Democray and the left in world history

Hartford Web Publishing is not the author of the documents in World History Archives and does not presume to validate their accuracy or authenticity nor to release their copyright.

I here use the term “left” here to refer primarily to mass democracy. When that word refers specifically to working-class struggle, see under Political struggle of the world's working class.

Al Qaddafi's Response to “Democracy”
By Mu`ammar al-Qadhafi, extract from The Green Book, The Solution of the Problem of Democracy, 1975. A critique of parliamentarianism as being un-democratic.
On Saving Democracy
By Richard K. Moore, 17 August 1996. Our “democracies” have been deeply corrupted by corporate power. Not only is the current situation contrary to the interests of humanity, but all the trends are in the direction of even worse times. Discusses a revival of democracy.
Turn Formal Democracies into Living Ones
By Jean-Bertrand Aristide, 14 January 1997. Globalization's weakening of the state institution undercuts the growth of democracy in the world.
The Idea of Democracy and the Ideal of Socialism
By Cliff DuRand, October 1997. There are many different concepts of democracy, but the differences come down to different means to achieve the idea of democracy. The hard core of the idea of democracy is the possibility of collective decision making about collective action for a common good.
The Link Between Global Poverty And Democracy
By Lewis Machipisa, IPS, 7 June 2000. Forum that addresses the problem that global poverty is on the increase despite there being more democratically elected governments in the world, more dollars being pumped into development projects and more commitments being made by world leaders to reduce global poverty.
King Mohammed VI Speaks Out On Democracy
Panafrican News Agency, 6 August 2000. Moroccan King Mohammed VI declared that all peoples have the right to choose the type of democracy which conforms with their history and level of economic and social development. Exporting the Western model.
Frankly, I don't give a damn
By Nick Cohen, New Statesman (London), 18 December 2000. Voter turnout is at an all-time low, but don't blame it on apathy. The electorate has turned cynical. Focuses on the UK. Whether the triumph of western democracy brings the collapse of democratic participation because needs are satisfied; whether the values of consuming have conquered the virtues of citizenship. The “lesser evil” argument. What is to be done?
Grassroots Economic Organizing
Three statements, smygo group, 1 August 2001. Sigmund C. Shipp: The willingness of individuals to participate in a cooperative depends on their ability to want to achieve a common purpose. Ewald Engelen: The concept of economic citizenship is an attempt to create an alternative to the one-sided view on own-ership, property rights, managerial prerogatives and the corporation predominant within the political economy of classical liberalism. David P. Ellerman: Absentee ownership is the problem. The market is not itself the problem. The problem is the employ-ment relationship that treats people as being rented or employed by a company (which then allows absentee control) instead of being members of the company.
War-makers, bribees, and poodles versus democracy
By Edward S. Herman, ZNet, [21 February 2003. The dichotomy between governments and people as regards the Iraq war-massacre is a global phenomenon, reflecting both the power of the United States to coerce and bully and the fact that democracy in the New World Order is increasingly an undemocratic facade.
Democracy that dismisses the electorate: Government without the people
By Anne-Cécile Robert, Le Monde diplomatique, November 2003. Rather than blaming ‘populism’ for the lazy and ignorant election of unacceptable rulers, we need to revivify real and active democracy nationally and internationally.