Michael Mandelbaum Quotes

Democracy is the opposite of totalitarianism, communism, fascism, or mobocracy.

Fascism is more of a natural state than democracy. To assume blithely that we can export democracy into any country we choose can serve paradoxically to encourage more fascism at home and abroad. Democracy is a state of grace that is attained only by those countries who have a host of individuals not only ready to enjoy freedom but to undergo the heavy labor of maintaining it.

The three main sources of scepticism are first, that not every people desires freedom; second, that democracy in certain parts of the world would be dangerous; and third, that there is little the world's democracies can do to advance freedom outside their countries.

History proves that all dictatorships, all authoritarian forms of government are transient. Only democratic systems are not transient. Whatever the shortcomings, mankind has not devised anything superior.

Authoritarianism is not pretending anymore to be a real alternative to democracy, but we can see many more authoritarian practices and styles basically being smuggled into democratic governments.

We're not a democracy.

Asia's governments come in two broad varieties: young, fragile democracies - and older, fragile authoritarian regimes.

To be safe, democracy must kill its enemy where it can and when it can. The world must be all democratic or all Prussian.

Which is better, to be ruled by one tyrant three thousand miles away, or by three thousand tyrants not a mile away?

Not all countries are ready for it [democracy].

You can choose whatever name you like for the two types of government. I personally call the type of government which can be removed without violence democracy, and the other tyranny.

Any president we choose becomes a czar in Russia. I don't want czars anymore. I don't want to be a czar myself. I want to be a democratic leader.

I've made the comment that democracies work slower than dictatorships. That's a true thing.

Fascism and communism have not entirely disappeared but have been sidelined certainly, and liberal democracy has come to be accepted, in theory at least, around the world, if not always in practice.

Without democracy freedom is a chimera

My message is simple - freedom works a lot better than the authoritarian style of government.

Democracy is alive, and like any other living thing it either flourishes and grows or withers and dies. There is no in-between. It is freedom and life or dictatorship and death.

Those who abhors democracy would rarely immigrate to an authoritarian state if they have to.

Right now, we have no possibility of politics because we have a one-party state.

I'm fed up with democracy. In a democracy, people vote for the mayors. I wanted to build a city where I will choose the citizens.

But there is a big difference in working for the West and working for a totalitarian state.

Democracy passes into despotism.

If Bangladesh succumbs to the rule of one family, it would be a major step backward for the region.

The worldwide, agelong struggle between fascism and democracy will not stop when the fighting ends in Germany and Japan.

There are three species of government: republican, monarchical, and despotic.