Westerners accustomed to having free elections are quick to dismiss democracy as something that mere Third Worlders should want.
And truth be told, elections are merely a necessary but not complete component of what we call "democracy." Real democracy requires rule of law, as well.
Sure, the Arab Spring has been a short-term disappointment in this regard. But at least in Tunisia, where the Arab Spring began, there is real (but let's add the usual "fragile" qualifier) progress on this front.
But elections are the most visible and obvious component of democracy, and even in a gulag with a UN seat where real power is reflected in the ability of the top dog to execute opponents on a whim and send their families to death camps, the rulers like to pretend to have democracy by pretending to have elections:
North Koreans will hold elections for the country's rubber stamp parliament in March, the first such polls under Kim Jong Un's leadership, which are set to further consolidate his power after the purge of his uncle.
It's kind of funny that a procedure that so many Westerners dismiss as a modern, European-tainted luxury with no relevance to non-Westerners is always used by thug rulers to pretend to have legitimacy.
I mean, really, couldn't Kim Jong Un say that going up to a mountain top with a few buddies for an overnight camping trip to drink mildly hallucinogenic tea in the icy cold and sing ancient songs provide all the legitimacy that a real Korean needs?
People want democracy, even if they don't fully understand all its components. We should constantly explain what democracy means so that thug rulers can't get away with holding sham elections to pretend they have democracy.
