Athenian democracy developed around the fifth century BC in the Greek city-state (known as a polis) of Athens, comprising the city of Athens and the surrounding territory of Attica, and is the first known democracy in the world.
democracy definition. A system of government in which power is vested in the people, who rule either directly or through freely elected representatives. Note: Democratic institutions, such as parliaments, may exist in a monarchy.
For many Iraqis, those items remain as unattainable today as they were under Saddam Hussein. The simple truth is that Iraq as currently constituted can never be a stable democracy, and thus American warfighters sent there to shore up Maliki's faltering regime are likely to find themselves defending a dictatorship.Jun 20, 2014