2008 - The Year Democracy Died

[Ali]

Pakistan, Kenya and now Georgia are all suffering violence due to opposition parties calling for demonstrations when they lose.

Is this how 2008 is going to be? Lose the election and start a civil war?

[Schmeltz]

This is hardly the first year in which we've seen democracy struggling in the Third and Post-Soviet Worlds. 2008 doesn't seem very different from any other year in that regard. Now, if we see the same thing happening in a country like, say, Japan or Norway - then we might have cause to worry.