Culture of Democracy

The Culture of Democracy:  
Realizing the Self and Responsibility

The difference between governance of a society and the culture of that society is that the governance is a system, whereas the culture is a reflection on the effectiveness of that system.   The expressiveness of the people of a society is going to be determined by how they are ruled; not because people from different nations are born either more or less self-expressive, but because certain forms of governance do not foster or in some cases even allow self-expression and advancement.   Democracy is sort of the Holy Grail when working toward a successful community.   If a particular nation successfully achieves democracy, the world can look at them as free, self-sufficient, and progressive.   However, democracy entails more than just a rigid set of rules or a few theoretical principles.   In order for democracy to work, the people need to be willing to make it work.   In this sense, there is indeed a culture of democracy.   A culture of democracy requires its citizens to be civically involved, concerned for the general well being of their society, and active in voicing these concerns as well as meeting solutions for them.   Indeed, there is a culture of democracy.
At their very cores, government and social institutions exist as means to deal with innate social problems and conflicts. Democracy is then one form of doing away with conflict, but with certain stipulations that require agreement from the various groups that contribute to society. When groups assume democracy is simply a tool for them to push for their own particular interests and to pursue their own demands, it is possible that dissention will cause the democracy to fail from the inside out. Likewise, if the governing body uses too much force in order to maintain consensus among groups, the regime can become little more than a totalitarian state and crumble under the pressure of the government.   So, a balance must be maintained in which the...