There is nothing inherently undemocratic about unions so long as they abide by standard democratic rules: members vote on important decisions (in particular contracts) and voting is conducted through secret ballots to avoid intimidation. If a group of employees wishes to form a union in order collectively bargain with its employer, this may be good… Read more »
Even in countries many would consider the most advanced democracies in the world, there is hypocrisy. Witness Canada, where the government is strengthening the role of the monarch by insisting that Queen Elizabeth’s picture be placed in all Canadian embassies and missions worldwide. Monarchy is simply not compatible with democracy. A monarch is not elected… Read more »
Democracies certainly seemed to work better years ago when a majority of people were honorable and had a sense of duty. Society seemed to be full of individuals who made decisions not only to benefit themselves but also to benefit their families, their friends, their communities and their society as a whole. Of course self… Read more »
This web site is mainly about two distinct concepts: (1) the ways democracies are deficient and the means why which they can be improved, and (2) whether a new democracy needs to be created from scratch (see Starting from scratch). The question we pose here is whether or not there is any hope at fixing… Read more »
Should good and decent democracies be part of the United Nations? More importantly, if a new country were to be created with the best of constitutions and a fair minded government, should it join the United Nations? Tough question. The United Nations is currently the only worldwide platform for international discussion. In that sense, it… Read more »
One of the biggest problems facing an electorate is the broken promise, a promise made by a candidate which is not kept after his election. Surely it is not reasonable to allow this kind of behavior. Promises made must be kept or else an election becomes a farce, with each candidate promising goodies which he… Read more »
Collective bargaining is one of those topics that seems to divide the left and the right. However, while collective bargaining in the private sector is a political issue, collective bargaining in the public service should be apolitical. To make clear the difference between unionization in the private and public sectors, consider what recently happened in… Read more »
With the arrest of IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn well behind us, it now appears that France does have something to teach the United States. The whole idea of the “perp walk”, the parading of an innocent person for the media, smacks of sensationalism. It is also blatantly unfair. “Innocent until proven guilty” is supposed to… Read more »
We just came across the web site for The International Endowment for Democracy. There is a wealth of material there and, though we have not had a chance to go through it, it seems a valuable resource. Our next step is to try to contact that organization to see if there is interest in joining… Read more »
At first the problems in Europe looked like they would be confined to Greece, which was a basket case both politically and economically. Now it looks like the contagion is spreading. Initially to Ireland and Portugal. And then, possibly, to Italy and Spain. France may also be susceptible. What’s the problem and what does this… Read more »