The Value Patterns of Democracy: A Case Study in Comparative Analysis

Differentiating the core values of nations in terms of their relative emphases on some of the pattern-variables permits the comparative analyst to interpret the links between national institutions and the central value systems. An analysis of the relationship between political institutions and the value systems of the four largest English-speaking democracies-Australia, Canada, Great Britain, and the United States-illustrates this general thesis. Though all are urban, industrial, stable democracies, the institutions sustaining their political structures vary greatly. The United States is egalitarian and populist, Great Britain is deferential and elitist, while Canada and Australia fall in between. Phenomena such as popular respect for the law, civil liberties, and party systems may be viewed as derivative from the value systems.