European political culture and its impacts on Vietnam

This study will describe the process of exchange and selection, and the characteristics of Vietnamese political culture.. The basic theories of the scholars in the world, the development

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY - HANOI

UNIVERSITY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES AND HUMANITITES

Hanoi – 2012

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY - HANOI UNIVERSITY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES AND HUMANITIES

TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION

1.2.2 Relationship between the Political System and Political Culture

2.2 Characteristics of European Political Culture

3.1.1 Overview of the History of Oriental Political Culture

3.3.1 Environment of Vietnamese political Culture in the Two Colonial Exploitations

INTRODUCTION

1 Rationale of the Study

Political culture is a vast field that contains historical experience, sense of social community, customs, habits and trends affecting individuals‘ behaviors in political activities Hence, political culture research is of great value It not only provides the researchers with an overview of a process but also brings profound values to science and society

Speaking of politics and political culture, people often think of politicians and parties but ignore many other factors Therefore, political culture should be examined comprehensively from various perspectives, which is the aim of this study

Europe is seen as one of the ―cradles‖ of human civilizations with the great achievements

in the fields of economics, culture, society and politics Studies on European political culture help us understand more about this continent as well as learn about its valuable experience of hundreds of years Because of its strategic geographical position, Vietnam was the target of invasion by many countries in the world for ages ―Flexibility‖ strategy has formed a characteristic of the Vietnamese by cleverly absorbing the achievements of invading countries to combine with the national traditional identities Political culture is one of such wonderful combinations This study will describe the process of exchange and selection, and the characteristics of Vietnamese political culture

Political culture has certain effects on the formation and development of diplomatic culture The study will serve as a basis for the analysis of European diplomatic culture as well

as Vietnamese one Thus, the countries will understand each other and share the interests to collaborate on the basis of mutual benefit or resolve international conflicts by new diplomatic thinking

2 Literature Overview

The literature used for research and analysis is divided into the following groups:

(i) Documents on political culture theory

(ii) Documents on the European political culture in general and political culture of

European countries in particular

(iii) Documents on Vietnamese political culture as well as the orientation of building

political culture in the new context

There are original documents of foreign scholars, the documents translated into Vietnamese and many works of Vietnamese scholars

Regarding political culture theory, The Civic Culture: Political Attitudes and Democracy

in Five Nations and The Civic Culture Revisited are the two typical documents providing the

basic information about political culture as well as the source to analyze the characteristics of the political culture of the countries in the world It can be said that Gabriel A Almond was the founder of the new field and his ideas and concepts greatly influenced it In addition, the theory of political culture has been complemented and diversified by the studies of other

authors such as Stephen Welch (1993), The Concept of Political Culture or Formisano, Ronald P., The Concept of Political Culture, etc The documents on the European political culture are extremely rich and diverse The most typical is Roger Eatwell (1997), European

Political Culture: Conflict or Convergence with nearly 300 pages providing extensive

information about the features of fundamental European political culture and political culture

of each country in this region Research materials on the countries in the European region are

very large as well: Jean Blondel and Takashi Inoguchi (2006), Political Culture in Asia and

Europe: Citizens, States and Societal Valurs, Robert I Rotberg, Social Capital and Political

Culture in Africa, America, Australasia, and Europe, The Journal of Interdisciplinary

History, Vol 29, no 3 (Winter, 1999), Phillip Schlesinger, From Culture Defense to Political

Culture: Media, Politics, and Collective Identity in the European Union, Media Culture

Society, 1997, Vladimir Tismaneanu, Political Culture and Civil Society in Russia and the New States of Eurasia, John Gaffney and Eva Kolinsky (edited), Political Culture in France and Germany, A Contemporary Perspective, etc

Besides, there are additional research documents on Eastern political culture particularly

of the developing countries and China such as: Detlef Pollack et al (2003), Political Culture

in Post-Communist Europe: Attitudes in New Democracies, Robert C Turker (1987), Political Culture and Leadership in Soviet Russia: from Lenin to Gorbachev, Larry Diamond

(1993), Political Culture and Democracy in Developing Countries, Zhenghuan Zhou (1999),

The Liberal Concept of Rights, Political Culture and Democratic Change in China

In recent years, the interest in the study and teaching of political science and Vietnamese political culture has greatly grown both in Vietnam and overseas From different perspectives, Vietnamese and foreign scientists have proposed various approaches to identify the characteristics of traditional and modern Vietnamese political cultures Studies on political culture of Vietnamese scholars covering all aspects from a theoretical basis addressing the fundamental problems and clarifying the common-used concepts in political science in the West such as ―politics‖, ―political culture‖, ―political system‖, ―political process‖, ―political environment‖, etc or introducing various scientific theories, approaches

and the basic arguments of Western scholars about East Asian political culture to regional

and Vietnamese political cultures, particularly in the renewal period Tập đề cương bài giảng

Chính trị học (Lectures on Political Studies by National Political and Admistrative Institute)

and Văn hóa chính trị và việc bồi dưỡng đội ngũ cán bộ lãnh đạo ở nước ta hiện nay

(Political Culture and Leader Training in Vietnam Nowadays by Pham Ngoc Quang) are the

first two studies mentioning the concept of political culture The former referred to only one aspect of political culture – politics – instead of introducing the concept as well as an overview of the political culture while in the latter the authors succeeded in generalizing the concept of culture as well as its performance and influence on political life These are of a great practical value

In addition to the ―enlightening‖ studies mentioned above, there are several researches

approaching a part or the whole concept of political culture Hoa Kỳ - Tiến trình văn hóa

chính trị (America – Its Political Cultureal Process by Do Loc Diep) mainly examined

American political culture but it highlighted the influence of European political culture and the process of receiving and transforming the European features to form the unique American political culture

Luong Van Ke conducted several intensive studies on European political culture In his

two books of Thế giới đa chiều (Multi-Dimensional World) and Đề cương bài giảng: Chính

trị học so sánh (Draft Lectures on Comparative Politics), a part of European history was

lively replayed and the formation and the development of modern European political culture was also shown

Besides the studies directly or indirectly addressing political culture, there are supporting

researches in term of theory They are: Hồ Chí Minh toàn tập (Ho Chi Minh’s Complete

Works), Journal of Philosophy, Journal of European Studies, Mác Ăngghen tuyển tập Engels’ Selected Works)

(Marx-The foreign resources (in translation) are also quite various (Marx-They are Jean Jacques

Rousseau, Bàn về khế ước xã hội (Social Contract) and Montesquieu, Tinh thần pháp luật

(The Spirit of Laws) translated by Hoang Thanh Dam, or Wang Changjian, Nghiên cứu so sánh phương thức cầm quyền của các chính đảng hiện đại (A Comparative Study of Ruling Methods of Contemporary Political Parties), Crane Brinton, Robert Lee Wolff, John B

Christopher, Văn minh phương Tây (Western Civilization), etc The common advantage of

these studies is the provision of wide theory and knowledge of many socio-political issues However, they failed to directly and intensively examine the political culture, especially European political culture

Last but not least, internet is an infinite and valuable resource for the study Although numerous materials have been collected, the study is still in need of more resources and the results of sociological research and investigation to have an overall comprehensive view on European political culture and its influence on the formation of modern Vietnamese political culture

3 Aims and Objectives of the Study

The overall aim of the thesis is to profoundly understand the influence of European political culture on Vietnam in history In other words, the thesis is aimed at how European political culture impacted Vietnam

Besides, the research has a number of specific objects which aim to:

- Understand political culture in general including its constructing elements, historical phases and development

