A system of checks and balances in government is usually regarded as a good thing, except when it comes to the probability that a nation will stop its use of government-sanctioned torture, according to a Florida State University study.

As the Presidency stated on 28 June 2008, the EU deeply regrets that the Zimbabwean people were unable to vote freely in the run-off presidential elections, which the UN Secretary-General had asked to be deferred. It reiterates the unacceptability of the campaign of violence which the UN Security Council condemned on 23 June and which turned the election into a denial of democracy.

European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso is calling for a swift transition to democracy in Zimbabwe. Barosso says Zimbabweans have voted for change from President Robert Mugabe's rule.

Bhutan is gearing up to become the world's newest democracy with the country's first-ever national elections on Monday. The elections are a bold step for this isolated and traditionally Buddhist Himalayan kingdom toward the 21st century.

A new study by University of Minnesota Carlson School of Management professor Paul Vaaler indicates that when emerging-market countries hold elections they may be determining more than their new government.

Consumer advocate Ralph Nader announced on February 24th — three days short of his 74th birthday — that he is launching his third bid to be elected President of the United States, running as the candidate of the independent Green Party. Nader's previous third-party campaigns for the White House in 2000 and 2004 stirred public debate about his motives and the integrity of America's traditional two-party system.

Britain's foreign secretary has kicked off a trip to China with a visit to Hong Kong. He repeated his government's disappointment over Beijing's decision to delay full democracy in the former British colony. Claudia Blume reports from Hong Kong.

Publicly funded science in America traditionally is accountable to the people and their government representatives. However, this arrangement raises questions regarding the effect such oversight has on science.

Mistakes that were made in Iraq and Afghanistan should not ‘obscure our national interest … in supporting movements for democracy’ pleaded the Foreign Secretary, the Rt Hon David Miliband MP on Tuesday 12 February 2008, when he delivered the Aung San Suu Kyi lecture at St Hugh’s College, on ‘The democratic imperative’.

Ever since it invaded Iraq and toppled the dictatorship of Saddam Hussein nearly five years ago, the U.S. military has been promoting a system of democratic governance and civic responsibility. One of the most important players in that effort has been the U.S. Army's Psychological Operations, or PsyOp units, whose soldiers wage daily battle for the hearts and minds of average Iraqis. Adam Allington gets a front-line view of the military's pro-democracy campaign.

"We wouldn't want to see a re-imposition of emergency law and I am not aware that in any of our conversations with Pakistani officials anyone has suggested that emergency law or emergency rule might be re-imposed," State Department Deputy spokesman Tom Casey said here yesterday.

Burma's detained opposition leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, has held her first meeting with a newly appointed government liaison minister. It is a sign that the military junta is following through on its promises to the international community to begin talks with the pro-democracy hero.