Character, civil society and prospects for democracy

Abstract

In this article a framework is developed for comparing a number of present‐day societies in terms of their ability to produce social order and moral character. America is compared with Europe, and then, in less detail, to Latin America and the Islamic world. Reference is also made to Alain Touraine's What is democracy? to show a present‐day French perspective on democracy. The place of the middle class in America and in Europe in providing compromise solutions for their societies is noted, together with the possible relationship between social and political democracy, and how they may converge and diverge. Cultural elements involved in the production of social order are taken into account. Reference is made to the different checks and balances in different societies between the central and local government and local communities, as well as between elites and the masses. This reflects the cultural factors as well as the degree of bureaucratisation of these societies. Finally, there is a summary of various principles of honour governing differing structures of political power derived from the Baron de Montesquieu's The spirit of the laws.