Depends on your perspective. There is an intrinsic tension between people’s sense of individualism and their need to create rules to govern the interactions within communities. We know that highly organised communities, such as those of bees and ants, are far more effective than disorganised communities, but yet we are not prepared to allow the erosion of our personal liberties to that extent. The number of rules and their severity dictates where the balance between these two points of view.
The extremes to compare here are Somalia and North Korea. In Somalia, the government is so weak that it almost doesn’t matter what the state does or decrees. They can’t enforce their rules, so for much of the country the rules may as well not exist. In North Korea, the rules are overbearing and are ruthlessly enforced. I think the balance lies somewhere around where Sweden is. Privacy and individual freedom are fiercely defended, but yet people pay a relatively heavy burden as part of their social contract for the good of the community.
If you are interested in a detailed analysis of this issue, I recommend Freud’s book Civilisation and its Discontents. I’ve just finished reading it, and it is beautifully succinct in the way it describes this tension.