Cultural Influences on Politics
by Mehmet Fatih ÖZTARSU


Brenda Shaffer works to define cultural domination on states' foreign or domestic affairs in "Is there a Muslim Foreign Policy?"article. With some examples, Shaffer is explaining this event us. Firstly, Shaffer begin the article with Huntigton's thesis: "The Clash of Civilizations"

Samuel Huntigton’s thesis bases on idea that culture has main role in defining of policy. Also Brenda Shaffer agrees with Huntigton’s thesis. Shaffer says that culture is main mechanism for diplomatic relations. Shaffer interprets culture as specific culture of country's within religion, history and civilization.

Western scholars researched about Islam effection in Muslim countries after 11 September terrorist act. They looked at Muslim scholars, historians, diplomats and generals. They understood Islam effection as strong as nuclear weapons. But this is not a physical thing, this is an ideology. And they speeches to newspapers, politic journals a subject that has a title as "Do Muslim countries act differently than Non-Muslim States?"

On the other hand, Shaffer interests about this subject under the psychological perspective. Human beings are often driven by culture according to Shaffer. Also, human behavior effects on to state affairs. But state acts partly different from human behaviors. We can give example from philosophical history: Some philosophers think that the state is a thing like human. But it is systematically human. The state’ action is like people's actions. State is big form of human and human is small form of the state. As behavioral psychological meaning has different dimensions.1

Shaffer gives an example about different state decision-making. Some Muslim countries have Anti-American people as behavioral. But these states make alliance with the USA like Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and Egypt. Commonly we can see incongruent actings between states policies and people behaviors.

Shaffer's Caspian perspective has common beliefs. According to Shaffer, all Caspian countries have been influenced by Islam effection after from the Soviet Union. And now they have Islamic perspective on their state affairs. But Shaffer judges all Caspian and Middle Asia area as Islamic effection zones. But it is not totally like that. Today these countries are secular except Iran...

http://lightmillennium.org/2007_20th/mfoztarsu_culture_politic.html