Bringing Culture Back into Political Analysis: The Reform of the Russian Judiciary

Abstract

This chapter makes an argument for bringing culture into the study of politics, but not for a political culture approach. Why? Because I take it for granted that culture — shared patterns of understanding, responses, patterns of behaviour — both identifies and informs the activities of a community, group, or organisation. We cannot conceptualise the politics of a society without including these aspects, nor can we explain certain outcomes of institutional change.