The Holy Grail of Democracy

[DanaC]

I was uncertain whether to post this into the Politics forums or the Philosophy forum *smiles* really its political philosophy ....so I chose the latter.

With such a world focus on the war in Iraq and the more general media focus on the "democratisation" ( or lack thereof) of various Arab nation, discussion about democracy itself as a concept seems curiously absent from the media debate.

I have heard much from people who argue whether or not Islam is conducive to democracy. Some claim it is an inherently democratic religion others suggest it is in and of itself a block to democracy.

A very clever man once claimed that Democracy was the worst form of government...except for all the rest.

The western ideal is of a self determined, democratic, free market with enshrined civil liberties and at least lip service given to the idea of social equity.

But is that just a western construct? The natural result of the cultural decisions our nations have made over hundreds of years....Is what we have, the glorious result of human evolution and social development or is it just one way of doing things? Does the fact that we built much of our success on the backs of the unfree marr our freedom ? Do freedom and democracy equate?

Since we seem hell bent on converting as much of the world to parliamentary or congressional democracy as we can...It strikes me as only right that we wonder what it is we are trying to turn the world into.....and what other roads could we have take and could take now.?