blame the other for causing ‘stop-go’ or ‘boom-bust’trends in the economy by
their predilection for mass electoral bribery of this form. It may have been a
more serious problem in the days when Keynesian economic policies, which
stressed demand management by tax and expenditure policies, were in vogue.
However any such political imposition on the inherent cyclic nature of the
capitalist economy is clearly best avoided. This is one of the reasons highly
independentcentral banksalong the US and German models are often
recommended. Nothing, however, can prevent a government from tailoring
its expenditure plans to an election cycle, except the fear of gaining a
reputation for fiscal irresponsibility. The memories of the electorate, and their
general preference for short- rather than long-term satisfaction probably makes
it more dangerous not to run a generous budget before an election than to risk
such a reputation.
Political Culture
Political culture was a popular technical term in political science during the
behavioural revolution, and, though it suffered a decline in academic
popularity for some time, had re-emerged as a vital analytic concept by the
end of the 20th century. Basically a ‘political culture’ is the totality of ideas and
attitudes towards authority, discipline, governmental responsibilities and enti-
tlements, and associated patterns of cultural transmission such as the education
system and even family life. The importance of all these factors, and the reason
for linking them together into one portmanteau concept, is that they give an
overall profile of how people are likely to react to political matters. Thus a
classic study into political culture across several countries,TheCivic Culture,
showed that some societies seemed to transmit a general distrust for authority,
and to create very low levels of political hopefulness in their citizens, while
others, rightly or wrongly, bred citizens who felt they could trust politicians
and that they themselves had a fair say in determining policy and political
decisions. All sorts of matters can be relevant in applying this concept, from the
discipline systems in schools to, in one perhaps extreme case, child-rearing
patterns in Myanmar (Burma). While no one, arguably, has ever managed to
define or measure the concept sufficiently precisely to make it theoretically
testable, it is clear that some general set of views about the nature and utility of
government and authority can plausibly be seen as prevailing in all societies,
and may well be a more important determinant of the decisions and shape of
government than more obviously contemporary events. In particular ‘cultural’
explanations are seen as a necessary complement to rational choice explana-
tions. The latter are quite effective at explaining why political institutions
chose particular options and policies from those deemed conceivable—
Political Culture