The political theory of democracy

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Was Democracy Just a Moment?
By David Blackwell, 2 January 1998. Highlights of a much-discussed article by Robert D. Kaplan, Was Democracy Just a Moment? He argues that the diffusion of representative democracy throughout the world is problematic. Sees need for a neo-authoritarian transition to democracy outside the West.
...and what a ‘democracy’!
By Mumia Abu-Jamal, Workers World, 13 May 2004. We are told that democracy means the rule of the people. But is that really the case, not merely in Iraq, but in the United States itself? The principle of self-rule has been betrayed. To talk about democracy is not enough. It must be practiced. Its best practice is protest and dissent.
A thousand dusty codicils filed under: law & order protest; Little by little, democracy is being banned
By George Monbiot, The Guardian, 3 August 2004. Only the people will hold government to account. The mechanisms are electoral challenge (if there is substantial differences between parties) or by registering our discontent. This last option is being constrained.
The least bad system is in need of change: Reinventing democracy
By José Saramago, Le Monde diplomatique, August 2004. For democracy to work properly, it must remain accountable to ordinary people and not suborn power. It is hard to avoid asking whether modern economic empires are not radical opponents of democracy, even if a pretence at it is maintained for the moment.