It’s a week earlier, and on a different topic, than I had intended, but here is my first We The People column for the Wardman Wire, on the recent problems in Kenya and Pakistan:

What could be called crises of democracy has occurred in Kenya and Pakistan, both accompanied by bursts of violence – one caused by the assassination of an opposition political leader, and another by alleged and suspected electoral fraud. Neither of these countries have a highly developed or deeply-embedded democracy, and are still riven by tribal differences. Fifty Kenyans have died in a torched church – a place normally regarded as a safe-house – because they were members of the same tribe as the President.

But are there really crises of democracy in these two countries?

Read the rest…