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.
Since then, however, it has become clear that Medvedev is not the liberal reformer that some had hoped but part of Russia's managed democracy construct, in which elections are stage-managed and dissent swiftly squashed.
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.
"We are just interested in constructing democracy".
In developing-world cities, the majority of people don't have cars, so I will say, when you construct a good sidewalk, you are constructing democracy.
"We are just interested in constructing democracy". Reformist politicians such as Khatami were mere "window dressing for the regime". They provided a veneer of legitimacy to a system that was, ultimately, impervious to reform.
To paraphrase a contemporary joke, building an autocracy out of a democracy is making a fish soup out of an aquarium, but constructing a democracy on the foundation of an autocracy is making an aquarium out of fish soup.
