From Open Democracy, the world’s third spaces: Between national and global levels, a fresh landscape of territory, authority and rights is being opened — it may look messy, but it is part of a new reality in the making, says Saskia Sassen. In the globalizing world of the 21st century, are we ready for democracy to be applied internationally? Too often national elections cause horrible violence or bitter disputes — what if they were all handed over to a UN election squad? Observe early and often: The United Nations should establish a monitoring unit devoted not to elections, but to the work of election commissions. Madeleine Albright on why democracy is inevitable no more. Second life: Dictatorships have gotten good at keeping democracy at bay — it wasn't supposed to be this way.
