Out of the ruins of war, Europeans built a system of peace and democracy, constructing along the way societies that, while imperfect — what society isn't?
In another book, Disenfranchising Democracy: Constructing the Electorate in the United States, the United Kingdom, and France, Bateman goes further back in American history to look at patterns in the formation of the body politic.
In the aftermath of World War II, the European social democracies constructed elaborate social safety nets for their citizens, which included universal health coverage and a generous public pension system.
"Democracy is constructed from the bottom up, mutual respect within the family," he said of his feminist beliefs.
Arab League states account for almost a third of the world's autocracies, according to a democracy index constructed by the Economist Intelligence Unit, a sister company of The Economist.
And since liberal democracy is constructed on the worship of humanist goals ("life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness" by citizens who are "created equal", as the American founders put it), then our new powers are going to tear liberal democracy apart.
"It is not possible for the country to construct democracy unless the army is under control," he said.
The original vision of reformism working to construct democracy yielded to pressure from the United States, which framed the proposals in the 1979 coup declaration agrarian reform and nationalization of the banks and foreign trade in terms of a counterinsurgency war.
Blowing the whistle on powerful factions is not a fun thing to do, but despite the poor track record of western media, whistleblowing remains the last avenue for truth, balanced debate and upholding democracy – that fragile construct which Winston Churchill is quoted as calling "the worst form of government, except all the others".
But an even better idea, and one promoted by the founders of our democracy, is to construct a blended system, with some role for the people but also a key role for the established institutions in order to make certain that a vocal or well-funded faction cannot come in and disrupt the process--a la Donald Trump.
