United States of Europe? Next Superpower?

[Bill]

"one hopes that the kind of liberal democracies prevailent in europe"

Besides switzerland, i dare you to name one Democracy in Europe.

You can't....there aren't any.

[ZFBoxcar]

Bedides switzerland, i dare you to name one Democracy in Europe.

How do you figure? Unless you are getting technical and mean Athenian democracy, in which case Switzerland is closer, but still not quite one.

[Parihaka]

wikipedia lists the following "constitutional democracies commonly called republics"
Europe
Albania
Armenia (authoritarian tendencies)
Austria
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Bulgaria
Croatia
Cyprus
Czech Republic
Estonia
Finland
France
Georgia
Germany
Greece
Hungary
Iceland
Republic of Ireland
Italy (slight authoritarian tendencies)
Latvia
Lithuania
Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia
Malta
Moldova
Poland
Portugal
Romania
Russia (authoritarian tendencies)
San Marino
Serbia and Montenegro
Slovakia
Slovenia
Switzerland
Ukraine

and "democratic constitutional monarchies"

Europe
Andorra (coprincipality)
Belgium (kingdom)
Denmark (kingdom)
Liechtenstein (principality)
Luxembourg (grand duchy)
Monaco (principality; authoritarian tendencies)
Netherlands (kingdom)
Norway (kingdom)
Spain (kingdom)
Sweden (kingdom)
United Kingdom (kingdom)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of...nment#Europe_2

[Bill]

None of those are democrazys either.

But i did find a few quite amusing, particularly this one:

"Russia (authoritarian tendencies)"

If you think Russia is a democracy i have some nice fertile land in Chernobyl you might be interested in buying... :)

[ASG]

None of those are democrazys either.

But i did find a few quite amusing, particularly this one:

"Russia (authoritarian tendencies)"

If you think Russia is a democracy i have some nice fertile land in Chernobyl you might be interested in buying... :)

Whaaat??

The last time I checked UK was still a democracy.

And weren't the elections held in Spain only last year. SO i guess that's a democracy too.

And Russia too has a democratically elected President. So whats the doubt in calling Russia a democracy??

Did the world order change overnight???

Or has the definition of democracy??

[dalem]

I disagree with that. UNPROFOR did extremely good work and gave more than it took.

Fair enough. I'm going mostly by their recent flight from Iraq. I should have used "if" instead of "when". ;)

-dale

[dalem]

quite simply, europe currently faces no conventional military threat that it needs to get excited about, if theres no threat, why build a defence?

Unless they start shooting each other again...Or have they outgrown that???

I myself am not talking about Europe's defense. I am talking about Europe's ability to project useful power as part of a serious backup to its policies.

-dale

[Bill]

"Whaaat??

The last time I checked UK was still a democracy.

And weren't the elections held in Spain only last year. SO i guess that's a democracy too.

And Russia too has a democratically elected President. So whats the doubt in calling Russia a democracy??

Did the world order change overnight???

Or has the definition of democracy??"

Apparently you are unfamiliar with the definition of democracy.

BTW, there are no democracies in N.America either...

Real democracies are potentially very dangerous if you're in the minority.

[ASG]

Apparently you are unfamiliar with the definition of democracy.

BTW, there are no democracies in N.America either...

Real democracies are potentially very dangerous if you're in the minority.

OKAY, just like Pakistan is a democracy and Libya too, and just the way Iraq was too.

Hmm.

I dont think India's a democracy. Neither is the US. Eh?!

[Bill]

The US is not a democracy.

The idea was considered, and then rejected out of hand by The Founding Fathers.

[ASG]

Now, for the sake of this discussion, define democracy....

[Bill]

Try www.dictionary.com ;)

But i'll be kind and help ya out a bit: Democracy is direct representation by the people.

Besides the Swiss, no one practices that form of gov't in Europe, or anywhere, for that matter....and not even the Swiss are 'true' to the Athenian model.

The US is a representitive republic, ie we are represented by elected officials upon whom we select and vote into office.

One of Benjamin Franklin's more famous quotes involves the potential for disaster wrt democracy:

"Democracy is two wolves and a lamb voting on what to have for breakfast".

[ASG]

Try www.dictionary.com ;)

But i'll be kind and help ya out a bit: Democracy is direct representation by the people.

Besides the Swiss, no one practices that form of gov't in Europe, or anywhere, for that matter....and not even the Swiss are 'true' to the Athenian model.

The US is a representitive republic, ie we are represented by elected officials upon whom we select and vote into office.

One of Benjamin Franklin's more famous quotes involves the potential for disaster wrt democracy:

"Democracy is two wolves and a lamb voting on what to have for breakfast".

The kind of democractic model you're talking about is not feasable in the modern world. Or is it???
The lack of sleep is causing the error of judgement!!

[ZFBoxcar]

Okay, so you were being technical Sniper. I think you are being a bit of a sh!t-disturber but, w/e lol. You know what he meant by liberal democracy. Obviously he meant representative. Its just annoying to have to throw in the extra word every time the topic is mentioned.

[Bill]

I can relate, since i feel that the word 'democracy' is the most mis-used and understood word in the free world today, lol.

As this thread just demonstrated, a hell of a lot of people don't even know what a 'real' democracy is. ;)

The US is Republic my friends.