Human Rights Quote (71): Democratic Peace

“In an increasingly interdependent world, Americans have a growing stake in how countries govern, or misgovern, themselves. The larger and more close-knit the community of nations that choose democratic forms of government, the safer and more prosperous Americans will be, since democracies are demonstrably more likely to maintain their international commitments, less likely to engage [...]

Human Rights Facts (35): Support for Democracy and Political Rights

Democracy and human rights are first of all a conviction and a state of mind. If the people cannot be persuaded to accept democracy and human rights, then the case is lost, even when there is prosperity, when the culture is beneficial to the development of democracy and human rights, and when the necessary laws [...]

The Anti-Democrat’s Paradox

Some people do not believe in the universal validity of human rights and democracy. They say that human rights and democracy are not meant for them, or are not meant for somebody else. They forget, however, that one cannot question, challenge or refute human rights and democracy, for the simple reason that the act of [...]

What Are Human Rights?

Human rights are rights which belong to humanity, to all persons of all cultures, nations, states, color, gender etc., whether or not the legal system in which they live explicitly protects these rights. And which belong to all of us equally. No one has more or less rights than the next person.
Human rights are therefore [...]

A Short History of Democracy

1. Ancient Greece
Democracy is a Greek invention, created by some of the ancient Greek city states, in particular Athens. Athenian democracy was a direct democracy. Citizens - not including women, children, slaves, resident foreigners, i.e. the majority of the population - gathered together to discuss and decide on the policies of the state. Within this [...]

Marx and Democracy

According to Marxism, democracy suffers from a contradiction between political equality on the one hand (equal votes but also equal rights, equality before the law etc. - see here and here) and economic or material equality on the other hand. The absence of the latter prevents the full realization of political and even judicial equality [...]

Human Rights Facts (20): From Democracy to Prosperity

In a previous post I commented on the beneficial influence of prosperity on democracy. Here are some reasons why democracy is good for prosperity. The squeaky hinge gets the oil. Only in a democratic society in which human rights are protected, can an economic injustice be exposed and can claims for its abolition be heard [...]

Human Rights Facts (19): From Prosperity to Democracy

Prosperity creates time and leisure, which can be used for democratic participation, public life and other uses of human rights. We often see democratic aspirations and claims of rights arising almost automatically in states that do well economically (see for example Taiwan, Korea and many South-American countries in the 1980s). People do not live on [...]

What is Democracy? (19): Free Media

Ideally, the free press in a democracy should do the following:

Allow the different points of view in political debate to appear and to debate each other (different political parties and different candidates each with their own ideas qbout how best to govern the country)
Facilitate the accountability of elected officials: elected officials have to present their [...]

What is Democracy? (18): Summary

Sovereignty of the people
Government based upon consent of the governed
Political participation and majority rule
Minority rights
Guarantee of human rights
Free and fair elections
Equality before the law
Due process of law
Constitutional limits on government
Social, economic, and political pluralism
Values of tolerance, pragmatism, cooperation, and compromise