Comparative politics - Research Paper Example

ctions and public policies with particular focus on the relationship between political culture and individual or group behaviors as well as how the individual/group behaviors are related with public policy outputs. With regard to the relationship between political culture and individual and group behaviors, political culture significantly influences both individual and group behaviors in various countries. This is largely attributed to the fact that political culture deeply impacts on the way individuals see their political world and ultimately shape their behavior within their political world.

For example, in a democratic political culture, individuals and the society in general often tend to actively participate in the political processes are pursue their interests freely as long as they do not infringe on the rights of others. Generally, in relations to individualistic view of governmental policies, political culture influences the individuals view of the practices of who gets what, when and how in the society. Contrastingly, in an authoritarian political culture, individuals are generally raised to believe that the interest of the state and the institutions serving the state overrides their individual interests and personal freedom1.

For example, an empirical research conducted by Tezcür et al. (2012) to investigate the support for democracy in Iran revealed that the political culture in the country has a significant negative impact on the support for democracy in the Islamic State. Using a national survey, the researchers particularly found out that the dominant political culture in Iran is closely intertwined with religiosity and this has influenced the popular support for the Islamic regime and lower levels of support for democracy (Tezcür et al.

, 2012: 238). In the comparative public theoretical analysis, the groups in the political societies are easily influenced by the charismatic leaderships exhibited to the. Populist ideas of political cultures by