Irish Political Culture

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Essay title: What is meant by ‘political culture’? Identify and discuss any three major influences on Irish political culture. Representative democracy is built on the idea that the people of a particular country choose the few men and women who will lead the country guided by the values, opinions and morals of the majority. This means that the political culture is the base for the political system, a guideline to follow and to be respected by the politicians. In Ireland history has everything to do with the political views people hold and has contributed to both the political culture and political system in a major way. There are scores of elements that form what is known as political culture but I shall limit myself to looking at the most important features- socio-economic change and conservatism, the effect of British colonialism and finally, religion- which have had a marked impact on the kind of a political system Ireland has today. Irish political culture is often seen as a peculiar one compared to western European countries. The political culture might be considered as a psychological part of political system: the set of values and attitudes of a political community. According to J. Coakley, it can be divided in tree levels: the system or ‘core’ values, the process and the policy or people expectations. Let us focus on the third level that is more likely to change because it concerns daily issues for citizens. First of all, why can it be said that Irish political culture is different from other societies in Europe? In other words, what best characterizes Irish political culture? Secondly, it must be focused on the changes of Irish political culture since 1960. Finally, we shall explain why these changes did not shape Irish political party system. First, let us focus on the more important features of Irish political culture. What can distinguish Irish
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