Mr. Thaksin was the sort of charismatic populist that is sometimes generated by democracies, especially during periods of uncertainty.
In my view, the "Green Revolution" in Iran is the most important, self-generated, democracy movement to appear in the Middle East in decades.
If that is the case, Brazil will be showing the world that the only way to make sure that the price of progress is worth paying is by consolidating democracy, redistributing generated wealth and acknowledging the cultural and political differences of those for whom political progress without dignity equals retrogression.
The 1960, 1971 and 1980 coups all shattered democracy and generated massive human rights violations.
Consider, however, that it is now cities which, across the globe, trump nations in getting things done, making government work, embodying democracy, generating civic trust and cooperating across borders.
Willingness to use the C-word (capitalism) often signals concerns about a concentration of economic power that unfairly limits individual choices, undermines political democracy, generates financial and ecological crises and limits access to alternative economic ideas.
Both evinced a concern that the young nation's cherished political liberty, with its tendencies toward license or excessive individualism or just plain moral indifference, required some constraints, some protection of values different from and perhaps higher than those that seemed to generate a vigorous democracy.
It seems either to presuppose that decisions will have unanimous support or it requires a number of substantive conditions on self-determination, which conditions do a lot of the work of generating obligations to democracy.
Indeed, their desire to preserve profitable privileges likely will generate opposition to democracy itself.
Asking American advertising agencies how they would stimulate demand for democracy among Iraqis generated a wide range of responses, some of which are shown above.
He also spoke at length about democracy, and the controversy generated by America's push for it in the wake of the Iraq war.
