Liberian Political Culture

Abstract

As Liberians seek to restore their nation, much of the emphasis has been on formal political systems such as elections, the executive, regional authorities, the military, the judiciary, or the national legislature. The following essay argues that it will be equally important to understand and reshape Liberia‘s political culture (values, attitudes, expectations, and perceptions) if the country is to escape the tragic cycle of corruption, autocracy, and violence. Although many features of Liberian political culture are beneficial, a number of deeply engrained Liberian political values are not supportive of democracy or good governance. Liberian political culture may overemphasize order and authority, discount the importance of accountability and devalue tolerance. Furthermore, Liberian political culture supports the use of educational institutions as instruments for teaching hierarchy and deference rather than as tools for critical inquiry and innovation. All of these tendencies are consistent with Liberia‘s pervasive and potentially dysfunctional patronage society. Because political culture is foundational to government and civil society, Liberians seeking to rebuild their social, economic, and political institutions must carefully assess their own political culture. If they do not, those institutions couldonce again be used to promote and demonstrate hierarchy, order, patronage, deference, status, and intolerance.