Learning about Democracy allows us to examine the society to which it applied. Remember, Ancient Greece was never one unified empire. It was made up of a series of city-states that although geographically unified, acted as separate entities with their own cultures, values and economies.

It would be like if Australia's states weren't unified by Canberra. Although similar, they would all be governed independently with their own laws which in turn would create different cultures. In fact this is not too dissimilar to how Australia operated prior to Federation and in some ways these subtle differences exist.