Communities in Utopia

It was a fairly strong and complex statement when I wrote that:

"The many liberal democracies around the world today, may not seem to be real communities, but they may be a collection of transient communities that persists over a framework that is the most sustaining community-making framework in human history."

What is a liberal democracy? And what is a community-making framework? To answer these questions, we need to make clear the definition for the terms, liberal, democracy, and framework. We will also look into the community-making process in more detail.

The traditional definition of liberalism : "Liberalism is an ideology, or current of political thought, which strives to maximize individual liberty through rights under law. Liberalism seeks a society characterized by free action within a defined framework. This framework is generally seen to include a pluralistic liberal democratic system of government, the rule of law, the free exchange of ideas, and economic competition."

And the definition for Liberal democracy: "Liberal democracy is a form of representative democracy where the ability of elected representatives to exercise decision-making power is subject to the rule of law and moderated by a constitution which emphasizes the protection of the rights and freedoms of individuals and minorities (also called constitutional democracy and constitutional liberalism), and which places constraints on the extent to which the will of the majority can be exercised."

According to wikipedia: "In software development, a framework is a defined support structure in which another software project can be organized and developed." And this definition works for our purpose as well, if we replace the words "software" with "community", and "another software project" with "community formation". In other words, "In community development, a framework is a defined support structure in which community formation can be organized and developed."

Here, we will see the importance of individual freedom in a liberal democracy as the essense in a community-making framework. Without individual freedom, the potential for community formation diminishes dramatically.

Secondly, the rule of law that protects the rights and freedoms of individuals is another essential aspect of any community-making framework. Without a consistent, consensual foundation, such as a constitution, chaos will eventually re-surface. A stable framework of judicial review of constitutional changes also helps to reduce any future chaos.

Finally, the importance of protecting the freedoms of minorities cannot be over-emphasized because any injustice inflicted on any individual, increases the potential for harm on any other individual in the community. It is how a community cares for its most vulnerable that reveals its deepest character.

We return full-circle to our discussion of utopia, and see the solution in liberal democracy as a sustainable framework for continuous community formation. The question for the future is the detailed implementation of the different forms of liberal democratic frameworks. Now that we know the direction towards utopia, how do we get to there, from here?