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RandalFlagg
Stranger
Registered: 06/15/02
Posts: 15,608
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Does culture influence the applicability of political and economic theories?
#5359454 - 03/02/06 08:49 PM (17 years, 10 months ago) |
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Socialists think that Man's economic behavior should be redirected so that the general populace has access to a basic standard of living. Libertarians think that an individual's freedom of action is more important than the community's and that forced altruism is theft. Totalitarians think that a nation should be guided by one strong person. Other people espouse representative democracy. In South and Central America, bribery of officials is an embedded way of life but in North America it is heavily frowned upon. In Africa, violence seems to be the accepted way to impose political power but in western Europe and North America things tend to be much more stable. In the "West", representative democracy is the accepted way to run a government but in the Middle East dictatorship seems to be more the norm. And on and on...
It is common for political theorists of all stripes to claim that Man naturally behaves in a certain way or that he should behave in a certain way. I'm wondering if it is feasible for all peoples of the world to live under one political or economic system. There are just too many differences in various cultures for this to happen in my opinion.
Edited by RandalFlagg (03/02/06 08:57 PM)
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daimyo
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Re: Does culture influence the applicability of political and economic theories? [Re: RandalFlagg]
#5359985 - 03/02/06 11:09 PM (17 years, 10 months ago) |
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It can't happen as long as I'm alive. I will not be a part of a one world system unless I'm in charge.
Really though, I think it may be plausible if the population was lowered by 80%, the remainder's minds erased, and the system was one of non-existence. Let people be the animals they really are and things may go okay.
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"I have sworn upon the altar of God eternal hostility against every form of tyranny over the mind of man."
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lonestar2004
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Re: Does culture influence the applicability of political and economic theories? [Re: RandalFlagg]
#5360106 - 03/02/06 11:50 PM (17 years, 10 months ago) |
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No its not feasible anytime soon.....
Sometimes i have a difficult time living in my OWN culture.
-------------------- America's debt problem is a "sign of leadership failure" We have "reckless fiscal policies" America has a debt problem and a failure of leadership. Americans deserve better Barack Obama
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Silversoul
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Re: Does culture influence the applicability of political and economic theories? [Re: RandalFlagg]
#5361211 - 03/03/06 11:20 AM (17 years, 10 months ago) |
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I think you may be onto something. For example, I doubt that American-style democracy has much hope of surviving in Iraq.
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SirTripAlot
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Re: Does culture influence the applicability of political and economic theories? [Re: Silversoul]
#5361257 - 03/03/06 11:38 AM (17 years, 10 months ago) |
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Besides culture, the sheer logistics of that situation makes it impossible.
How would a policy be implemented in Greenland, Austria, and Chile at the same time? The tendrils of this world government would have to be so vast it is almost intangible to comprehend........
-------------------- “I must not fear. Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration. I will face my fear. I will permit it to pass over me and through me. And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path. Where the fear has gone there will be nothing. Only I will remain.”
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gluke bastid
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Re: Does culture influence the applicability of political and economic theories? [Re: RandalFlagg]
#5361354 - 03/03/06 12:12 PM (17 years, 10 months ago) |
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Great question. I think that culture has a much deeper influence on political structure than any theorist has I've ever read has written.
Hell, I'd go as far as to say that culture is a more powerful institution than politics, and that the notion that a Nation's political system can exists separate from its culture is simply an extension of cultural understanding itself.
In a sense all governments are the same and always have been, and I'm kind of going on Locke's model of the social contract here, but basically the government creates laws rules taxes and makes decisions of power relating to other nation-states, and as long as the citizens of that government are complacent enough about all the details of how that government conducts itself, thenthere isn't any sort of revolutionary uprising. The cultural details of how that government works, and how officials are choosen are all just that, cultural details. Albeit cultural details have deeply significant effects.
And yet, when I think of the Third Reich, I am definetely not one of those people who believe that there was some sort of distinct German Cultural identity that inevitably resulted in the worst Fascist Government of the 20th Century...hmmm I'm contradicting myself I guess. 
What do y'all think?
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Society in every form is a blessing, but government at its best is but a necessary evil - Thomas Paine
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