cold War, the definition of what holds the European Union together had to change. Expanding the Un- ion eastwards very quickly raised the questions of the limits of this expan- sionary movement and therefore also of what holds the different states on 8 Introduction this side of the line together.