But I think that such a definition where “national character” are the norms followed by a a national government and which it’s expected to be followed by a broad consensus, leads to bizarre ideas such as e.g. the “national character” of the whole of Eastern Europe must be described as having changed at the fall of communism, even though the fall came from within. So the national character suddenly modified itself, just because the norms of government changed themselves.
This is just the confounding factor of foreign domination, just like in the North/South Korea example. Of course, like with all political categories, the distinctions aren’t always clear, since prolonged foreign domination may gradually cause irreversible changes, or even gradually get to be seen as the normal state of affairs. Still, the different national characters of Eastern European countries have been amply demonstrated when comparing their state both before 1990 and since then.
A better example of what you’re aiming for would be periods of political instability in which some extremist faction like e.g. the Nazis grabs power and proceeds to implement extremist policies that would have seemed unbelievable coming from that same country shortly before that. Clearly, such black swan events limit the predictability of any model one uses for understanding history and politics. It doesn’t mean they have no predictive power during normal times, though.
The character of their respective government structures, sure. But not the national characters.
These things can’t be separated from each other. You are speaking as if the system of government is an independent variable. In reality, formally the same system of government imposed in different places will produce very different results, and these results are very much dependent on what is conventionally understood as “national character.”
To the extent that there’s a “national character” that affects policy, I feel it has primarily, perhaps even solely to do with concepts of self-identification… [...] If there’s some other element in it with predictive power, I don’t see it.
It’s hard to make any concrete predictions without offending various nationalities, so I’ll limit myself to offending my own kind. For example, suppose I read a story about an affair where vast millions were pillaged in corrupt dealings some years ago and yet the culprits are happy, free, and untouchable despite all this being public knowledge. If it happens in Croatia, I’ll shrug my shoulders. But if I heard about this happening in, say, Denmark, I would, like Malcolm, express disbelief because it would, indeed, sound incompatible with their national character. Even though the laws on the books and the theoretical legal consequences are probably similar in both places.
If it happens in Croatia, I’ll shrug my shoulders. If I heard about this happening in, say, Denmark, I would, like Malcolm, express disbelief because it would, indeed, sound incompatible with their national character.
I understand that you are trying to defend a better form of Malcolm’s statements, but is there any other reason you are defending the phrase “national character”? One could just as easily explain the differences you note by reference to national culture, national values, national commitment to rule of law, or suchlike. By contrast, “character” is often deployed as an applause light without any way of cashing out the reference more specifically.
All these terms are also often deployed as applause lights. “National character” is just a term that is supposed to subsume them all. Nowadays this term is somewhat antiquated, and it’s not a part of my regular vocabulary, but I definitely don’t see any reason for why someone’s casual use of it 72 years ago should raise any eyebrows (either back then or now).
This is just the confounding factor of foreign domination, just like in the North/South Korea example. Of course, like with all political categories, the distinctions aren’t always clear, since prolonged foreign domination may gradually cause irreversible changes, or even gradually get to be seen as the normal state of affairs. Still, the different national characters of Eastern European countries have been amply demonstrated when comparing their state both before 1990 and since then.
A better example of what you’re aiming for would be periods of political instability in which some extremist faction like e.g. the Nazis grabs power and proceeds to implement extremist policies that would have seemed unbelievable coming from that same country shortly before that. Clearly, such black swan events limit the predictability of any model one uses for understanding history and politics. It doesn’t mean they have no predictive power during normal times, though.
These things can’t be separated from each other. You are speaking as if the system of government is an independent variable. In reality, formally the same system of government imposed in different places will produce very different results, and these results are very much dependent on what is conventionally understood as “national character.”
It’s hard to make any concrete predictions without offending various nationalities, so I’ll limit myself to offending my own kind. For example, suppose I read a story about an affair where vast millions were pillaged in corrupt dealings some years ago and yet the culprits are happy, free, and untouchable despite all this being public knowledge. If it happens in Croatia, I’ll shrug my shoulders. But if I heard about this happening in, say, Denmark, I would, like Malcolm, express disbelief because it would, indeed, sound incompatible with their national character. Even though the laws on the books and the theoretical legal consequences are probably similar in both places.
I understand that you are trying to defend a better form of Malcolm’s statements, but is there any other reason you are defending the phrase “national character”? One could just as easily explain the differences you note by reference to national culture, national values, national commitment to rule of law, or suchlike. By contrast, “character” is often deployed as an applause light without any way of cashing out the reference more specifically.
All these terms are also often deployed as applause lights. “National character” is just a term that is supposed to subsume them all. Nowadays this term is somewhat antiquated, and it’s not a part of my regular vocabulary, but I definitely don’t see any reason for why someone’s casual use of it 72 years ago should raise any eyebrows (either back then or now).