Πολιτική κουλτούρα, πολιτικά κόμματα και δημοκρατία στην περιοχή των Άνδεων

Abstract

The article examines the relationship among political culture, political parties and democracy in the Andean region. Political culture is produced by the osmosis of traditional credos and indigenous ways of life on the one hand and the (heavily) autocratic Spanish culture of arab-islamic and catholic heritage. This culture comprises values and attitudes that reach deep in the native culture, with contemporary values of modern civilizations. This ‘simultaneousness’ of different cultures in the same region is hindering the modernization of the political and party systems, which is manifested by the return to traditionalist attitudes and behaviour whenever progress is made in the adoption of liberal principles and democratic procedures. The role of the elites is very important in recognizing the complicated links of the contemporary with the traditional culture. Conservative values survive, hidden under a revolutionary cloak, seeming progressive and anti-conformist. The same intellectuals, who at one time were foreseeing the redemption of the peoples with the socialist revolution, now believe that liberal modernization and free market rules will transform Latin America into a "Far West".