Political culture versus rational choice: Explaining responses to transition in the Czech Republic and Slovakia

There has been considerable disagreement among political scientists over th e relative merits of political culture versus rational choice explanations of democratic and liberal norms and commitments. However, empirical tests o f their relative explanatory power using quantitative evidence have been in short supply. This article employs national probability sample surveys con ducted in 1994 to assess differences between Czechs and Slovaks in the expr ession of democratic norms and liberal attitudes with respect to economic, political, social and ethnic issues. The applicability of an explanation fo cusing on long-standing cultural differences between the two countries is c ompared with a rational choice explanation based on national differences in their recent experiences of political and economic transition. It is shown that differences in the expression of support for marketization and democr acy in the two countries can be explained relatively parsimoniously in rati onal choice terms. The explanatory contribution of political culture appear s to relate only to a narrow range of attitudes and values.