Public opinion and politics
World Public Opinion, like Angus Reid Global Monitor reports on the results of public opinion polls from all over the world.Jim Lerch wrote about a World Public Opinion report highlighting a poll asking people about the role of religion in international conflicts. The headline was "Global Poll Finds that Religion and Culture are Not to Blame for Tensions between Islam and the West."
The report begins, "The global public believes that tensions between Islam and the West arise from conflicts over political power and interests and not from differences of religion and culture, according to a BBC World Service poll across 27 countries.
"While three in ten (29%) believe religious or cultural differences are the cause of tensions, a slight majority (52%) say tensions are due to conflicting interests."
While the overall results are interesting, Jim pointed to the results from Nigeria that were significantly different.
He wrote, "What makes it interesting for our Comparative Government class is Nigeria's opinion. More than any other state by a large margin it seems to be saying that fundamental differences in religion are the cause of tension. And which population is in a better position to know? I also have to wonder how much of the perceived tension in Nigeria is caused by oil-related problems."
Two things come to my mind:
- Reinforcing or coinciding cleavages. Political cleavages are strengthened when they coincide with one another. The fact that Nigeria's oil is found in the "south south" where Christianity is most common means that the two factors reinforce each other. How does one separate the effects of the two?
And if the country's political elite is mostly middle belt and northern and Muslim?
It's not difficult to understand why the percentage of Nigerians seeing conflicts caused by "differences in religion and culture" is so high.
I can't help but notice that while 56% of Nigerians hold that view and it's the highest percentage in the countries surveyed, the second highest percentage (38%) holding that view is in the United States of America. And one of the lowest percentages (19%) is reported in Russia, a country where hate crimes and cultural paranoia are frequently reported. - So how do the responses of the AP countries compare (Iranians weren't surveyed)?
- China: 14%
- Mexico: 14%
- Nigeria: 56%
- Russia: 19%
- UK: 29%
And what are we to make of those comparisons? Do they tell us anything about political culture? economics? politics? governance?
Ask your students. It's one of those risky questions that might elicit no answers or too many un-thought-out stereotypes, or wonderful discussions, or some combination of those things.
Labels: globalization, Nigeria, pedagogy, public opinion
posted by Ken Wedding @ 10:05 AM
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