- Generalize the main features of European political culture in general and identify the European factors influencing Vietnamese political culture in particular

- Generalize the main features of traditional Vietnamese political culture, its development phases, Vietnam‘s reactions in face of external impacts, and especially how Vietnam responded to and achieved European political culture

4 Scope of the Study

The research will focus on the political culture in the close correlation with the elements of culture and politics as well as other elements constituting the national political cultures Besides studying political culture as an independent object, the thesis aims to address the fundamental questions to provide general information about the political culture as a field of science The basic theories of the scholars in the world, the development stages and the position of political in society and political life as well as its functions are all mentioned in the study to provide an overview of political culture and a basis for assessing the characteristics of the political culture of the regions and countries

Additionally, the thesis will explore and analyze the major characteristics of European political culture – the root of modern political culture and important emphasis on the political cultures of France and the Soviet Union (later as Russia) The research on these two relatively different political cultures gives the readers a deep insight and comprehensive understanding

of regional political culture of Europe France and Soviet Union are not only the two representatives for the political cultures of Western and Eastern Europe but also the countries which strongly affected the modern political culture of Vietnam

Vietnamese political culture is the third focus of the thesis The thesis will generalize the characteristics of traditional Vietnamese political culture and the cultural background of Vietnamese politics, and then examine the requirements of a socialist political culture Vietnamese political culture in this study is comprehensively and relatively completely described in its development process through history and its particular characteristics and its selective reception the political cultures of other actors particularly including France and the Soviet Union

5 Methodology

The thesis was completed by the available resources (books, newspapers, journals, internet, etc.) together with personal insights to analyze, generalize and compare the information In the study, political culture is approached from the comparative perspective of dialectical materialism and historical materialism

Basing on the available sources and issued researches, I will generalize the information to get the basic characteristics of the study cases The methodologies of special fields of history, politics and international relations will be also applied to clarify the issues by dealing extensively with the theory and practice of politics, and the analysis of political systems and political behavior And comparative politics analyzes and compares political systems within and across different geographic regions

My research methodology requires gathering relevant data from the specified documents and compiling databases in order to analyze the material and arrive at a more complete understanding and historical reconstruction of political culture in general and characteristics

of each region in particular

Besides, the studies of international relations will try to explain a broad range of political interactions among countries, societies, and organizations Whether studying war and peace

or exploring economic cooperation or environmental conflict, research on international politics requires a systematic approach to identifying fundamental processes and forces of change

This research will utilize the qualitative data collection tools, but is rooted in a qualitative epistemological position that recognizes the importance of locating the research within a particular social, cultural, and historical context It also takes seriously the social construction

of these contexts and the identities participants construct within them

6 Expected Outcomes

The study is looking forward to answering the question ―How was Vietnamese political culture influenced by European political culture in general and French and Soviet political

cultures in particular?‖ Hence, the characteristics of traditional political culture and the changes of Vietnamese political culture will be clarified in each era

Political culture is a new concept in Vietnam so that this study is expected to be a comprehensive reference providing a general overview, formation process and development

of political culture in the world, especially European political culture Understanding the European political culture is a good lesson for Vietnam to establish and develop its foreign relations with Europe so that the study would like to bring about an overall picture of European political culture It is expected to be an important reference for those who have been studying and working in international relations Besides, it will become one of the new researches on Vietnamese political culture and external impacts on its formation and development as well as its general characteristics This study will also focus on the components of Vietnamese political cultures: traditional political culture and modern political culture It serves as a useful reference to the study of Vietnamese political culture in general and the impacts of European political culture on national political culture in particular

Studying political culture in detail will have a more scientific perspective on political system and its components and a better look on the rationalities or irrationalities of political system to propose necessary changes Moreover, explaining the political attitudes of people

in Europe and Vietnam will help evaluate whether policies are democratic and equitable, and provide a scientific foundation for reformation of the political system in Vietnam

7 Structure of the Study

The thesis is divided into three parts: Theoretical background, European political culture, and European political culture‘s impacts on Vietnam

Chapter 1: Theoretical background

Political culture is approached through two elements of culture and politics Like culture,

political culture is different among nations, countries and regions in the intersection, reception and transformation Like politics, political culture is associated with classes, nations and interests

At the aim of applying the research results in practice, the opening chapter not only generalizes the history of establishment and development of political culture and its process

to become a science and research trend but also focuses on analyzing the role of the political system as a core of political culture and the relationship between the political system and political culture Moreover, this chapter also outlines the characteristics and functions of the political culture to set up the application of research results in consistence with reality

Chapter 2: European political culture

As a foundation of studies on political culture, Europe has special conditions of nature, population, history, political ideologies, etc to form its political culture and make a great effect on the views of scholars in the rest of the world This chapter generally introduces the basic conditions and features of European political culture with full information covering both Western and Eastern Europe, particularly their changes in political culture during and after the socialist era

As to provide an overall picture of the political culture of this area and explain its strong influence on other countries in the world, especially Vietnam, this chapter will analyzes a number of characteristics of political cultures of France and the Soviet Union as the two prominent political cultures helping building the modern Vietnamese political culture

Chapter 3: European political culture on Vietnam

Chapter 3 is an attempt to describe the process of Vietnamese political culture from traditional to modern time, from the historical features to changes in new society Vietnamese

is placed in the context of the Asian countries whose characteristics are completely different from European and Western countries These differences urged European countries to learn and desire to conquer this mysterious land by the geographical discoveries in very early days From the original purpose of commerce, the invasion to the East by European countries was increasing Besides their goods, the arrival of the Western countries had great influence on politics, economy and society in these countries, including Vietnam

Chapter 3 provides a relatively complete overview of Vietnamese political culture from its formation to each phase of development This chapter analyzes the impacts of European political culture on Vietnam by observing Vietnamese political culture in Vietnam as the main object Accordingly, the study is expects to supply new and more objective look on the role of European political culture and highlight the identities of Vietnamese political culture

in the context of interference with other Western nations from a strange culture

CHAPTER 1 THEORETICAL BACKGROUND

1.1 Defining Political Culture

The concept of political culture is increasingly put to use nowadays, especially in

political science Researchers have offered several concepts of political culture but there is no comprehensive and universal concept because of different approaches to political culture, the diversified factors within political culture itself, and considerable distinctions between countries, ethnics, regions, classes, eras, etc However, almost all researchers agree that political culture is the close relationship between culture and politics In other words, political culture is a cultural product of a certain political base Thus, the best way to understand the political culture is to examine it within the relationship between culture and politics

1.1.1 Basic Concepts

The concept of culture:

The definition of "culture" was first offered by Taylor in Primitive Culture (1881) The

term of culture derived from a Latin word "cultura" implying the reclamation, cultivation and planting of crops, and was later used in the sense of taking care of, educating and training humans

It is not easy to generalize ―culture‖ which is a poly-semantic concept Cultures are different among countries, ethnicities, regions and eras because of their different living conditions, customs, traditions, and levels of socio-economic development According to UNESCO, there are hundreds of different concepts of culture and the most popular is:

"Culture is a term describing a certain development level of the society, and the creative ability and capability of the human This development level is reflected in how people organize their lives and in both physical and mental values created by them"

The different approaches to culture contain the following factors:

Firstly, culture is a product of human beings (either conscious or unconscious) The term

culture is closely tied to and interacts with the term human: if there was no man, there would

be no culture; in turn, culture satisfies human needs and promotes development in all aspects

of human life

Secondly, culture is not intangible Instead, it is transferred into both material and mental

values These values are present in human life to serve the different needs of humans and direct humans toward a more "complete" life when the material and mental needs have been gradually satisfied President Ho Chi Minh also introduced an interesting concept of culture:

