The exercise of defining democracy can be a little like trying to define the ocean by catching a wave in a bottle. A two-day conference on the challenges facing democracies at Harvard University caught a lot of waves, as speakers from around the world examined the provocative d-word. It gives one flashes of insight, a sense of the breadth of the global civic highway, and an understanding of time. When a member of the audience attacked China for its labour camps and dictatorial system, panellist Cheng Siwei — a high profile Chinese official — said simply that China’s citizens enjoyed a lot more freedoms than they did 20 years ago. Terence McGinty, who worked in Tajikistan for the National Democratic Institute for International Affairs, described democracy as a habit that must be learned over generations. In Tajikistan, people were trying on the construct like a new pair of shoes.

Democracy is a system by which a society can deal with its differences under a fair rule of law. It is a system that lives by peaceful transition of power because, as the Kennedy School’s Fred Schauer, put it, ‘’the losers know how to lose.” But that’s not all of it, or even half of it. A democracy is a living, evolving idea ever defined and redefined by its citizens, who must stay alert to protect it, and be wise enough to spread it without arrogance. —The Boston Globe