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In Every Nation for Itself: Winners and Losers in a G-Zero World, World Policy Institute Senior Fellow Ian Bremmer illustrates a historic shift in the international system and the world economy—and an unprecedented moment of global uncertainty.
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The biggest threat to democracy.
Submitted by Anonymous on October 13, 2012 - 12:58am.
Very interesting observations on democracy; thank you.
Those who rule usually do not give up their power, either because they understand themselves to be chosen by Allah/God and/or because they truly believe that only they, and no one else, can do the job properly ( in the case of a country, only they can keep it together ).
Those who rule through religion never give up power volutarily; how can they, when they truly believe that they are doing Allah's/God's work.
The alliance of civil ruler and religious authorities ( rulers ) is typical, the first guarantees to protect the second, the second warrants that the first is Allah's/God's annointed for the throne.
Thus in the U.K., in a vestige of that age old alliance, the senior Anglican leaders 'crown' the queen in Westminster Abbey and the queen literally promises, then and there, to protect the Anglican Church.
A similar reality is present in Saudi Arabia, different but similar.
A move towards democracy would likely give the Saudi Royal Family a resilience greater than it has today, though it might be hard to explain to those in that household why that is true.
To offer subjects only the possibility of total monarchy complete with total religious coercion, seems very unwise.