"For the purposes of survival and living, humans created and invented language, writing, ethic, law, science, religion, literature, art, living tools in clothing, eating and accommodation and their usages All of those creations and inventions are culture." [1; p.431]

Thirdly, culture reflects the distinctions among people on the base of their potential,

creative ability, the level of awareness, living conditions and traditional values accumulated over generations In the process of open exchange on the global scale, these differences on the one hand have caused numerous cultural conflicts, and on the other hand have enabled different cultures to exchange with, learn about, accept and change each other to enrich the cultural treasure of peoples

Nguyen Van Huyen suggested a specific division in culture: "Historically, humans have experienced ancient culture and modern culture; synchronically, there are Eastern culture and Western culture; socially, there are capitalist culture and socialist culture Each aspect of human activity has its own identity and cultural features including labor culture, lifestyle culture, thinking culture, legal culture, ethic culture and aesthetic culture Each living activity also has its own cultural characteristics: economic culture, legal culture, social culture, political culture." [8; pp 53-54]

Apparently, there are numerous concepts of and approaches to culture which can be observed as a broad term concluded from human life "Culture has a significant function in the life of society and mankind It helps to organize and justify society, educating personalities and promoting social development." [16; p 45] Culture is not a strange or vague term, it is instead created by humans and is closely related to the material and mental life of all individuals, peoples, and nations "Culture is a human term, a combination of all the values, lifestyles, activities, potential, and development level of humans themselves It is both objective and motivation of development." [8; p 51]

The Concepts of Politics and Western Political Theories

To understand politics, it is necessary to consider the history, existence and development

of politics itself as well as the political thoughts and theories In terms of linguistics, the word

of politics being used nowadays came from "Politica" (Greek) implying the work relating to

the state (which includes the methods of organizing and implementing the state power and the measures of achieving the state‘s goals representing the classes, ethnicities and nations) Politics came on the scene at the same time when society was divided into classes leading to the birth of the state and law Since the very first state (slavery), there have been numerous political ideologies which served as the ideological base for the state which represented the rulers' essential goals of satisfying class interests, guaranteeing and maintaining the

dominance of the class system and promoting various national interests The political theories were invented quite early both in the East and the West and have become a foundation for modern political theories

In the Asia, the most notable political theories are the four ideologies of ancient China: Lao Tzu‘s philosophy, Confucianism, Mozi‘s Universal Love, and legalism In the conception of politics, Lao Tzu supported the idea of building a nation with a small surface, limited population and non-educated people and no vehicles and weapons Lao Tzu advocated ruling the state not by force but ―Tao" to convert the people and leaving them stupid to be easily ruled Confucius is the father of Confucianism and his political ideology

was written in ―Lung Yu‖ by his students whose books were also based on his ideas (Ta

Hsued, Trung Yung, etc.) Universal love of Mozi contains many advanced elements Mozi

praised the values of natural freedom and equality of the human He said that "the origin of the state was from the social agreement." [13; p 24] The founder of "rule by law" is Han Fei

Zi who introduced the arguments against Confucianism and refusing any thinking of using morality to regulate the society He suggested the state‘s rulers to strengthen their power and particularly heighten the law as the most effective instrument to regulate the society

The political ideologies mentioned above play a significant role in the history of not only China but also many Asian countries Nowadays the pervasiveness of their influence is still obvious According to Confucianism, the traditional relationships in society of many communities, ethnicities and nations have been established and preserved These relationships helped in constructing the states during different regimes (the feudal dynasties

in Vietnam were based on the village-country relationship; family is the core of the state institutions South Korea, etc.)

socio-In the West, Plato and Aristotle were the most remarkable political thinkers of antiquity According to Plato, an ideal state was a Sparta aristocratic-styled republic, in which "the elite

of the ruling slaveholders were likely capable of understanding the super ideas and holding the measures ruling the rest." [13; p 34] Aristotle was the first person to separate power into three boards of legislation, execution and judiciary – the fundamental principle of organizing modern state power

Accordingly, politics was born in ancient times and was followed by the appearance of the political ideologies and theories of both East and West It was created by society and is associated with a turning point in human history when society was divided into classes and the state came into being "In each historical period, there were different political thoughts and doctrines; they were periodical products and reflected the final economic interests of a

certain social class or level." [22; p 16] Politics is not an activity of an individual or a group

of people but "a wide and important activity sphere of humanity and a popular activity of society Human history since this division of classes is the history of politics." [8; p 54] Researchers have difficulty in conceptualizing politics as Hegel put it: the more complex the objects were, the more numbers of definition could be approached [22; p.5]

It can be seen that politics itself is divided into two parts: theory and practice Theory is the political thought and doctrine used as an ideological basis by one or many classes sharing common ideas and interests to shape their political reality Normally, when a certain class comes to power, its ideology will become the dominant ideology in society Practice includes the actions that a class (or a class alliance such as worker-farmer coalition) or interest groups take in order to gain, maintain and perform the state‘s power Political power is the basic terminology of politics and it relates directly to three questions: Who holds the power? (class), What purpose does it serve? (class‘s interests), and how is it performed? (method) When a class becomes dominant, their political power will become the state power Each class has different approaches to gaining, keeping and implementing the state power Thus, class is the nature of politics In modern society, politics is closely related to political parties Classes and interest groups use their representatives (parties) to perform their political goals Lenin said: "The illiterate person stands outside politics" [22; p.113] and only by obtaining intellectual, awareness and life experience could people have political self-awareness and positive political attitude Nguyen Van Huyen observed politics from the perspective of culture: "From the philosophical perspective of culture, we see clearly that politics is a product of culture Culture is the values, lifestyles, activity capacity and the development levels of the human Therefore, the fact that the political goal is humanitarian or not humanitarian; political systems, political institutions and political mechanisms scientific

or unscientific; the mode of political organization and behavior is consistent with human morality or not, democratic or not, etc will reflect the culture of the politics." [8; p 54]

1.1.2 The Concept of Political Culture

The concept of political culture was officially introduced as a modern political concept in the works of Gabriel Almond and Sidney Verba in 1950s and 1960s and their first book of

"Civic culture Political and Democracy in Five Nations Attitude" (1963) In this book,

political culture was conceived as a "pattern of distributing the intentions of the members of a community to political objects." [40; p 390] S Verba indicated a more comprehensive definition: "Politica culture is the overall structure of beliefs based on personal experiences,

symbols and values; this structure determines the subjective condition of the political behavior." [48; p 31]

The concept of political culture originated in ancient Greece By the 19th century, with the advent of capitalism and democratic politics in Europe, political culture was conceived as citizen culture or democratic culture Political culture is considered as one of the three main aspects of political studies in the West: geography, law/institution and political culture In objective recognition of empirical-oriented researchers in the West, political culture is the political awareness, political emotion and citizen‘s subjective evaluation of the political system, policies and political processes

The concept of political culture was born in the context of big socio-political changes in the world when mankind had just suffered a horrible period of fascism and destruction during World War II It was also the time when the world order of the Cold War was set with the confrontation between the two blocs of communism and capitalism at the highest peak; and the time when colonial nations struggled for their independence and new nations were established That complex and mighty condition of political life caused political researchers worldwide to question the necessity of religious issues, the eligibility of moral standards, the traditions, etc

Political culture is closely correlated with two components: culture and politics It is considered as an aspect of culture and politics The interaction of culture and politics constitute the political culture Political culture, like culture, is a product of creative activity

of human and only existed since the appearance of politics In other words, political culture is associated with a class-based society and the state Approaching political culture under the perspective of politics and culture one need to note following definitions:

