Trying to decide exactly how my character should feel about the idea of an elected council. In dwarven socieity I know it is almost completly unheard of since both shield and gold dwarves are led by eldar councils that are not elected but are aristocratic in nature. In human and other communities how comman is democracy?

As far as I know, democracy is extremely uncommon in the Forgotten Realms, but not unheard of entirely. The only example of a democratic society that comes to mind for me is Featherdale in the Dalelands, although I suspect that there may be others.

Democracy would be fairly unusual for most people -- varying widely based on the region that your character comes from.

I did a quick count through the Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting book. This is a rough outline of the forms of government in the Realms.

Notice that democracy/republicanism is heavily concentrated in the Dales, and barely exists at all elsewhere. Most of the major established states in the Realms are kingdoms or lordships (with several notable theocracies/magocracies). Even within the Dales, the more powerful Dales tend to be the less democratic ones. Most smaller states are tribal, anarchic, or have only local governments which either exist independently or have banded together in a loose confederation.

None            3	(unclaimed by a central govt)
Anarchy         3	(esp: warring factions)
Local           3	(indepedent city-states)
Confederate     3	(confederations of city-states)
Tribal          6
Democracy       1	(1 in Dales)
Republic        6	(5 in Dales)
Druidic         1
Magocracy       4
Theocracy       4
Lordship*       2	(feudal lordship with electoral elements)
Lordship        2
Plutocracy      3
Oligarchy       3
Autocracy       3
Monarchy        10

dwarven ones come off as aristocracies correct? (and how are you defining the difference between a republic and a democracy...where would the US rank as an example)

thanks for al the help

Dwarven governments are traditionally gerontocracies, being ruled by clan elders.

Featherdale is the only democracy in Faerun, which is defined as:

Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting The Featherdarrans ‘ only political gatherings are infrequent four or five-day meetings called Dalemeets. These free-for-all debate sessions are held in Feather Falls to settle disputes or problems that affect Featherdale’s inhabitants. Anyone can participate in a Dalemeet.

Whereas, the republics elect either lords or councils to run their government, similar to Sanctuary.