Cultural commonality raises trust and thus the likelihood of bandwagoning

Evidence

To the extent that bandwagoning depends on trust, three propositions follow. First, bandwagoning is more likely to occur between states belonging to the same civilization or otherwise sharing cultural commonalities than between states lacking any cultural commonality. Second, levels of trust are likely to vary with the context. A younger boy will bandwagon with his older brother when they confront other boys; he is less likely to trust his older brother when they are alone at home. Hence more frequent interactions between states of different civilizations will further encourage bandwagoning within civilizations. Third, bandwagoning and balancing propensities may vary between civilizations because the levels of trust among their members differ. The prevalence of balancing in the Middle East, for instance, may reflect the proverbial low levels of trust in Arab and other Middle Eastern cultures. — Samuel P. Huntington, The Clash of Civilizations and the…, 637

Categorization

• QUESTION: The brother analogy localizes trust: same-actor trust varies with context, which complicates cultural-trust claims.
• corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim — Samuel P. Huntington, The Clash of Civilizations and the…, 637
• XREF: connects to: Members’ class and racial identities shape how communities do commoning. — Yael Arbell, The Circle of Commoning:…, 57