Weak Cultural Governance, A Missing Link in the Political Development of Tabriz; A Qualitative Research

Abstract
Achieving development has been one of the main goals of countries for decades. Development has many political, social, economic, cultural, human and ... dimensions. Political development in the city of Tabriz is of special importance due to special cultural, linguistic and ethnic conditions, especially since the available information shows weakness in this area. The main purpose of this study is to identify cultural concepts affecting the political development of Tabriz. To identify the effective concepts of political development in Tabriz, a qualitative method was selected and data were collected using a semi-structured interview technique. The research sample includes 45 development specialists and city officials with executive positions. The sampling method was purposeful based on the method used and the purpose of the research. For analysis, 3-step coding was used, which are; open coding; Axial coding and selective coding. The research data showed that experts believe that the city of Tabriz has not achieved politically acceptable development. Interviewees consider 5 concepts involved in the development of Tabriz. The 5 concepts are “mass media inefficiency”, “cultural capital”, “discrimination between center and periphery”, “ethnic discrimination” and “gender discrimination”. The main theme of this research is “Weakness of cultural governance (dysfunction of the cultural sub-system)”. The interviewees’ answers showed that the main weakness and disorder in the cultural subsystem has caused problems in the political subsystem. The research findings are also consistent with the theories of Lipst, Hall, Wallerstein, Wiener and social identity theory.
Keywords: Political Development, Cultural Capital, Ethnicity, Center-Periphery, Qualitative Method. 
 
1. Introduction
Development is a multi-dimensional concept that can be attributed to many political, social, economic, cultural, environmental, human, gender, etc. dimensions. Cities as complex and multi-layered systems must achieve development in each dimension (Sofska, 2016: 140). What is considered in this research is the political dimension of the concept of development.
According to thinkers, people’s participation and companionship is an integral part of political development, and the result of political development will be nothing but the improvement of people’s living conditions (Khoshfar et al., 2018: 53).
According to the evidence, the political development in Iran after the Islamic Revolution has had a fluctuating trend and is far from reaching the desired point (Akhwan Kazemi and Nikonhad, 2018: 589). According to international statistics in 2021, Iran’s rank in access to justice is 115; freedom of speech, 139; freedom of religion, 160; political rights, 132; freedom and personal choice, 128; Equality of political power based on gender, 144; Equality of political power based on social group, 133; Equality of political power based on socio-economic status, 117; The index of discrimination against minorities is 136, which has not obtained acceptable ranks compared to other countries, and in most of the indices, it has been ranked at the bottom among 175 countries.
Also among Asian countries, Iran has a score of 33 in the field of political development, while South Korea has the highest score with a score of 109. Countries can achieve development by increasing the stability, participation and accountability of their political system and building an efficient, authoritative and legitimate political-administrative system (Khalfazadeh Estmal et al.; 123: 1400). The main purpose of this research is to identify the cultural elements involved in the political development of the city of Tabriz.

2. Materials
In the following, an attempt has been made to review important theories related to political development. According to Almond and Verba, political culture is rooted in people’s feelings, beliefs and attitudes, it is formed through socialization. They believe that political culture is acquired in childhood through socialization institutions, while maintaining it in adulthood, he can modify it and find new attitudes towards his political system and take political action. They consider political culture to include cognitive, emotional and value attitudes towards the political system. Lipset believes that education has a significant correlation with participation and believes that there is a strong correlation between political participation and social and economic factors (Mohsani Tabrizi, 1375: 89).
McClerking and McDaniel believes that if the religious beliefs attributed to it emphasize participation in political affairs, or consider participation in political affairs as part of religious rules and orders; Of course, the participation of their followers in political affairs will increase. Also, Wendell Broadwell, as one of the thinkers of political development, believed that gender, residential area, age, education, income, race, ethnicity, and religion are effective on the level of participation (Parchemi, 2016: 41).

3. Discussion
Experts were asked whether the city of Tabriz is politically developed or not? In response to this questio 60% of the interviewees believed that the city of Tabriz achieved political development in some dimensions, but it cannot be considered developed in general. 30% said that it has a long way to reach development and 10 percent considered the political development of Tabriz acceptable. Next, experts were asked what cultural concepts they consider to be influential on the political development of Tabriz city (based on characteristics, historical experiences, ethnic culture, language, etc.). In response to this question, experts pointed to several concepts. According to them, cultural conditions affecting the development of Tabriz city include “Weakness of mass media”, “Cultural capital”, “Discrimination between center and periphery”, “Feeling of ethnic discrimination” and “Gender discrimination”.
In the current research, the main theme that was obtained is “the weakness of cultural governance (disruption in the functioning of the cultural sub-system)”. This concept included the 5 main concepts considered by the respondents and is derived from them. The mentioned concept means the weakness of related cultural institutions in the society.
Parsons considers culture to be the main force connecting various elements of the social world. Culture is a patterned and regular system of symbols directed at actors and the internalized dimensions of the personality system and institutionalized patterns in the social system, and because it is mainly symbolic and subjective, it is easily transferred from one system to another. Culture is transferred from one social system to another through diffusion. While the cultural system is considered a part of other systems, it also has an independent existence in the form of a treasure of knowledge, symbols and thoughts (Ritzer, 2018: 335-336). Experts believe that cultural factors have a significant impact on the process of achieving political development, and disruption and weakness in the cultural sub-system cause disruption and slowness in achieving political development. Finally, based on the conducted interviews and extracted concepts, the following paradigm model was obtained.

4. Conclusion
The findings of the research indicated “the weakness of cultural governance (disruption in the functioning of the cultural sub-system)” as the main theme that has caused problems in other sub-systems and one of these sub-systems is It is a political system. The most relevant theory that can be used to explain these relationships is Parsons’ AGIL theory.
According to Parsons’ theory, society as a system consists of elements that interact with each other (Goldner, 1383: 162); (Hamilton, 1379: 114). Parsons recognizes four structures in society. According to Parsons theory, the parts of the system are connected to each other, naturally, any change that occurs in a part of the social system causes changes in other parts, because the most general and basic characteristic of a system is the continuous relationship of parts and variables (Goldner, 2013: 236).
The cultural sub-system provides normative values and systems that are suitable for socialization (Bert, 1389: 105). According to the opinions of experts, the disruption in the functioning of the cultural sub-system, or in other words, the weakness of the cultural governance of the society, has weakened the political development in Tabriz.
In explaining the cultural concepts affecting political development, the interviewees mentioned 5 concepts which are: “weakness of mass media”, “cultural capital”, “discrimination between center and periphery”, “ethnic discrimination” and “gender discrimination”.
From the point of view of mass media experts, it is considered one of the most influential tools of the modern world and can have deep effects in different dimensions of society.
The interviewees stated that the cultural capital of activists will have a significant impact on political development. In fact, as the level of knowledge and awareness of the actor increases, the choice and action of the actor will decrease in a quantitative sense, but it will improve in a qualitative sense.
Also, the experts believed that Tabriz, as one of the important metropolises of Iran, which plays an important role in all aspects of this country, is considered as an unimportant city from the center and has been marginalized. This is the reason for the isolation of Tabriz city. “Ethnic discrimination” is another concept mentioned by the interviewees. Due to having a different language and strong ethnic feelings, Tabriz is mostly ignored by the center. The last concept is called “gender discrimination”. Experts said that the existence of discrimination in various fields will have an adverse effect on women’s political participation and will prevent them from attending and participating in political parties.