And in the West, opinion-makers are quicker to acknowledge democracy's drawbacks—and the apparent fact that contested elections do more harm than good when other preconditions for a well-functioning system are absent.
The approach in question acknowledges democracies as complex entities, in which a variety of institutions, associations and places of non-deliberative political representation co-exist, including informal networks, mass media, interest groups, schools, private foundations and non-profit institutions, legislative bodies, executive agencies and courts of justice.
He also acknowledged that democracy could be slow, messy and frustrating.
Although you may have missed the part when reporters and politicians at least acknowledged how democracy had been railroaded for his appointment because – as far as I could see – there was no such bit.
But as Dr. Seeley himself acknowledges, consensus democracy requires a like-minded electorate, and how often do we get that in real life?
People like Mr. Gaddis and Mr. Hill who emphasize traditional power politics and vital interests both acknowledge that democracy in the third world has emerged as a major diplomatic issue.
It is a shame that the Guardian has failed to acknowledge the democracy of India and allowed an article to be published which did not have an iota of balance.
SOON after he was elected president of South Korea last December, Kim Dae Jung observed that many Asian governments were handicapped in their fight to contain the financial firestorm sweeping the region by their failure to acknowledge that "democracy has to go hand in hand with economic growth".
This made for some mediocre theatre in last week's presidential debate, as candidates queued up to assert that the popular choice should be respected, otherwise the doors of the European parliament may as well be shut, and the EU's democracy acknowledged as a sham.
Downes acknowledged that direct democracy on the Internet can sometimes degenerate into mob rule.
