Democracy is in retreat, attacked by forces from outside and, more worrying, from within.
Those sustained and alarming challenges prompted U.S. President Joe Biden to last week host the Summit of Democracies, a virtual gathering where world leaders assessed those dangers and discussed collaborative and collective responses to them.
A meeting of democracies is a worthy concept, but delivering on its promise will be difficult. Follow-up is key. Democracy is very much about procedure, the way that decisions are made. But just as important is the ability of those decisions to improve the lives of ordinary citizens — and to prove that they have done so.
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