LONDON -- There is all the difference in the world between democracy and constitutional democracy.
Democracy alone, in the sense of votes, elections, ballot boxes and political parties, is an unanchored force. It can lead to stable societies, but it can just as easily lead in a quite different direction, pushing the ship of state onto the rocks of one-party rule, the cult of personality and all the paraphernalia of tyranny. In the 20th century, this occurred again and again, most notably in the open and "democratic" election of Adolf Hitler in Germany, with hideous consequences.
The point is worth making again today when there is so much talk of bringing democracy to the Middle East. Elections alone may sound democratic, but what if they simply lead to extreme Islamic majorities that then suppress all opposition, as is all too likely in some of them, such as Iraq, and has long since occurred in places like Iran.?