"Political culture is an aspect of culture in which there is a combination of values, qualities, virtues, qualifications and political capability formed on a certain political basis to perform the benefits of the class, races and communities in consistence with the development-advancement trend of the human society As an aspect of culture, political culture is ―a vertical cut" of the cultural history accompanying the political activity." [8; p 54-55]

"Political culture refers to the development level of human reflected in the ability of understanding of politics, the skill of organizing the power system in a certain social value standard to regulate the interest relationship among classes and to protect the interests of the ruling class in consistence with the trend of social development and advancement." [23; p 229]

Regarding the origin of political culture, Pham Ngoc Quang said that "the political culture

of a class or a social system in general would be formed by the following logic: political knowledge has been accumulated into belief and class‘s ideal, then political beliefs are converted to practical political actions whose results help constitute the political standard, tradition, lifestyle and habits in dealing with different political situations." [16; p 27]

Generally speaking, political culture is a part of culture arising from political life and become a factor in cultural study and political study Like culture and politics, political culture contains features of class and society Through the process of socialization together with the history that humans have developed, political culture forms the essential political ideologies of the current norm as a perfect whole It includes the elements of thoughts, beliefs, value systems and political actions of individuals, classes, interest groups and society

as a whole aimed to effectively implement political-state power to satisfy the interests of political actors

In short, political culture is an important norm in political study and political activities It

is a part or an aspect of culture in class society and contains the standards reflecting the degree of awareness and the effectiveness of human activities in politics and represents the development level of society in general

1.2 The Political System - the Center of Political Culture and the Relationship between Political System and Political culture

1.2.1 The Structure of the Political System - the Central Role of Political Culture

There are several ways to divide the structure of political culture depending on the approach; however, in this study, I will only focus on analyzing the elements of the political system as the core, the center or the source of political culture

"The political system of a country is a social structure including political organizations (state, political parties, socio-political organizations, political unions and movements, etc.) It exists and operates in a formal legal framework and binding political relations to cohere the above organizations into a body by which the ruling class exercise their political power in the society." [17; p 24] In brief, political system is "a part of the social superstructure including the legal organizations and institutions related to the purpose, operational functions or participate in political power." [5; p 9]

According to the above definitions, the political system has three major characteristics: organizations and institutions; legitimacy; and purposes and functions of or participation in exercising political power The formation of political institutions is influenced by both objective factors (such as the class structure of society, the presence of political forces and

their relationship, tradition, habits, the maturity of civic awareness) and subjective factors (such as the maturity, capability and the political stance of the political parties and the ideological similarities of the political parties) while "the form of political system is determined by superiority at a given time of one or several common political factors." [5; p 19]

Thus, the operation of the political institutions (state, parties, social organizations, public unions and movements) in the political system is based on the political ideology and politicians (together with political awareness) as the subject and object of politics These factors make up the political culture of each country

a) Political Ideology / Belief Value

Political ideology, lines and policies reflect the class interests together with the methods and means of realizing the fundamental interests of the class and the society In the political culture, "political ideology is the main core or the basic component expressing the creative skill and capacity, the level of political awareness of the society in a specific historical period." [15; p 293] Besides, "an important part of cultural-political structure which clearly reflects the progressive (or backward) nature of the politics is the sense of innovation and the orientation of that innovation." [24; p 15]

Political ideology is shown in political policies, strategic missions, and tactics of political activities as well as in the standards, means and methods of operating political power and completeness of the political institutions and political systems One component forming political culture as a typical physical and spiritual entity is "political norms which are the political values accepted and affirmed by the society to orientate and regulate the behaviors

of political actors These norms are institutionalized into the political institutions, political organizations, power structure, methods and means of perform politics." [15; p 238]

In addition, political ideology also contains traditional elements which build up the political culture‘s identities for each nation, each class and each political regime, and diversify the contemporary political culture

b) Politicians:

It is expressed by the knowledge, wisdom and political theories, class views and stance of each person and political organizations in two forms: (i) knowledge of political experience which "results from a process of observation, experience, conclusion and accumulation through the practices of the political entities establishing the lifestyles, habits, feelings and political sensitiveness to form a practical basis for the advancement to theoretical knowledge" [15; p 234], and (ii) knowledge of political theory which "is a process of systematization and

generalization to figure out the essential nature, the common, and the popular to upgrade into theory, rules and regulations from the practical political experiences." [15; p 134]

Political culture is expressed by people‘s needs, habits, self-disciplinary behavior and positive activeness which create the social values of society The role and the influence on the political activities of humans as a political entity depend on the extent and origin of the political faith and persuasion or political ideals that people are heading to

1.2.2 The Relationship between the Political System and Political Culture

"The relationship between political culture and the political system is performed in many forms and makes influence at different extents and dimensions" [9; p 67] Generally political culture is a means helping political system self-aware of its political missions and role In the institutions of authoritarian monarchy or dictatorship, or in the political institutions where democratic rights are not fully exercised, the political system considers the policy making and legislation as an exclusive right of the ruling class Hence, political culture in these societies

is authoritarian or autocratic However, in the liberal democratic societies, political authority

is a delegated power which is given by the people This can be applied to the multi-party governments where the opposition parties despite their failure at the ballot still get involved

in the political process to ensure transparency in the operations of state bodies and to ensure maximum benefits to the people

Political culture also shows its nature and characteristics of the class in the political system As mentioned above, the factors constituting the political system who directly participate in the operation of political institutions are the political elites and the people When examining the two social models of autocracy and democracy we see in a autocratic society, that the popularity of bureaucracy and authoritarianism have enabled them to become main features of the political culture by "favoring the upper and bullying the lower"; thus, the people are excluded from the political process and are not considered as actor of political activity Because of suppression, the people tend to react in ways which encourages rebellion leading to the birth of a new state, religions and political parties In contrast to democratic societies, public officials are clearly aware that the nature of their power is a public power; all

of their political activities are supervised by laws, media and citizens; in other words, the public support is one of the most important factors strengthening the political system In this society, the relationship between political systems and political culture is an interactive relationship in which people are encouraged to participate actively in the political process They are supported to improve their capacity of participating in the political process at all stages

In short, in the political system and political culture there is a close relationship "mainly depending on how the political system and the political elites are aware of the political nature and authority they are holding, and simultaneously on how the people are aware of their rights, capabilities and obligations in participating in the political process." [9; p 67] The relationship between political culture and political systems plays a central role influencing other relationships because the political system is the factor best characterizing the nature of politics and it is also where political power is held and exercised

Although the political system is the center, this analysis cannot ignore the relationship between political culture and political environment (a general society including individuals, communities, and social relations) as well as the formation, application and implementation

of political policies As mentioned above, a political system is a ―sub-system‖ of the social system (as a result of the social and cultural evolution and the process of dividing social labor) and is regarded as the political environment of the political system However, in this study, I only focus on the political environment of a country‘s political system - the lowest political environment, and political culture "is the soul of the political environment." [9; p 62] Political culture is not only the foundation to identify and implement the complex interactions in a political environment, political system and process of promulgating and exercising political policies but it also imbues the development of the political environment, political experiences, traditions, patterns of behaviors and long-standing values with a sense

of history connecting it with the present and future both in depth-dimension and dimension‖ [9; p 63] From the formation of political wills through decision making and establishing mandatory institutions in society to the implementation of obligatory regulations including laws and political conventions, political culture has served as the foundation for these processes The closely interactive relationship between the political culture and these processes and manifests itself in the interaction between these two factors

