Abstract
Since the end of the clod war, "culture" has been everywhere-not the opera-house or gallery kind, but the sort that claims to be the basic driving force behind human behaviour, All over the world, scholars and politicians seek to explain economics, politics and diplomacy in terms of "culture-areas" rather than, say, policies or ideas, economic interests, personalities or plain cock-ups.
Perhaps the best-known example is the notion that "Asian values" explain the success of the tiger economies of South-East Asia. Other accounts have it that into conflict is or will be caused by a clash of civilisations; or that different sorts of business organisation can he explained by how much people in different countries trust one other. This article reviews the varying types of cultural explanation. It concludes that culture is so imprecise and changeable a phenomenon that it explains less than most people realise.
To see how complex the issue is, begin by considering the telling image with which Bernard Lewis opens his history of the Middle East. A man sits at a table in a coffee house in some Middle Eastern city
Azmat Rasul. (2003) An Investigation Into Various Approaches to Define the Role of Culture , Journal of Research ( Humanities), Vol XXXVIII, Issue 1.
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