Stephen Kinzer Quotes

Authoritarianism, an unrealistic occidental imagination - these issues will never be settled. Turkey will continue to take Europe as a model; it will continue to pursue its search for democracy.

Where nationalism is the main issue, the demand for democracy always takes second place.

If one day the military comes to power, it will be through a vote.

Nigeria shed the last of a succession of brutal military dictatorships in 1997 and adopted a democratic form of government only in 1999. Our elections of 2003, 2007, and 2011 were complicated and fraught with tension, but each one has shown remarkable progress.

In Latin America, in the past, it was almost impossible to guarantee democracy. There were military dictatorships, and nowadays there are not so many military dictatorships. Although we have a dictator in Honduras, as a result of a coup, now as a president, he is almost the only one I would say. But again led or managed, gestated by the U.S. government.

There is a very long history of oppression in the Arab world, particularly in the states he mentions: Iran, Iraq, Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Yemen, Saudi Arabia, as well as in Sudan and Tunisia. These regimes are not based on democracy and their legitimacy comes from military dictatorships or inherited systems. The basic right of an individual to voice his or her opinion is not granted in any kind of form in the Arab world.

American democracy is at its best in its talent for the transfer for power.

The democratic system prevailing in the world does not suit us ...

The people of every country are the only safe guardians of their own rights, and are the only instruments which can be used for their destruction.

We can not have free government without elections. And if the rebellion could force us to forgo, or postpone a national election, it might fairly claim to have conquered or ruined us.

There is no provision for judicial review. It is a strangely undemocratic way to bring democracy to the rest of the world.

By its nature, government is not subject to the profit-and-loss test, to the domination by the consumers, of the free market …. it need serve no one except itself. The only limit on government is the enormously wide one of people rising up to refuse to obey its orders (including taxes); short of such revolution, however, there is little to limit government or to check the entrenchment or burgeoning of its elite.

It is doubtful that President Mubarak or the Saudi Royal family will allow elections that might sweep them from office.

A military government may make a nation great, but it cannot make them free.

I don’t want the choice in Pakistan to be between military dictatorship and religious dictatorship

Advancing democracy does not always foster political stability.

Shall the majority govern or be governed? Shall the nation rule or be ruled? Shall the general will prevail, or the will of a faction? Shall there be government or no government?

Democracy and freedom … are based on democratic institutions, the rule of law, and a civil society. None of these Arab states have any of these to any significant degree.

When one person can initiate war, by its definition, a republic no longer exists.

The essence of democracy is how to restrict government power; this is the most important reason why China so badly needs democracy. The overconcentration of government powers without checks and balances is the root cause of so many social problems.

For 60 years, my country. The United States, pursued stability at the expense of democracy … in the Middle East, and we achieved neither.

We had a revolution 2 years ago, and we see a people moving from a completely authoritarian system into a democracy. They don’t know how democracy works. They don’t know the ingredients of a democracy.

Establishing a stable democracy is a two stage process. First you get rid of the old regime, then you build a durable democratic replacement. Because the first stage is dramatic, many people think the game is over when the dictator is gone. But the second stage is more difficult. There are many examples of broad coalitions coming together to oust dictators but relatively few of them stayed together and agreed on what a new regime should look like.

Democracy is like a street car. You get off when you reach your destination.

Turkey is called as a secular democracy. Turkey is neither secular nor a democracy.