ABSTRACT
This part introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters. The part discusses ethnidty, religion, legacies and universal values – these are the four components in our analysis of culture and its impact on politics and social outcomes. A culture lies somewhere in between truly universal values such as liberty and equality on the one hand and civilizations on the other, namely legacies. Universal values such as culture have no specific connection with a geographical area. Individualism or collectivism is a theme in any country. A set of universal values would be a set of attitudes and beliefs which have, in principle, no intrinsic link with a specific location. Colonial legacies and family structures occur all over the world but in different ways. Libertarians and egalitarians, for instance, would be the groups who favour liberty and equality respectively, whether they happen to live in New York, Berlin, Bombay or Shanghai.
