Ilaekae, now you have made two posts that I did not see before posting another one. My point is simply that if we accept bofins statement, then we should have to say "a democracy based on human rights" whenever we mean a democracy. In a lot of my posts I have used the term "Western democracy" to clarify that I am not talking about ancient greek city-states.

However I also have a substantial critique of seing democracy as only a method of organization - what would bind it together? If it is not based on human rights (in one form or another) then why should people respect the laws of democracy? Fascism is different, it is based on the ruler having more power than any other faction - that mecanism isn't present in democracy (for an example see the Roman republic which evolved into a dictatorship - partly because there was no moral reason (except tradition) for it not to).

qanatoli