―time-Another factor relating to political culture worth examining is religion because numerous ideas, values and judgments are associated with religion which is a part of the political culture in each nation or country This stems from the fact that "religion is a part of a certain national tradition and national history; it has existed throughout that nation's cultural heritage and is characterized in political culture" [19; p 229]

1.3 The Features and Functions of Political Culture

1.3.1 The Features of Political Culture

It is clear that the political culture was not born by accident but a result of a long-term movement of human society: accumulation, preservation and transfer of political knowledge

and values In other words, political culture is a socio-historical phenomenon Besides, political culture also has close ties with the other historical elements of the culture such as education, philosophy, ethics, environment, and especially politics Political culture is not immutable Instead, in the process of accumulation, existence and transfer, it has constantly changed and accepted new elements to catch up with the practices of political life Thus, political culture contains the elements of history and legacy beside the element of class (directly related to politics) in its birth, existence and development

Political culture can be generalized by three main characteristics as follows:

(i) Political culture contains aspects of the class system: political culture is in a relationship with the political aspects of society containing the elements of class; it is defined

by political decisions, worldview and ideology of a certain class The sustainability and viability of a political system depends on the relevance to the political cultural values of the majority Additionally, when a political system is changed, the newly-established political system will set up new values of political culture for the dominant/leading class

(ii) Political culture contains the nature of history: Political culture is constantly changed because it is determined by various subjective and objective factors which regularly move

"The replacement of different politics from the point of view of political culture is a qualitative change of types and ability of political culture." [24; 171]

(iii) Political culture contains the nature of diversity and legacy: Political culture contains

an essential element – ideology Since the ideologies of the classes are not the same, the political culture of each class will be determined by the different elements, which contains different forms and trends adapted to different characteristics of the classes in society Elements of legacy, preservation and advancement of political culture are expressed by the fact that the common positive elements of the toppled/denied cultures are the developing/evolutionary foundation for the creation of a new political culture

1.3.2 The Functions of Political Culture

Political culture plays a significant function in society, especially in political life Firstly, political culture helps in regulating socio-political relations, building up people‘s belief in certain ideal values In addition, the political culture also helps political practices improve and adhere to regulations in politics and helps people develop political creativeness, sensitivity and political innovation Political culture directly fosters the process of political socialization, which makes acclimatizes the majority of the population to political activities and makes them comfortable participating in the political process Political culture directly brings politics to life

Political culture exists due to the interaction of beliefs, values, traditions, ideals and political means, standards, methods of organization and the operation of political power What influences political culture is the nature and the level of economic development, nature and the condition of political institutions and political systems as well as educational qualifications, general knowledge and the culture of society The degree of democratization, quality and capacity of information processing is also a factor

Therefore, political culture has three main functions:

(i) Cognitive function: the political culture helps enhancing awareness, training the political ability of the people in practical matters It promotes the formation of a certain mode

of political behavior towards a particular direction such as the voters‘ decision to support a certain party or candidate

(ii) The function of orientation and regulation: Political culture orients and regulates human behavior and socio-political relations It also helps to accelerate the process of political socialization making the people familiar with political activities, acclimates them to the process of political participation and creation in political activities In the collective systems of values, orientations, assumptions and imitation, the political culture accounts for the center and encourages the establishment and preservation of the political system Political culture expresses the relationships between individuals, humans and society in political life, thus forming the political framework and model of society Moreover, the "Asian core elements of political culture in each historical period is the dominant ideology of that time." [24; p 174]

(iii) The function of evaluation and prediction: "Political culture together with individual subjectivity is the basis for the evaluation of politics" [24; p 175]

In sum, politics is a complex and sensitive field that may cause the opposing and contradict

views on theories, arguments or practices such as the disagreements over thoughts, policies and division of power It is associated with the daily life of each person in the human community which is influenced by different cultural and religious factors It is the human life

It is the factor deciding the fate of the country and the development of society and people Therefore, politics appeared quite early and became one of the most concerned issues to the

people around the world

Political culture has a close relationship with political system and political environment Particularly, the relationship of political culture and political system even influences other relations when the nature and features of the politics are clearly shaped Political culture was the result of a long movement of the reactions between the human and social activities so that

it is regarded as a socio-historical phenomenon Political culture frequently changes to adapt with new conditions It can be generalized by 3 factors: (i) class, (ii) history, and (iii) diversity and inheritance

CHAPTER 2 EUROPEAN POLITICAL CULTURE

2.1 Formation and Development

2.1.1 Formation

Currently there are 48 European countries geographically divided into five regions: Northern Europe, Western Europe, Central Europe, Southern Europe, and Southeastern Europe During the Cold War (lasting more than 40 years) after the World War II, Europe was divided into two parts: Western Europe an countries referred to as the capitalist countries and Eastern Europe an countries called to the socialist countries When the Cold War ended

in the late 1980s and early 1990s, the socialist system totally collapsed in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, this division was no longer appropriate since most of the socialist countries had switched to capitalist regime After that, the effort of unifying Europe was achieved by the birth of the European Union (EU), which has expanded to 27 members According to geopolitical and geocultural features, the division of Europe into East and West seems more reasonable Eastern Europe includes the countries whose politics switched from communism to parliamentary democracy and whose residents are mostly Roman Catholics Western Europe includes the countries which follow the parliamentary system and their residents are both Roman Catholics and Protestants Eastern Europe is united under the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) with Russia at the heart Western Europe became a unified block by the European Union (EU-27) [11; p 471] This thesis will deal with to the characteristics of the European political culture in which France and Russia are the main factors exerting influence on Vietnamese political culture

Europe has a long and complicated history with many significant socio-politic events The state authority was dominated for a long time by the Church Such conservative thinking

of the Church that hindered the scientific development made Europe suffer in a so-called the

"Dark Ages." Engel put it that in the entire history of the medieval past, there was no other ideology but religion and theology [3; p 389] Moreover, the feudalism and feuds by lords had undermined the economic development, particularly in commerce

Contemporary political culture of Europe is a bourgeois political culture so that it is said that its birth stemmed from the establishment of capitalism as well as the mode of capitalist production in the whole region "New political ideology could only arise when the mode of capitalist production was born and develop in the heart of feudalism through the industrial revolution." [22; p 39]

The first bourgeois revolution broke out in the Netherlands in the early 16th century It was followed by the English Bourgeois Revolution in the 17th century and French Bourgeois Revolution in the 18th century which led to the establishment of capitalism in the whole Europe Western Europe therefore experienced several big changes in economics, society, politics and ideology These were the very important precondition for the emergence of a new political culture in Western Europe - the bourgeois political culture

Economically, there was a booming development with the help of the industrial

revolution - human labor was gradually replaced by machines whose performance was many times higher The amount of wealth increasingly created helped improving the people‘s life and prepared for the great capitalist accumulation Along with the industrial revolution, the mode of capitalist production which replaced the one of feudal production had led to the boom of the productive forces and technological science At the same time, the private ownership of primary productive assets was also established The strong growth of the economics, particularly trading had improved the material life of the people, and simultaneously created new living behavior and style-the industrial style In other words, the economic development created the material conditions for the new politics and cultural politics

Socially, there were a lot of changes such as the replacement of ruling feudal aristocracy

by the bourgeoisie and the development of the working class to the main productive force in the society Besides the traditional social conflicts (feudalism vs farmers), there were new conflicts, especially between the bourgeois and the workers The Western European societies were gradually changed since the appearance of more classes having contrary interests and even conflicts However, it is undeniable that the general life of all classes was improved both physically and mentally As the public awareness was enhanced, the old ruling methods

of dictatorship, authoritarianism and violence became inappropriate To stabilize the society and increase the effectiveness of state management, the bourgeois class had no choice but to use more flexible measures The conflicts and confrontations regarding to interests and ideology must be resolved on the basis of negotiation and compromise among the classes Thus, the people were facilitated to participate in the politics by themselves (election) or their representatives (parties, social organizations, trade unions, social circles ) This is the social foundation for the emergence of a new political culture based on the more democratic and equal criteria

