10 Questions

Is Democracy Good For Everyone?

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Who would you vote for as the president of the world?
I don’t think it’s realistic to think about. I can't imagine there would be a global president, but if I would have to choose, if I had to vote, it might be the United Nations High Commission of the human rights reservoir, the former chief prosecutor at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia.

We asked all sorts of people -- authors, athletes, movie stars, politicians, thinkers, workers, dreamers -- ten tough questions about democracy. We will publish many of the answers on this page, with new ones every day. Be sure to tell us what you think in the forums.

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Who rules the world?
No-one really rules the world. It has no centre but competing forces, and none impose their will on all the others. But the best way for citizens is to intervene world affairs so that they can make a difference.

We asked all sorts of people -- authors, athletes, movie stars, politicians, thinkers, workers, dreamers -- ten tough questions
about democracy. We will publish many of the answers on this page, with
new ones every day. Be sure to tell us what you think in the forums.

Read today also:
10 Questions: Slavoj Zizek - Philosopher (Slovenia)
10 Questions: Kati Outinen - Actress (Finland)
10 Questions: Oliver Letwin – Conservative MP (UK)

Do you think that democracy is good for everyone?
Is democracy good for everyone…? If it were the Greek version, I would say it is.

We asked all sorts of people -- authors, athletes, movie stars, politicians, thinkers, workers, dreamers -- ten tough questions
about democracy. We will publish many of the answers on this page, with
new ones every day. Be sure to tell us what you think in the forums.

Read today also:
10 Questions: Henry Porter - Novelist and political commentator, UK,
10 Questions: José Carlos Alvarez - Director of the National Museum of Theatre (Portugal)

Are dictators ever good?
The English philosopher Thomas Hobbes notoriously put forward a form of government in which each citizen gives up his or her rights to a sovereign who is quite explicitly above the law. In return for this, the sovereign promises to guarantee and protect the rights of each individual. Hobbes feared democracy; he feared the importation into society of any idea that would lead its members to rebel against established authority. So to trade in a certain form of democratic liberty for the guarantee of safety and stability was a good trade for him.Whether or not dictators are ever good depends on what one expects from their government.

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– Human Rights activist (Portugal)

Why bother to vote?
It's of course a curious phenomena, because you feel your individual effects are very marginal. I always think voting is a really transforming experience, because it's one of the few occasions where you are doing something as a whole population. And you feel indeed like a elemental particle, just a little constituent, of the general population..

 We asked all sorts of people -- authors, athletes, movie stars, politicians, thinkers, workers, dreamers -- ten tough questions
about democracy. We will publish many of the answers on this page, with
new ones every day. Be sure to tell us what you think in the forums.

Read today also:

10 Questions: Claes Borgström - Ombudsman for Equality (Sweden)

10 Questions: Déborah Colker - Choreographer (Brazil)

Can democracy solve climate change?
If you are talking about national democracy, it will not be able to solve this problem, but if you are talking about international democracy, i.e. the democratisation of globalisation, then I would say yes, the international democracy, global democracy, will be able to solve this problem..

We asked all sorts of people -- authors, athletes, movie stars, politicians, thinkers, workers, dreamers -- ten tough questions
about democracy. We will publish many of the answers on this page, with
new ones every day. Be sure to tell us what you think in the forums.

Read today also:
10 Questions: Paddy Ashdown - Liberal Democrat (UK)
10 Questions: Suelen Jongo da Serrinha - Dancer (Brazil)

Is God Democratic?

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Is God democratic?
To me God is beyond this understanding and we really should be careful when mixing the two fields of religion and politics, it can be quite dangerous.

We asked all sorts of people -- authors, athletes, movie stars, politicians, thinkers, workers, dreamers -- ten tough questions about democracy. We will publish many of the answers on this page, with new ones every day. Be sure to tell us what you think in the forums.

Read today also:

10 Questions: Joseph Ayok-Loewenberg – Minister for religion (Sudan)
10 Questions: Helle Thorning-Schmidt - Leader of the Social Democrats (Denmark)