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Azmi Bishara lecturing on Political Culture and Democratic Transition
Azmi Bishara lecturing on Political Culture and Democratic Transition
The audience
The audience
Hani Awad chairing the session
Hani Awad chairing the session
Azmi Bishara lecturing on Political Culture and Democratic Transition
Azmi Bishara lecturing on Political Culture and Democratic Transition
The audience
The audience

The ACRPS International Winter School Program launched on Saturday, 7 January 2023, under the title “Political Culture Revisited: How Values Drive Politics.” The Winter School is being held in person from 7-17 January 2023 in the ACRPS Lecture Hall and is being livestreamed on social media.

This round deals with the concept of ‘Political Culture,’ raising key questions such as: What is political culture? What role does political culture play in its interaction with state institutions? How does political culture influence democratic transitions? How can citizens be raised to have a democratic political culture? How can different types of political participation and engagement be studied to inform us about the dominant political culture?

The first day of the Winter School began with a welcome address by Arab Center Researcher Hani Awad, who highlighted the main aims and purposes for the Winter School and introduced the topic of this year’s program. He discussed the WS as one example amongst many other projects that the ACRPS undertakes, such as the Conference of Arab Doctoral Students in Western Universities, and the English language journal, AlMuntaqa, to narrow the knowledge gap between social and political research produced in and on the Arab World and that being produced in other parts of the world.

Azmi Bishara gave the first lecture “On Political Culture and Democratic Transition,” in which he presented a critical perspective on the study of political culture and challenged the assumption that there is a causal relation between the spread of a political culture and the prevailing of a political system. Bishara instead stressed the importance of the political culture of the political elite during a democratic transition.

This was followed by the first session of the Winter School, in which Ameni Mehrez presented her paper, “When Right is Left: Values and Voting Behaviour in Tunisia.” She explored how associations commonly made about the voting preferences of right-wing versus left-wing individuals do not necessarily apply in the Tunisian context. More specifically, she highlighted how people who endorse liberty-and-justice values were more likely to vote for Islamist parties, whereas, those who endorse authoritarian-nationalist values were more likely to vote for leftist parties. Mark Tessler, as a discussant, and Narmin Butt, as a participant discussant, then presented their thoughts on the paper. Finally, the floor was opened for a brief Q&A.

In the second session, Haifa Souilmi presented her paper, “A Tale of Two ‘Exceptions’: Everyday Politics of Democratic Backsliding and Elites’ Conflicting Views on Democracy in Tunisia.” The paper focused on the voting behavior of a segment of the Tunisian population in the village of Vaga and on how this interacts with the actions of the political elite, to understand why and how democratic backsliding, i.e., the reversal of democratization processes, occurs. Following the presentation, discussant and participant discussant, Ellen Lust and Carmen Fulco, presented their comments on the paper, before further Q&A.

The remainder of the program will follow a similar format, with a lecture and two sessions per day, in addition to several workshops and roundtables, ending on 17 January 2023 with some closing remarks.