Political Culture, Social Cleavages, and Democracy: Algeria Case

Abstract

This study considers the way in which political culture perspectives impact the relationship between social cleavages and democratic transition in Algeria. It draws on a statistical analysis of World Values Survey (WVS) data, and global democracy indicators to argue that the structure of current social cleavages in Algeria is cumulatively weak. It is intersectional and does not reflect pro-democracy inclinations (i.e., acceptance of sociocultural variation between groups) such that there would be a relative tendency to support, not oppose, democracy as a system of coexistence and managing political affairs. This is because partisan alignments in Algeria in terms of three main political families – nationalists, Islamists, and democrats – tend to exacerbate the cumulative cleavage in religious and linguistic identity, and they have a tangible impact on the circumstantial decline of some indicators of demand for democracy.