Političko-kulturalni preduvjeti demokratizacije.

POLITICO-CULTURAL PRECONDITIONS FOR DEMOCRACY.

The problems of democratic legitimation and the ineffectiveness of the democratic system characterize the postsocialist societies despite their normative-institutional democratic constitution. The socioeconomic conditions affect democratization, but it seems that the sociocultural factors (especially the patterns of dominant political cultures) are the key determinants for the survival and development of the democratic political system. Transitional societies are marked by developmental discontinuity. Normative-institutional and culturological changes possess different dynamics and do not occur concurrently. This discrepancy brings into question the legitimacy and success of democratic consolidation. Such an interactive relationship between the political culture and the political system (structure) makes up the framework for the study of major political-cultural preconditions for democratization. The paper deals with the sociocultural features of transition, the nature of cultural changes (value changes and institutional learning), political trust, legitimacy, the features of civic political culture, the attitude towards power and authority, political participation, the role of political elites, the sociocultural aspect of economic development, and the interest in politics. It is possible to overcome the distinctive discrepancy between culture and structure primarily by means of the transformation of sociocultural preconditions i.e. as democratic resocialization (through the processes of value change and institutional learning). It turns out that democratic consolidation is essentially defined by this sociocultural transformation. Sociocultural conditions i.e. political-cultural preconditions, are the key predictors of the success of the democratizational process. Apart from the implemented values of democracy and the citizens' acceptance of these values, democracy also requires active citizenry, hence the expansion of citizens' participation is seen as the main goal of that transformation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Problemi demokratske legitimacije i nedjelotvornost demokratskog sustava bitna su obilježja postsocijalističkih društava unatoč njihovoj normativno-institucionalnoj demokratskoj konstituciji. Socioekonomski uvjeti bitni su razlozi otežane demokratizacije, no čini se da su sociokulturni činitelji (osobito obrasci dominantne političke kulture) ključne determinante održanja i razvoja demokratskoga političkog sustava. Tranzicijska društva obilježava razvojni diskontinui-tet. Normativno-institucionalne i kulturološke promjene imaju različitu dinamiku i ne odvijaju se paralelno. Ta nepodudarnost dovodi u pitanje legitimitet i uspjeh demokratske konsolidacije. Taj interakcijski odnos političke kulture i političkog sustava (strukture) okvir je razmatranja najvažnijih političko-kulturalnih preduvjeta demokratizacije. U članku se razmatraju sociokulturna obilježja tranzicije, narav kulturalnih promjena (vrijednosne promjene i institucionalno učenje), političko povjerenje, legitimitet, svojstva građanske političke kulture, odnos prema moći i autoritetu, politička participacija, uloga političkih elita, sociokulturni aspekt ekonomskog razvoja te interes za politiku. Prevladavanje karakteristične nepodudarnosti kulture i strukture odvija se poglavito kao transformacija sociokulturnih preduvjeta, odnosno kao demokratska resocijalizacija (kroz procese vrijednosne promjene i institucionalnog učenja). Pokazuje se da je demokratska konsolidacija bitno određena tom sociokulturnom transformacijom. Sociokulturni uvjeti, odnosno političkokulturalne pretpostavke, ključan su pretkazatelj uspjeha demokratizacijskog procesa. Osim primijenjenih vrijednosti demokracije i opredijeljenosti građana za njih, demokracija zahtijeva i aktivno građanstvo, pa se proširenje građanske participacije postavlja kao glavni cilj te transformacije. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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