Case Studies
The principal activities of the Cultural Change Institute will include case studies of several additional countries to those studied under the Culture Matters Research Project; additional studies of the instruments and institutions of cultural transmission and change with a focus on media and religion; promotion of the significance of culture and the importance of cultural change; pilot projects in the areas of education, child-rearing, and values surveys; and technical assistance.
CCI will undertake additional case studies to broaden understanding of how culture influences development and the forces/factors that promote cultural change favorable to political, social, and economic development All the studies will be done by experts on the country at issue, drawing on their expertise as well as, in many cases, new field research. We will be shooting for chapter-length reports that will be combined into a sequel book to Developing Cultures: Case Studies.
Barbados | Cameroon | Costa Rica | India | Jordan | Mauritius | Malaysia | Mexico | Poland | Slovenia | Uruguay | Vietnam
Barbados
To understand why it is the most successful Caribbean nation. Barbados is unique in its stable democracy, its high levels of economic and social development, and its low level of corruption. There are several other Caribbean island nations, also former British colonies, e.g., Jamaica, that have not come close to the levels of progress achieved by Barbados. What explains the uniqueness of Barbados, and, conversely, why haven't the other Caribbean nations achieved greater progress? The study will be done by Prof. Anthony Maingot of Florida International University, an expert on the Caribbean.
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Cameroon
Daniel Etounga-Manguelle made some controversial generalizations about Africa in his Culture Matters chapter "Does Africa Need a Cultural Adjustment Program." The Cameroon case study will offer Etounga-Manguelle an opportunity to be very specific in applying his generalizations to the country he knows best. We also plan to ask him to apply his views to two rare African success stories: Botswana and Somaliland. (Former Carleton College president Stephen Lewis did a case study of Botswana for the Research Project.)
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Costa Rica
To understand why it is so much more democratic and stable than other Central American countries--indeed than most Latin American countries--a condition with roots going back to colonial times. The study will be done by Prof. Consuelo Cruz of Tufts University, author of Political Culture and Institutional Development in Costa Rica and Nicaragua, and Prof. Mitchell Seligson of Vanderbilt University, who contributed a chapter on political development to Developing Cultures: Essays on Cultural Change and who has a long relationship with Costa Rica going back to his days as a Peace Corps volunteer.
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India
To disaggregate India's economic "miracle," and particularly to enhance our understanding of which ethnic groups have been chiefly responsible for or have disproportionately benefited--and why. A starting point might be Kusum Nair's 1961 classic Blossoms in the Dust, which examined variations in progress, some of them quite dramatic, in thirteen Indian states and concluded that cultural variation was highly relevant. Pratap Bhanu Mehta, president of the Center for Policy Research in Delhi, who did the CMRP study of Hinduism, may do this study.
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Jordan
As a potential showcase, along with Turkey and Indonesia, to demonstrate to the Islamic world that the formula of the West and East Asia can work for them. Jordan is the most literate and pluralistic Arab country, and we need to know what are the factors that explain its exceptionalism. Former USAID administrator Andrew Natsios, now at Georgetown, may do the study.
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Mauritius
To understand why it, like Botswana, has done so much better than most African countries. Its history is similar to that of the nearby Seychelles, but while it is slightly less well off economically, it is more democratic and less corrupt. Prof. Stephen Lewis of Carleton College, who did the CMRP study of Botswana, may do this study.
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Malaysia
To examine the role of Chinese and Indian minorities in its development. Indonesia has been labeled a "mini-dragon" because of its impressive economic performance: 3.9 percent per capita GDP growth during the period 1975-2003. But it has large Chinese and Indian minorities, and the Malay majority has been the beneficiary of affirmative action programs that have only partially achieved their goals. This makes for an interesting cultural analysis laboratory. Prof. Chua Beng Huat of the National University of Singapore, who wrote the Singapore essay for the CMRP, may do the study, perhaps in a collaboration with Prof. Yoshihara Kunio of Kitakyushu University, Japan.
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Mexico
Political scientist Peter Skerry of Boston College has proposed a study of Latino immigrant acculturation in the United States focusing particularly on the high school dropout problem. Skerry, an authority on Mexican immigrants, is the author of Mexican Americans (1993). The study will be book length; the goal is a definitive set of conclusions about the pace of acculturation of the largest and most rapidly growing minority group in the United States, with direct implications for immigration policy.
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Poland
Polish economist Mariusz Ozminkowski believes that Poland suffers from a limited tolerance for public debate and political dissent that could impede the development of its democratic institutions. This hypothesis will be researched with a view to integrating the value of argument and dissent into the education system. As Ozminkowski says, "...there is insufficient tradition of practical argument that not only teaches the rules of reasoning but also focuses on dealing with uncertainties, unwelcome conclusions, and debate in general. A system of such "argument/debate" courses would be helpful."
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Slovenia
Slovenia, formerly a part of Yugoslavia, stands at number 26 in the UN Human Development Index, ahead of Portugal, South Korea, the Czech Republic, Hungary, and Poland, The goal of the study is an understanding of why it has been so much more successful than other Balkan countries. The study may be undertaken by Prof. Janos Matyas Kovacs of the Vienna Institute for Human Sciences, who wrote the essay on Eastern Europe that appears in Developing Cultures: Case Studies.
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Uruguay
Uruguay stands with Costa Rica and Chile with respect to its tradition of democratic process. Like Chile and Argentina, it experienced military dictatorship starting in the 1970s continuing into the 1980s. It returned to its democratic traditions in 1984, and democracy has prevailed since. The goal of this case study is similar to that of Costa Rica: to understand what in Uruguay's evolution contributed to its atypical tradition of democratic politics. Mariano Grondona, the Argentine writer, professor of government, and television talk show host, may undertake this study. Grondona is among the world's foremost authorities on the cultural paradigm. He contributed essays on opinion media and Argentina to the CMRP.
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Vietnam
Vietnam experienced 5 percent annual growth in per capita GDP between 1975 and 2003, a quadrupling. Such rapid growth rates are common in East Asian countries influenced by Confucianism of which Vietnam is one. The goal of the study is an understanding of the factors driving the Vietnamese miracle including the extent to which cultural factors are in play in its rapid economic growth coupled with authoritarian politics. It will be undertaken by William Ratliff of the Hoover Institution at Stanford.
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