Creating a Political Culture

Before even the process of dominion can begin a population must first come together into a sense of identity. John Dewey regarded this social process as a given; people of a common interest come together.⁽¹⁶⁾ But there is more to the process of cultural bonding than that. Dawson and Prewitt express the process by saying:

"People who suddenly find themselves members of the same community - in a de jure if not de facto sense - may not share a common language, culture, history religion or enemy. Some of the new African states are the most exaggerated examples of this phenomenon. European imperialists portioned out territories in Africa with little regard for pre-existing boundaries. In administering these `protectorates' or `colonies', the European administrator generally demonstrated little interest in encouraging the growth of a sentiment of national cohesion or for integrating dispartate elements within the common administrative unit."⁽¹⁷⁾

As independence came to these colonial nations in the mid 20th Century, they found themselves without "a general, systematic pattern of political norms which can be adopted by the average citizen."⁽¹⁸⁾ They "have no heritage of national integration, no common political culture".⁽¹⁹⁾

These new nations lacked what George Herbert Mead called the "generalized other".

"The socialization process involves discovering what it is that society expects of us in our various roles. The child discovers `himself' as he discovers what society is. He forms a `social self' in response to the expectations directed toward him from parents, peers, teachers, and other `significant others'. If mother expects him to be clean, obedient, and prompt, cleanliness, obedience, and promptness become part of his self. As the child matures he discovers that society in general - the `generalized other' - is little more than a package of expectations about how he, the child, should behave. The socialized child is one who has discovered and behaves in a manner consistent with society's expectations."⁽²⁰⁾

Dawson and Prewitt's example of the new African states, and the Biafran War of Secession, is only one example of an absence of bonding. The boundaries of those formerly colonial nations developed almost inadvertently. Many were invented or contrived. An example which is even more embarrassing to the victors who met at Versailles is the dismemberment of the Ottoman Empire.⁽²¹⁾ Wilson's Fourteen Points specifically stated:

"V. A free, open-minded, and absolutely impartial adjustment of all colonial claims, based upon a strict observance of the principle that in determining all such questions of sovereignty the interests of the populations concerned must have equal weight with the equitable claims of the government is to be determined.

XII. The Turkish portions of the present Ottoman Empire should be assured a secure sovereignty, but the other nationalities which are now under Turkish rule should be assured an undoubted security of life and an absolutely unmolested opportunity of autonomous development, ..."⁽²²⁾

That is specifically not what happened after Versailles.

Under the Balfour Declaration Britain gave Palestine to the Zionists, and under the McMahon Correspondence they gave it to the Arabs. The Palestinian problem stems directly from that dispute.⁽²³⁾ The Kurds received no consultation, and their homeland is now distributed through Iran, Iraq, Turkey and Syria.

As I write this, Saddam is still the tyrant over a nation which has no basis in reality and the only "generalized other" which is common to its subjects is natural law.⁽²⁴⁾

Compare these 20th century results with the Balts who bonded in the steppes of Central Russia before establishing dominion over Latvia and Lithuania. Compare it with the Ukrainians who bonded in Russia, established dominion over the out posts of Scythia and then developed a history separate from the Russians through 500 years of separate occupation. Inner Mongolia was conceived by Genghis Khan who assigned 300 chosen families to guard his grave, and Outer Mongolia was the rest of the nation which had bonded under him. Dacia, conceived by the Caesars to compensate the veterans they could not pay, stands today as Rumania. The list goes on to include Bulgars, Magyars, Huns, Estonians and Finns; Lombards, Vandals, and Basques; and Seljuk and Ottoman Turks. All of these were people who bonded in one place and established dominion in another.

A different color to the same process was demonstrated in colonialism before the 20th Century. Canada, Australia, Normandy, Syracuse, and Carthage are all examples of people who had an existing "generalized other" before they left their homelands. As the colonial culture became sufficiently distinct, the formal ties to the homeland were severed, and the colony separated - at least in image.

Not all colonial or conquering efforts are as complete as the ones listed so far.⁽²⁵⁾ Egypt, China and India have a tradition of absorbing conquering armies. Alfred the Great (871-900) and his two grandsons were able to reconquer the Viking settlement of "Danelaw and establish a united kingdom in England. For a time the Danes retained their own laws; but as their language and customs were not radically unlike those of the Saxons, they gradually merged with them into one indistinguishable nation."⁽²⁶⁾ When King Canute led a second Danish conquest in 1017, it was more absorbed than repelled before 1042, and both the English and their royal house was left in tact.⁽²⁷⁾ Although the Norman invasion which William led in 1066 was more durable than those of his earlier Viking cousins, this example of minority tyranny⁽²⁸⁾ was also absorbed by the English majority. William, his son Henry I (1100-1135), and grandson Stephen (1135-54) were Normans, but were already marrying into the Saxon lines. Henry II (1154-89) began the Platagenets⁽²⁹⁾, followed by Richard the Lion Hearted (1189-99), his brother John (1199-1216), and Henry III (1227-1272). These were Normans and Frenchmen ruling England.⁽³⁰⁾ With Edward I (1272-1307) the crown was again English.⁽³¹⁾ The generalized other which Edward's descendants learned was English, although it was now colored with Viking and French imprints.

The list would also include the Pilgrims who bonded in England and Holland before taking their mission to the new colony at Plymouth.⁽³²⁾ It would also include the Hebrews who bonded in Canaan and Egypt before returning to the promised land.

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