3.8 Political and Social Cleavages

5 min read•june 18, 2024

Kelly Cotton

Isabela Padilha

AP Comparative Government 🗳️

90 resources

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Unit 3 - Political and Social Cleavages

The topic of cleavages is often a very difficult one for students to understand, so I'll take extra care to make sure you have a very clear idea of what you need to know to be successful on the exam!

Why is it important to study political and social cleavages? 📙

Understanding the social and political cleavages is crucial to fully capture the political landscape of a country. Cleavages can shape the way that certain groups interact with the government, which can have long-term implications to a regime and the interactions between citizens. There is also a power dynamics between these groups in a nation, and that can be reflected in politics. So, without further ado, let's get into it:

3.8: Political and Social Cleavages

Here are a couple of important definitions:

Cleavages—Social and political cleavages are internal divisions that structure society and may be based on class, ethnicity, religion, and/or territory.

Coinciding Cleavages—When every dispute aligns the same groups against each other, these disputes are likely to be explosive. 💥

Cross-Cutting Cleavages—When divisions in a society split into many potential groups that may conflict on one issue but cooperate on another. These tend to keep social conflict to more moderate levels.

In the simplest of terms, social cleavages are internal divisions in society based on differences in class, ethnicity, religion, and/or territory. A political cleavage is when social cleavages become politicized, the political cleavages then impact political culture and political behavior and values and cause tensions and conflicts in politics.

Here is an example using the United States: 🇺🇸

There is a social cleavage between the North and the South in regards to economics and social values. These values have become politicized in that if you look at modern elections the Southern states tend to vote almost exclusively as a Republican block, while Northern states tend to vote almost exclusively as a Democratic block. This is a generalization as we know there are swing states, like Florida, that change. But, the reason Florida is a swing state is because of the high numbers of Northerners that have moved to the state over the years.

It is important to keep in mind that different cleavages have different demands, and can be separated into the following:

Separatists ↔️ - group within a society that seeks separation from the larger group or state. These movements may emerge if a group feels that their identity, culture and/or interests are not being protected from the larger state.
Autonomy-seeking 👣 - group within a society that wants to purse greater self-governance/autonomy. In some cases, these groups only want more representation and respect towards their identity. In others, they may want separate bodies of governance.
Ethnic 👤 - refers to a division within a society based on ethnicity. It may create tensions if the group at hand does not feel recognized or respected by other ethnicities. This type of cleavage may fall into a separatist or autonomy-seeking group, depending on their demands. You will read below that this type of cleavage causes great tensions in Mexico and Nigeria.

Next, we will describe politically relevant social cleavages in our core countries.

Country Cleavages

Country	Social Cleavage and Example	Government Responses	Social Cleavage Impacts on course countries
UK 🇬🇧	In the United Kingdom, ethnic and regional differences between nations such as the Scottish, English, Welsh, and Irish; religious differences between Protestants and Catholics in Northern Ireland; and racial tensions between whites and non-European minorities whose heritage is related to the United Kingdom’s colonial history.	In the modern era the UK has begun to devolve power to help with ethnic and regional differences in Scotland, Wales, and Ireland.	Separatist movements have emerged in the United Kingdom as a result of the social cleavages. Other groups demanding autonomy, but not independence, have emerged in the United Kingdom.
Mexico 🇲🇽	In Mexico, ethnic divisions between the Amerindian (indigenous) population and whites and mestizos, and regional divisions between the north and the south.	As a result of the Zapatas uprisings of 1994 in Chiapas the Mexican government granted indigenous people the right of self-determination with the incorporation of those rights into the Constitution. Mexico has tried poverty reduction policies to help the economically depressed southern regions of the country.	Other groups demanding autonomy, but not independence, have emerged in Mexico.
Nigeria 🇳🇬	In Nigeria, ethnic divisions among more than 250 ethnic groups (including Hausa-Fulani, Yoruba, and Igbo), and religious and regional cleavages between the north (predominantly Muslim) and the south (where Christians and animists are concentrated).	WIth the 1999 Constitution Federalism was installed into the government to create a strong central government that distributes power to the states and allows Sharia law in the North.The government has also seized territory and used the military against Islamic separatist groups like Boko Haram.	Separatist movements have emerged in Nigeria as a result of the social cleavages. Ethnicity has played a more significant role in Nigeria than in Mexico because of different colonial histories and a greater diversity and politicization of ethnic/religious identities in Nigeria.
Russia 🇷🇺	In Russia, cleavages between ethnic Russians, who are more than 80 percent of the population and tend to be Russian Orthodox, and minority, non-Russian populations (including the Chechens in the Caucasus	Russia has fought two wars in Chechnya in the 1990s to prevent separatists from leaving.Putin appointed leadership to rule with brute repression to suppress the separatist movement in recent years.	Separatist movements have emerged in Russia as a result of the social cleavages.
China 🇨🇳	In China, ethnic and regional divisions between the majority Han ethnic group and at least 55 recognized ethnic minorities, such as the Uighurs in the northwest and the Tibetans in the southwest, and between areas that have developed at different rates.	Use of re-education camps in the Xinjang province for political socialization. Hundreds of thousands Muslim Uighurs are detained and given vocational training. Indoctrination to learn the Chinese language and obey the laws to try and prevent separatists and terrorism.	Separatist movements have emerged in China as a result of the social cleavages.
Iran 🇮🇷	In Iran, religious divisions between the Shi’a Muslim majority and members of other religions, such as Christianity, Judaism, and Zoroastrianism, have resulted in a threatening atmosphere despite official recognition; within practitioners of Islam, there are divisions between the Shi’a majority and those who are Sunni. There are also ethnic cleavages between the majority Persians and several ethnic minorities, including Azerbaijanis and Kurds.	The state has officially recognized minority religions, but groups like the Baha’i faith have been executed, imprisoned, tortured, schools closed, and community property taken by the state. The Constitution does not mention Sunnis and their rights are unclear.There have been on going clashes between the Kurds and the Iranian military.	Separatist movements have emerged in Iran as a result of the social cleavages.

You read in this guide that social cleavages are important to be studied because they have great political implications. In the next guide we will discuss more in depth the challenges posed by social and political divisions ➡️

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