Editing The Culture (section)

==Relevance to real-world politics==
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The inner workings of The Culture are not especially described in detail though it is shown that the society is populated by an empowered, educated and augmented citizenry in a direct democracy or highly democratic and transparent system of self-governance. In comparisons to the real world, intended or not, the Culture could resemble various posited egalitarian societies including in the writings of Karl Marx, the end condition of communism after a [[withering away of the state]], the anarchism of [[Mikhail Bakunin|Bakunin]] and [[Charles Fourier|Fourier]] et al., [[libertarian socialism]], [[council communism]] and [[anarcho-communism]]. Other characteristics of The Culture that are recognisable in real world politics include [[pacifism]], [[post-capitalism]], and [[transhumanism]]. Banks deliberately portrayed an imperfect utopia whose imperfection or weakness is related to its interaction with the 'other', that is, exterior civilisations and species that are sometimes variously warred with or mishandled through the Culture's Contact section which cannot always control its intrigues and the individuals it either 'employs' or interacts with. This 'dark side' of The Culture also alludes to or echoes mistakes and tragedies in 20th century Marxist–Leninist countries, although the Culture is generally portrayed as far more 'humane' and just.

===Utopia===
Comparisons are often made between the Culture and twentieth and twenty first century Western civilisation and nation-states, particularly their interventions in less-developed societies. These are often confused with regard to the author's assumed politics.{{sfn|Brown|2001}}

Ben Collier has said that the Culture is a utopia carrying significantly greater moral legitimacy than the West's, by comparison, proto-democracies.{{sfn|Collier|2013}} While Culture interventions can seem similar at first to Western interventions, especially when considered with their democratising rhetoric, the argument is that the Culture operates completely without material need, and therefore without the possibility of baser motives. This is not to say that the Culture's motives are purely altruistic; a peaceful, enlightened universe full of good neighbours lacking ethnic, religious, and sexual chauvinisms is in the Culture's interest as well. Furthermore, the Culture's ideals, in many ways similar to those of the liberal perspective today,{{sfn|Brown|2001}} are to a much larger extent realised internally in comparison to the West.

===Criticism===
Examples are the use of mercenaries to perform the work that the Culture does not want to get their hands dirty with, and even outright threats of invasion (the Culture has issued ultimatums to other civilisations before). Some commentators have also argued that those Special Circumstances agents tasked with civilising foreign cultures (and thus potentially also changing them into a blander, more Culture-like state) are also those most likely to regret these changes, with parallels drawn to real-world special forces trained to operate within the cultural mindsets of foreign nations.{{sfn|Brown|2001}}

The events of ''Use of Weapons'' are an example of just how dirty Special Circumstances will play in order to get their way and the conspiracy at the heart of the plot of ''Excession'' demonstrates how at least some Minds are prepared to risk killing sentient beings when they conclude that these actions are beneficial for the long term good. Special Circumstances represents a very small fraction of Contact, which itself is only a small fraction of the entire Culture, making it comparable again to size and influence of modern [[intelligence (information gathering)|intelligence]] agencies.