The progression of a society on Mars would probably have to be a progression from a military structure to a democratic community. The first crews would probably have a militaristic command structure, this is fine for a small crew, but there is a fine line between this and a dictatorship when you start to involve civilians. As a space colony is a pretty high-stakes environment anyway, it would need special measures put in place to prevent tyranny. All someone would need to do is take control of the oxygen or the water and you've got an entire community held to ransom. A Mars colony couldn't be governed by the same system as on Earth as its demands would be so different. It would also likely be an international society, with members from a wide variety of Earth origins, meaning that it wouldn't exactly be fitting to govern it with just one country's set of laws. A Martian government, or at least special measures by an Earth government would have to be put in place to manage the economy, whether that is self contained, or a trading economy that exports precious Martian materials back to Earth. Essentially, as well as astronauts, Mars needs civil servants.
