Democracy and Governance

Your reaction?: "Democracy is not about discovering the 'popular will.' Rather, it is an institutional process where people compete for power, and a method of resolving conflicts between elites." [Prof Mushtaq Khan - SOAS - London, The Drum Beat 434]

Note from The CI: The comments below relate to the archived poll: "The most important lesson to be learned for advancing democratic governance from the recent developments in Pakistan, Kenya, and Burma/Myanmar..." Those above relate to the most current poll.

I am currently developing a documentary on Latin American apathy when dealing with government corruption. I am looking for individuals expertts who want to become part of the developint of the project. i am also looking for finance to produce the documentary. My email is hbrproductions1@yahoo.com. Gladys Bensimon Writer/Director

Expanding debate will allow for all the other. If people occupy the public sphere for debating, they can go further into building democratic institutions and strengthening plural media and independent monitoring. But it has to come from them, from the bottom.

This poll is a challenge because several choices seem equally important - adapt democratic process, Expand ongoing public debate, Prioritise building local community democracies, Strengthen media independence and plurality. As a Cuban professor pointed out to a US university audience, democracy means different things in different contexts - eg, Cubans have democratic recourse at the local level for issues that affect their neighborhoods and families, but little national level empowerment. In the US, many people have little recourse to solve local problems - eg, homelessness and uneven distribution of food and healthcare - while they have a national election vote, but that does not always empower them to effect national level politics either - eg, changes in the balance of power between the executive, judicial, and legistative branches of government.

Communication to avoid rigging should be increased by media