The Road To Real Democracy

The Toronto Star, Dec. 29, 2004. 01:00 AM What makes a country a democracy? Many United Nations and other international organizations are actively debating the definition of democracy, trying to set new standards that would allow countries that act undemocratically to be penalized in various ways by other countries. However, given that politicians are defining democracy for themselves in these forums, their proposed standards are so vague and incomplete that it would be impossible to hold them accountable in most areas. This game of politicians defining democracy weakly has been going on for decades, with governments usually trying to lower citizens' expectations. http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_Type1&c=Article&cid=1103802174275&call_pageid=968256290204&col=968350116795