Democracy

Abstract

Some 500 years before Christ, a noble Athenian leader, Cleisthenes, overthrew the tyrant Hippias, whose method of governance included executing any challengers to his rule. In his place, the athenians instituted a system of government of and by the people—giving the male citizens of athens a feeling of belonging to and indeed ownership of their residence, their deme. And so, democracy was born. While not a proponent, Plato gave this system of “rule by the governed” a philosophical underpinning a century and a half later, contrasting it with aristocracy, or rule by a class of philosopher-kings; oligarchy, or rule of the few, generally wealthy or privileged; timocracy, a now all but vanished concept of rule by an elite that values honor; and tyranny, a brutal lawlessness. Today, more than two millennia later, democracy has never before been more challenged or more frequently invoked as a ruling construct. From the arab Spring that spread athenian aspirations across North africa and the Middle East to vast regions of the former Soviet Union and into asia, democracy has moved from a distant ideal to a thrilling reality.Now, as the world experiences an electoral tsunami—with more of the planet’s population going to the polls than at any time in history—World Policy Journal is examining the opportunities and the challenges of democracy. We begin with the Big Question, with a selection of international experts reflecting on the biggest threats to democracy in their respective nations. To set the scene, we turn to one of Europe’s most distinguished commentators, Patrice de Beer, whose career began in the charnel house of the Khmer Rouge’s “Democratic” Kampuchea, then traced an arc through london, Washington, and Paris as a senior correspondent and editor of the French daily Le Monde.To our Chatroom, we’ve invited ai Weiwei, the brilliant artist and inspirational challenger to China’s single-party rule, who explains his vision of democracy to World Policy Journalcontributor Paul Mooney in Beijing. Our anatomy establishes the World Policy Journalautocracy Index, ranking the world’s least democratic leaders on a weighted series of criteria.James L. Creighton, a retired U.S. army colonel, chronicles the lessons he learned securing elections in afghanistan’s Uruzgan province and reflects on what’s needed to sustain a democratic system in that wartorn nation. To illustrate these challenges, linda Kinstler looks at the U.S. Commission on Presidential Debates and their efforts to export america’s democratic system to other nations, whether appropriate or not. For our Conversation, we explore the global horizons of democracy with United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, who describes his own experiences with democracy beginning as a student demonstrator under a Korean dictatorship and continuing through today as he negotiates with tyrannies in Syria and northern Mali and new representative governments in libya and Ivory Coast.The brilliant photojournalist Brent Stirton takes us on a tour of the horrors borne by water around the world. Robbie Corey-Boulet details the system of victor’s justice being administered in the Ivory Coast. In the Basque country of Spain, Judith Matloff has discovered some vital lessons about how development can trump revolution. Emily Schmall examines the efforts by the ruling Kirchner family to transform argentina’s economic system to a modern-day Peronism. Scientists Ron O’Dor and Edward Vanden Berghe explore the vast but shrinking bio-diversity of the world’s oceans and warn about new dangers hidden beneath the sea. Finally, in his Coda, World Policy Journal Editor David A. Andelman investigates politics’ revolving doors and suggests how the world might meet the challenges of ever more rapid change.As the 50th anniversary year of our parent World Policy Institute draws to a close, we will continue to focus on our five core themes—media and conflict, water scarcity, world financial risk, migration, and new security priorities. In these pages, on our blog (www. worldpolicy.org), and through research, policy papers, network building, programs, and events—not the least being our main anniversary celebration, World Policy around the Table, we’ve sought to highlight the rising challenges these issues present to the world and hope that you, our readers, will participate as well. Next year, we will launch a new celebration—the 30th anniversary of our Journal.