Saturday, September 14, 2013

Democracy and Culture


Walter C. Clemens, Jr., Democracy as Chimera New York Times (September 10, 2013). In this interesting essay Clemens says, among other things, 

"If the political culture is missing, a Weimar-type constitution will not guarantee real self-rule or stability. Cultivating a truly democratic culture takes time. Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan left us this axiom: “The central conservative truth is that it is culture, not politics, that determines the success of a society. The central liberal truth is that politics can change a culture and save it from itself.

"But this liberal dream has met more defeats than victories. Russia seemed to opt for democracy in the 1990s, but when Vladimir Putin altered the rules, most voters went along. Even in the United States, democracy remains a work-in-progress. To make it a major policy goal in countries with vastly different cultures is a chimera."


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