New Europe College Regional Program Yearbook 2001-2002

SVETLANA STAMENOVA
for the market economy and democracy. Also, I will try to verify whether
the ‘zero-sum game’ perception of politics and inter-ethnic relations is
accompanied and strengthened by the same pattern of zero-sum economic
reasoning.
Between-country difference will not be presupposed on the theoretical
level of the study. Thus, keeping in mind the differences between
Macedonia, Bulgaria, Serbia, and Montenegro I will not account for them
at the level of hypotheses. Therefore, the between-country differences
will be expected as a probable result of the analysis of empirical findings.
In order to understand the peculiarity of Southeast European political
culture we have to define the main differences between the Western and
the Southeast European models of historical development. 4 The West
European case will be used as a frame of reference through which the
processes in Southeast European countries will be analyzed and which
determines the way in which the comparison is made. The contrast with
some Western historical peculiarities will highlight the differences that
are considered significant for the purpose of the study, revealing the
formation of the structural features that are decisive for the characteristics
of political culture in the region. No axiological superiority or inferiority
will be presumed during the analysis of the historical features of the two
regions.
Peculiarities of Southeast European Cultural History
I will first try to clarify some of the most salient features of Southeast
Europe’s cultural history which are significantly different from those of
Western Europe. The two regions have had different types of Christian
tradition since the medieval period: the Roman Catholic and the Orthodox
forms of Christianity. They have molded two cultural models, which have
had important impact on the value systems of the populations under their
influence. These two different civilizational orbits have created distinct
popular understandings of the meaning of life and death, the role of action
and its purpose in people’s lives, the degree of solidarity between people,
the way of life and the peculiarities of moral norms.
The distinct religious models have had significant consequences for
the very mode of the relationship between the Church and the state,
which was constitutive for the medieval society. Balkan religious culture
was developed under the direct influence of Byzantine Orthodox culture
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