Politically, after the "Dark Ages" with the collusion of parties‘ power and theocracy,

Western Europe experienced dramatic changes in the Renaissance with the appearance of

humanize ideology as a precondition for the movement of advanced political ideologies Martin Luther (1483-1546) started the "religious revolution"/reformation by posting 95 new theses on the door of the Wittenberg Church in Saxony on 31 Oct 1517 "This action started

a social, economic and intellectual revolution" and "in a generation after 1517, dozens of religious sects were founded: the Church of England, the Calvin Church, Rebaptism, etc." [27; p 341] Christianity was strongly divided; however, the Protestantism increasingly developed "England, Scotland, Holland, Northern and Eastern Germany and Northern Europe were under the influence of the Protestantism There were few Protestant minorities

in Ireland, France and some parts of Hapsburg." [27; p 365] Along with the big changes in society, economics, politics, culture and religion, there were new movements of political thinking in Western Europe They were the political ideology of bourgeois democracy and utopian socialism confronting with the bourgeois democratic ideology The political ideology

of bourgeois democracy remarked by the names of Montesquieu, Voltaire and Rousseau was constantly inherited, supplemented and has become the central ideology of the contemporary political culture of Western Europe "The concept of 'civil society', 'rule of law', 'bourgeois democracy' became the backbone of Western political culture The Western political systems operate on this backbone." [16; p 46] Nowadays most of Western European countries are parliamentary democratic Even the nature of monarchical countries is also representative democracy (i.e the British monarch‘s power is symbolic) In representative democracy, the separation of powers (to control and balance) is absolutely respected: well-defined division of power among legislative, executive and judicial branches The state power is shared among these three main branches; however, the political parties and interest groups still have a chance to participate in the political process by (multi-party) elections Any party or alliance

in multi-party electoral system desiring to win and hold power must have the support of the public (through elections and referendums) Therefore, the state administrations should always pay attention to two things: firstly, to guaranteeing the effective management; secondly, to ensuring the proper care to the people via social security system, healthcare system and good education Beyond the expectations and confidence in the government, the people can also participate and get involved in the political process

Western Europe is special in comparison to other regions in the world because the countries here share a lot of common features The commonality comes from four reasons

- They were influenced by the Greek Civilization

- They use the Latin alphabet

- They were influenced by Christianity

- They were long ruled by the Roman Empire

These similarities are the firm foundation for the unification of Western Europe in particular and Europe in general The process of unification started in 1952 with the establishment of the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC) – the preparation for the European Union In 1958, the European Common Market was established (European Economic Community) The European countries are moving toward a ―super-national‖ institution promoting the cooperation and involvement in economy, currency, society, politics, and security Currently, the European Union (EU) includes 27 members building a closer cooperation

Accordingly, the reforms of the bourgeois revolution and the industrial revolution in the Western European society became an important impetus for the birth of a new political culture - the bourgeois political culture State power was gradually separated from the Church‘s power, which led to the liberation of ideology Moreover, the strong development

of economics and science has facilitated not only the physical life but also for mental life for the people Western Europe completely transferred from power-centralized feudalism to capitalism accompanied by a new political culture

2.1.2 Development

The political thoughts and theories in ancient Greece and ancient Rome are considered to

be the root of the Western political science and many other philosophical and political doctrines and schools of thought The 1500s and 1600s witnessed an ideological revolution breaking out in Western Europe and the "Age of Enlightenment" of the French Revolution in

1789 They were the origin of the European political culture However, the rapid growth of political science including political culture studies was marked by the aftermath of the two world wars where various values of human civilization were reversed In particular, the World War II brought about a lot of new questions that scientists could not explain in terms

of cultural values, ethics or traditional religions They included the rise and fall of fascism, the impressive expansion of communism in Eastern Europe and national independent movements

of colonized countries in Asia and Africa leading to a series of newly-born states The complex transformation of the world political reality in the complicated historical period marked by World War II was the direct cause of the establishment and development of political science and modern political culture Since then, there have been more and more different school and views on political culture approached in different aspects

Together with the foundation of the capitalist states, the establishment of capitalist mode

of production and the democratic politics in Europe, the political culture is currently

conceived as "civic culture or democratic culture." [12; p 206] The term of "political culture" was first introduced in 1950s by an American political scientist, Gabriel Almond He put it

"Every political system is embedded in a particular pattern of orientation to political action.‖

[37; p 8] The study of Gabriel Almond and Sidney Verba - "The Civic Culture Political

Attitude and Democracy in Five Nations" was the first to directly study political culture In

this study, the authors gave some kinds of definition of political culture as follows:

The Parochial Political culture: is a primitive model of political culture in early society where political orientation of the society‘s members is associated with the religious and social direction (the leadership of economics, politics and religion is held by a group of chieftains and powwows)

The Subject political culture: is a model of political culture in "totalitarian political regime or imperfect democracy" [20; p 38] in which the members of society do know and obey the regulations, laws and policies issued without making any influence by themselves The Participants political culture: is a model of political culture which is ―typical of the liberal democratic politics" [20; p 39] The members of society have a strong and comprehensive sense of their role of directly and actively participating in the political system

in the society they are living in They are willing to give opinions on accepting, supporting or opposing the political system or the proposed policies

In 1972, Lucian W Pye described that "political culture is the set of attitudes, beliefs, and sentiments which give order and meaning to a political process and provide the underlying assumptions and rules that govern behavior in the political system It encompasses both the political ideals and the operation norms of a polity." [41; p 6]

Approaching political culture from different aspects has provided various views on this concept, one of which is Aaron Wildavsky‘s "political reference" in 1980 He argued that political culture is "the subjective dimension of the political system and political process" [20; p 50] and stressed the nature/role of the each actor in making any political decision Wildavsky also introduced 4 typical types of political culture corresponding to 4 types of political institutions and political system as follows:

- Apathy (Fatalism): Political decisions are not from the internal urge but the external influence so that the political actors or public communities are not concerned about these decisions

- Hierarchy (Collectivism): typical model of political institutions in Asian autocratic monarchies where political behaviors require strict rituals and order

- Competition (Individualism): This behavior model favors competition and individualism It is considered as the most important characteristics of the political culture

- Equality (Egalitarianism): This is the most ideal model in which the political behaviors of the actors are based on equity

Wildavsky's arguments play an important role in pointing out the relationship between political system and political culture and between political environment and political actors

2.2 The characteristics of European Political Culture

2.2.1 Sources of characteristics

Political culture in each area is the combination of common standards that all members of society can basically accept Besides, it is also homogeneity of the social groups such as classes, belief groups, age groups and their relevance to the social institutions (parties, trade unions, youth unions, etc.) As noted above, political culture has a special relationship with political institutions It can be said that a/ the political institution is a factor to define the characteristics of political culture in each country because more or less political institutions are interfering into the life of each citizen and other people in a nation‘s territory The political institutions affect the choice of behaviors of individuals and organizations, and create social stability, order and development Political institutions in Europe are categorized

as follow:

