Poli Sci prof talks on European democracy

Political Science Professor Henry Teune posed the question, "How do we look at this thing called Europe?" in a speech yesterday in Stiteler Hall's Anspach Lounge. The lecture, entitled "The Three Democratic Political Cultures of Europe," presented a comparative perspective on post-Cold War Europe as the first of four lectures geared towards increasing student interest in European studies. Teune, the undergraduate Political Science chairperson, focused on identifying crucial obstacles hindering modern Europe's quest for an identity, a topic he is developing into a book. In researching his topic, Teune took a random sample of 920 European localities in 82 regions, targeting 15 local political leaders in each locality. The leaders responded to a series of questions about community characteristics, minority rights and political values. The interviews served as the basis for Teune's definition of Europe's three principal political cultures -- Central Europe, Western Europe and Eurasia. "Local democracy is the foundation for the grassroots of democratic institutions," he said. Teune used maps and graphs to highlight each country's raw score on a given set of variables -- value of political participation and economic equality, and desirability of a market economy. From the data, Teune suggested that localities with democratic leaders will be more globally oriented. He also proposed that the political values of leaders have been shaped by historical experiences, and that democratic values are directly related to a leader's stance on pluralism, minority rights and political equality. Teune concluded that the more democratic the country, the more its local leaders assume responsibility for community involvement. He defined revolts as responses to controversial changes initiated by top leaders. Teune studied political conflict, local autonomy and the "normative order of the state" as essential components in the formation of a European political culture. But "the story is more than a twentieth century story," he said. The "story" will be further examined in Teune's book, Democracy Rooted: World Comparisons of the Old and the New, due out in March. Andres Heinemann-Gruder, a visiting professor from Germany, cited the "Teune tribe" -- Teune's research team -- as a driving force in the movement toward viewing local democracies from a comparative perspective. And International Relations graduate student Francis Campbell welcomed this installment of the lecture series as a "genuine attempt to bring Europe back into focus." Future topics in the series include the "European Union," "Three Paths to Modernity" and "Civic Cultures in Eastern Europe."