Leaders

6 www.digitaldaya.com 
 State Fragility Index 2008 Extreme | 20-25 High | 16-19 Serious | 12-15 Moderate | 8-11 Low | 4-7 Little or No | 0-3 The MoveToward a Democratic World Classifying the nature of a country’s government structure most take into account a number of factors according to scholars. However, trend lines clearly show that the world is becoming more democratic with the passage of time and with advances in technology. In a global economy, in a world that is shrinking through the use of various media, people see rising standards of living in democratic nations and demand that autocratic governments adapt. An example of this can be seen in the current state of affairs in Iran. Though the country did hold “elections” in 2009, the people of this troubled nation had little or no faith in the results of those elections. Hundreds of thousands of protestors have taken to the streets in protest of what they view as a “rigged” election and the illusion of democracy. And these protestors, who risk imprisonment and even death, have received strong support from democracies around the world – people who want the freedoms that come with democracy, not the civil rights constraints imposed by the current regime that,in fact,rules day-to-day activities in Iran. This support is shown in many ways. Newspaper and media editorials have shown support of Iranian protestors who take to the streets every weekend – months after“election” results were made public. Support also comes through various social media sites likeTwitter. Individuals added green borders to their Twitter avatars to show support for the Iranian protestors. And information from within Iran’s closed borders is disseminated via Twitter and other social media sites, despite the government’s attempts to close down these social and networking portals. The genie of social media is out of the bottle, and no matter how hard autocratic and/or corrupt governments try to prevent the use of social media, it remains a powerful, unmitigated The genie of social media is out of the bottle,and no matter how hard autocratic and/or corrupt governments try to prevent the use of social media,it remains a powerful, unmitigated force PM:crucial meeting with Premier Wen of China,and then 5 minutes to grab a steak.9:55AM Dec 17th,2009 10 Downing Street, UK PM Gordon Brown http://www.twitter.com/ DowningStreet