Constitutional monarchy: Monarchy is a remnant of feudalism used by the bourgeoisie to prevent great social changes Constitutional monarchy is quite popular in the world The organization of state power which includes both the king and the constitution is now operating under a regulation that "the king reins not rules" and state power is held by the executive and the head of the executive In fact, the power is in the hand of the government whereas the king is just a symbol of solidarity, unification and the eternity of the nation This symbol has a psychological influence on the presence of the current regime, and the king will

be the supporter for the current ruling class when political upheavals occur

Parliamentary monarchy is popular in Western Europe and Great Britain is a typical example Heads of state are kings who are succeeded by their children and the prime minister The Executive is established and operates as long as it is guaranteed by the House

of Representatives The ministers and the head of the executive take responsibility before the Parliament (the House of Representatives) In fact, the establishment and operation of the government are under the control of the party which holds the majority of seats in the House

of Representatives The king hardly gets involved in settling the state affairs In the political

institution, the government can only function if the Parliament (Upper House) ratifies Otherwise the government will be overthrown and replaced by another government because

of the mechanism of performing state power It does not depend on the penal responsibility of each minister but the political responsibility of the entire government in front of the Parliament

Characterized political culture of Europe is reflected in the constitutions of many countries (such as Denmark, Norway and Sweden) which say that the Parliament has a right

of accusing the officials at ministerial rank The Lower House is in charge of accusation and the Upper House is in charge of impeachment

The government takes responsibility in front of the House of Representatives and is established from the members of House of Representatives However, the government is in fact established by the major political party in the House Therefore, the government usually controls the House of Representatives In other words, the government and the lower house are the two bodies of a political party in power

Parliamentary Republic: State power is originated from the people In principle, state

organization is formed like parliamentary monarchy; however, heads of state are elected instead of being hereditary Presidents are directly or indirectly elected by the people The constitution prescribes that president is the head of state having a right of representing the state in domestic and foreign affairs Nethertheless, the role of the presidents varies due to parliamentary republic or presidential republic

- Parliamentary republic is a polity where state leaders are elected by the parliament or decided by the parliament, government headed by the Prime Minister must take responsibility in front of not only the heads of state but also the parliament Essentially, the president in this polity is symbolic so that government is mostly take responsibility in front of the parliament Besides, this political system announces that the supreme power of parliament is the parliamentary regime with the prime minister and symbolic participation of other heads of state in the formulation of governments The principle of government‘s responsibility in front of the parliament is basis for the fact that parliament can overthrow the government and the head of government can command or demand the heads of state dissolve the parliament

The heads of state elected by the parliament or from the parliament have no real power while the execution and its leader are the center of the powers Thus, it can be seen that the typical democratic conception to transfer the state power from single state leader to a parliament as a representative group of the most advanced classing

the social system has not been successful but the state power has instead fallen into the hand of the government whose leader is the prime minister This formulation makes a great impact on the establishment of national political culture

- Presidential republic is a form of state organization in which the president is both the head of state and the head of the executive directly or indirectly elected, by the people, all members of the government are appointed by the president and take responsibility in front of the president President has the full power to select the governmental personnel, and the ministers do not constitute a body to discuss and take collective responsibility before the parliament but only before the president

There are some interesting differences between the presidential republics of America and France In America, the rule of separation of powers is tough and strong with a significant separation between the executive and the legislate, the independence of the judiciary and the President is always the central character of the state system holding a great power at all times, whereas the French Republic is a more mixed polity The French state is designed to ensure the separation of power and each branch of power must control, balance and bind the others, especially between the executive and the judiciary However, "the pendulum of power‖ in fact tends to tilt toward the executive branch and the President usually takes more advantage than the parliament, especially when the President's party takes the majority of seats in the parliament Moreover, the reality also shows some special facts For example, political conditions give a chance to an era of "co-living" or "co-existence" when the president belongs to one party while the major party in National Assemble (Prime Minister‘s party) is the opposition party In case they are not able to work together, the decision is up to the President (dissolving his party before the term in the hope that his party would win the majority in the National Assembly) Generally speaking, it is a risky political game

Political institutions of Europe have experienced a long way of institutionalization to reach the common point in which some countries have been institutionalized to the model of modern democracy for a long time while some countries only gained their independence and built their own political institutions in the 1990s This has made the features of politics and political culture in different European countries As such, "along with the strong unification, Europe has formed multi-level governance including: national politics and governance, regional politics and governance/ regional organizations (i.e EU, CIS) and European politics and governance (i.e Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe OSCE) The macro core is the politics and governance of the region/supranation or block (such as the EU)." [11;

p 472]

To define the characteristics of political culture of each country and region, we should not

ignore the factor of political parties which is highly developed in Europe Although the main

task of the political parties is to become the ruling party, the European political parties, unlike the other areas of the world, have transparent and stable ideologies The political parties in Europe can be divided into four groups: left parties, right parties, neutral parties and newly political parties In two-party system (such as the UK), one of the two strongest parties (Conservative Party and Labor Party) will in turn come into power In multi-party system, if there is no party holding major seats in parliament, they will form a government based on party coalition

Left parties support the state to have appropriate measures to intervene into economics, society and citizens to create comprehensive social development Right parties advocate freedom in economic policies and conservation in socio-cultural policies The party system in Europe is classified according to ideology, class, religion or benefits Currently, the parties are competing for the interests of social groups that they represent rather than opposing political ideologies

We need to examine the political system as a factor determining the characteristics of national or regional political culture because "the political party system has great impacts on the political life of the country The existence of multi-party or dual-party democracy will reverse all the principles of constitutional laws and control all the political activities." [4; p 184]

Another factor determining the characteristics of European political culture is the policies (in economics, politics, defense and society) of European politics in which socio-economic policies are the main focus of the entire policy system Most of the European countries give priority to social security policies so that their people can have the best social security system and health service in the world This security system is based largely on national financial resources

2.2.2 Characteristics

Although "probably the first time the question of the presence or absence of a Western political culture came to be examined was by those who claimed that climate made some Europeans different from others" [34; p 68], the features of European political culture are divided into two areas of West and East just like cultural division The reasons for the differences in political culture are: (i) geographical and climate differences, (ii) colonization process, (iii) religion, and (iv) the industrial revolutions The division of Europe into two parts is also based on the "geo-political and geo-cultural criteria" [11; p 4] which show that

Western Europe is Christian/Protestant and follows parliamentary institution meanwhile Eastern Europe is Roman Catholic and transferred from communism to parliamentary democracy The trend of unifying Europe makes its political map contain the movement from the East to the West or the expansion of the European Union to the East

Western European Political Culture

Western Europe is not only an economic-political center of the world where the most developed countries and a plenty of international organizations‘ headquarters are located but also the homeland of various great ideologies and human civilization‘s values including political culture

Western European countries have followed several models of political institutions which can basically be classified into 3 groups: parliamentary monarchy, parliamentary republic, and mixed republic Although these models are different in form, they share a common feature of Western "participant political culture" [12; p 208] where people play an important role and their active participation is crucial to political life

Western European political culture reflects the democracy of the state where elections are freely and fairly conducted; multi-party electoral system allows political parties to freely campaign and the people are free in doing business or participating in socio-political organizations In the structure of the state system, the principle of power separation is absolutely respected, and the judicial, the legislative and the executive independently operate and supervise each other Contemporary political culture of Western Europe or the bourgeois political culture is the result of a historical process related to the development and changes in politics, society, economics and ideology In the history, Western Europe has experienced three types of political culture as follows [11; p 483-4]:

- Parochial Pre-modern Culture: people only accept the cultural environment of their local Church/religion without conceiving the total political picture of the society

- Dependent Political Culture: people make relationship with the political system only

on the Output-Structures, which means they passively receive top-down governance

of power

- Participative Political Culture: people's perception of the political system is established on the basis of both output and input structure As such, they actively participate in the political life "

