Duvalier faces corruption, other charges

It good to see at least one of these tyrants get arrested and face justice.

Don't bet on it GT. My guess is he would never show up unless he knew he was getting a free pass.

No one is that dumb.

It's sad in Haiti if things are so awful that they're looking forward to the return of Duvalier and his tonton macoutes just to restore some basic order out of what appears to be total chaos.

I kinda suspect he was expecting to be hailed the Hero and be returned to Power. They should offer him his Freedom after he gives them full access to his Swiss Bank Accounts.

This is true. And you see the same thing in Iraq--people pining for the good ol' days when Saddam ruled with a merciless fist. Many of the South American states offer interesting insight as well. Democracy in Venezuela seems on dicey ground. Internal governmetn corruption threatens Mexico (yet widespread corruption doesn't threaten India).

To me it shows that the seeds of democarcy do not grow in any soil. Why not, I wonder. What are the preconditions necessary for democracy to flourish?

This is true. And you see the same thing in Iraq--people pining for the good ol' days when Saddam ruled with a merciless fist. Many of the South American states offer interesting insight as well. Democracy in Venezuela seems on dicey ground. Internal governmetn corruption threatens Mexico (yet widespread corruption doesn't threaten India).

To me it shows that the seeds of democarcy do not grow in any soil. Why not, I wonder. What are the preconditions necessary for democracy to flourish?

I think People prefer Stability/Safety above all else. If Democracy fails to deliver that and/or is less Stable/Safe than what was before, then it is not of much use.

There are other issues though, specifically common in Central/South America. That is the difference between Independence and US Puppet. Exploitation has soured many against the US and any willing/able to stand against it and achieve true Independence are favoured above Democracy. As long as those Dictators are somewhat benevolent they have enough support to remain in power. Dictatorship isn't much different than older style Monarchy when it comes down to it and though that is out of fashion in the West, it still offers many something beneficial, so they are willing to live with it.

Until the US reintroduced a form of Democracy to the world, despite British flirting with the idea, it was a lost form of governance. I think what made the US ultimately successful at it was the fact that it began as a reasonably stable Colony with no local power competing structures. So when it decided to break away from Britain it had a virtually clean slate and many Philosophical works to draw upon in order to form a completely new(for the time)type of Government. Europe being relatively stable and evolving in the same direction soon adopted it when the US experiment showed success.