2.1 Democracy comes to life through its citizens

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An example:

Parliamentary elections produce winners and losers. The majority forms the new government, the minority the opposition. The former government may lose office, and a new government with a different political outlook replaces it.

The rules are clear, but this is not enough. The election system will only work if we can rely on the losers, the minority, to accept the result. If they do not, an election can spark off violent conflict, tearing a society apart, instead of strengthening cohesion among its members.

An election campaign gives parties the opportunity to communicate their ideas to the citizens. But what happens if parties that take part promote a racist, fundamentalist or antidemocratic agenda?

For elections to function as one of the most important ways for citizens to participate in democratic decision making, a society apparently needs more than just a framework of laws that put the election system into place. There needs to be trust in the political process and ways of ensuring that these processes have been carried out properly.

The example shows that democracy depends equally on a set of rules and on the citizens’ attitudes towards democracy. They must understand and appreciate the system, and they must feel responsible for its stability. Parties must treat each other as competitors, but not as enemies. Only then can democracy show its strength as the only system in which a change of government is possible without changing the political system.

Democracy consists of a system of institutions and processes that include general elections, parliamentary representation and control of power through checks and balances. Some constitutions include direct participation through referenda or a constitutional court. This is the stage, and the citizens are the actors. Literally, the citizens must therefore be willing and able to play their part, and they must identify with the political system of democracy.

Democracy is a system of institutions rooted in a political culture. The institutional system can set the framework for this culture, but cannot create it or ensure its stability. The same principle applies to autocratic government. An autocrat also depends on a suitable political culture, based on politically docile subjects rather than active and committed systems.

2. Political culture
2.2 The cultural dimension of human rights
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