According to this grouping, the contemporary political culture of Western Europe is participative political culture through the interaction between macro-structures (political systems, nations) and micro-structures (individuals, groups)

Luong Van Ke listed the characteristics of Western political culture as follows [11; p 484-5]:

- Law-based/ ruled nation and civil society are the primary principle of politics

- Private ownership is the principle of the democracy

- The direct democratic rights and human (citizen) rights are abided

- Personal freedom, freedom of speech, freedom of enterprise is the principle of the democracy

- Power is decentralized or the separation of power is maximized

- Democracy is based on multi-party system

- Class confrontation and class dictatorship are replaced by compromise and cooperation

- Economic development is associated with public social welfare regulated by the nation

- Political regional integration and association are the main trend and model for the rest

of the world

We can analyze in detail the characteristics of Western European political culture mentioned at different levels

At individual level: human rights and direct democratic rights are abided Every citizen

is granted fundamental freedom rights (freedom of speech, doing business, participation in political parties, etc.); hence, they actively get involved in the political life

At social level: the social welfare is highly guaranteed, the conflicts among classes or

interest groups are supposed to be settled by compromise and cooperation

At state level: State system is organized on the base of strict power separation where the

legislative, the executive and the judicial follow the rule of control and balance to avoid abusing power, dictatorship and authoritarianism Private ownership is recognized and guaranteed by the state Moreover, in the power structure of the state, there are very few parties dominating absolute priority, which often lead to coalition State becomes the representative of many classes and interest groups in the society so that the interest of the majority is more concerned and there is a necessary political stability based on a multi-party electoral system

At transnational level: Even though Western Europe has many differences in ethnicity,

language and religion, the countries in the region have been gradually moving towards a common institution - the European Union (EU-27) is a typical example Western Europe is heading to a "supranation", which will bring about many benefits to these countries

―The (Western) European modern democratic politics has gradually proved its superiority

of political culture." [11; p 484] The modern democracy is a central factor creating the unique political culture of Western Europe

The characteristics of Western European political culture divided into the above levels reflect the democratic degree of the state Based on democratic standards, the Western Europe countries can be grouped to stable democracies There are five democratic standards: (1) The election of the senior positions must be conducted by free and fair election (2) Political parties are allowed to operate and compete equally in the election

(3) The policy making must be transparent and officials must take individual responsibility

(4) The citizens must be assured of the civil and political rights

(5) The judiciary shall have independent power to the legislation and execution in the system of power separation [10; p 52]

However, these five criteria are not completely "standards" since each ethnicity, nation and region has its own characteristics and no state can meets all the five criteria The Western European countries are closest to the stable democracy by satisfying these 5 standards

Political Culture of Eastern Europe

Eastern Europe has experienced various complex changes in history Studying Eastern European political culture requires an overview over its historical period and the examination

of the socialist political culture The success and failure of socialism are apt to change the people‘s attitudes and awareness, which evaluates the role and power of political culture

"The communist experience is particularly important as an approach to testing political culture theory because from one point of view it represents a genuine effort to ‗falsity‘ it."[30; p 128] ―The Leninist variety of Marxism began to lose its legitimacy in the 1980s as its failure to bring about a ―good society‖ became increasingly obvious The incredible then happened: first the collapse of Eastern European communism and by the mid-1980s the collapse of Marxism – Leninism in the Soviet Union itself Marxist theorists now began acknowledge the reality of pluralism, and the autonomy of governmental institutions, recognizing that politics is not simply the reflection of economic structures and process, and that attitudes and values are of importance in the functioning and transformation of economic and governmental institutions.‖ [36; p xi]

The concerns about political culture was expressed as soon as when the Soviet Union was established, ―George Shaknazarov, the president of the Soviet Political Science Association,

in an article published in Pravda on January 17, 1979, announcing the meeting of the

International Political Science Association in Moscow, listed political culture as one of three major subjects of political science He defined political culture as ―the participation of diverse social opinions in politics, the political culture of the people and political culture training, the regulation of social-political attitudes.‖ He presented this topic as being at the same level of importance as the study of the state and the political system and the study of foreign policy and international relations.‖[30; p 129] Political cultures in Eastern Europe in this period was basically communist with the following features: ―(1) the official or ideological political culture that is a mix of exhortation and imputation, (2) the operational political culture or what the regime is prepared to relate and believes it has succeeded in attaining, and (3) the real political culture based on evidence such as opinion surveys and other kinds of research or

on inferences drawn from the media or official statements.‖ [30; p 131]

Since the Cold War and the collapse of socialism, the Eastern European countries have established their republican political institutions in different models including residential republics and parliamentary republics, and mixed republics At the same time, there have been a lot of ethnic and religious conflicts, particularly in Eastern and Central Europe, because of the economic and life crises together with the collapse of the socio-political systems Because of the complex changes of political institutions and especially the great influence of socialist model, the Eastern European countries hardly emphasize the specific role of political parties The state systems often focus on the executive Multi-party regimes

in these countries are extremely complicated because the political views of the parties are different There are three main trends: the left wing strong wants a strong reformation and protects the interests of the people, especially the poor people in the society, the right wing representing the upper class tends to protect conservatism, and neutral political parties support democracy and heighten the middle class

The collapse of the socialist system in Eastern Europe has made the countries in the region carry out a series of economic and political reforms Therefore, its characteristics of political culture have been formed during the process of democratization:

(i) The recognition of pluralism

- The process of democratization began with the elections on the base of recognizing the opposite political forces

- The political parties negotiate on the base of peace to build a new constitution in which recognizes political pluralism, freedom of establishment of and participation in socio-political parties

(ii) The issues of establishing new governments

- Separating the state with the Church

- The reform supporters won and came into power

- Establishment of legal conditions to form a civil society

The picture of the political culture of post-communist Eastern Europe can be described as

a ―Russification on top a shaky national identity; the distorting effects of Soviet ideology on society, culture, and individual mentality; profound corruption of all respects of society; the virtually total absence of any legitimate legal structures; and unprecedented (and mind-boggling) environmental devastation.‖ [45; p 12]

2.3 Political Culture’s Characteristics of France and the Soviet Union – making most impacts on Vietnam

2.3.1 The Characteristics of French Political Culture

To understand the political culture of France, this study will approach and analyze three aspects as follows: an overview of the French "two-leader" political institution and system; the impact of the French Revolution, especially the 1789 Revolution as a landmark of establishing a new political culture; and the population structure as a major factor in making France‘s unique political culture

Overview of two-leader system:

The government of France is a unique hybrid of presidential and parliamentary systems that reflect rich political traditions and culture - The contrast political culture of France currently is somewhat more consensual than in the past According to the 1958 Constitution, the President is elected by direct universal suffrage for a five-year term and works as a head

of state and the pillar of the institutions He is also the head of the army and responsible for national independence Besides the President, the Prime Minister is responsible for defense and law enforcement, and leads the governmental activities The government identifies and implements national policies The government has bureaucracy, armed forces and takes responsible in front of the Parliament France has a dual-house system which plays a major role in operating democracy Legislative power belongs to the Parliament including the National Assembly and the Senate Up to now, the Constitution has been amended 22 times

to better suit the new demands of the jurisdictional State and the pressing issues of Europe The objective of the 1958 Constitution makers was to balance the power between the legislative and the executive to maintain both republican tradition and parliamentary tradition

in order to ensure the relative stability for the government However, it eventually resulted that the balance of power had tilted more toward the executive However, the imbalance of power is also an obstacle to the democracy Therefore, ensuring the balance and control