Democracy is a Greek word that means popular rule. The Greeks laid the foundation for democracy way back in 508 BC in Athens. There are two underlying principles of democracy accepted universally Equality and Freedom.

Salvador Allende was a member of the Socialist Party in Chile, and was actively involved in his countrys politics for over forty years before getting elected its President in 1970.

He redistributed land to the landless farmers, reformed the educational system, provided free milk for children and opposed foreign companies taking over his countrys natural resources. Allendes people-friendly policies were upsetting the Government of the United States.The United States was interested in Chiles mineral wealth, including the vast deposits of copper. The United States financed a military coup led by General Augusto Pinochet of the Chilean Army.

The coup was staged on the 11thSeptember, 1973, beginning with the military commanders ordering Allende to resign or leave the country. Allende refused and the Chilean Army killed him. General Augusto Pinochet installed himself as the President of the country, and ruled it for 17 years.Amongst the people who opposed the coup and wanted democracy to be restored was General Alberto Bachelet. General Bachelet was subsequently imprisoned and tortured on Pinochets orders.

Pinochets military dictatorship was in its last stages in 1988. Political freedom was finally restored in 1990 and Pinochet was tried in the court of law for crimes against humanity. Chile has held four presidential elections successfully. In 2006, Michelle Bachelet became the countrys first woman President.

In 1980, Poland was ruled by a communist party known as The Polish United Workers Party. Under the communist regime, all factories and big property were owned by the government. Strikes to show grievances were illegal, and so were independent trade unions.

Poland's transition to democracy came with the formation of the workers union known as Solidarity under the leadership of Lech Walesa. Lech Walesa was elected the President of Poland.Chile was a military dictatorship, while Poland was ruled by a communist political party. Chile witnessed a transition from democratic to non-democratic and back to democracy, whereas Poland witnessed a transition from non-democratic to democratic.

There were many differences between the two governments. The government of Poland claimed that it was ruling on behalf of the working classes, whereas the military dictatorship of Chile under Pinochet made no such claims and supported foreign businesses.

The similarities, between the two: The people could not choose or change the rulers. There was no freedom of expression. The people could not form political associations or organise peaceful protests, and could not take political action.There are different stages through which democracy developed into its current form. The struggle for democracy started with the rights for white men in the United States and France.

In the 20thcentury, the struggle for democracy included the right to vote to be granted universally to all adults, men or women, rich or poor, white or black. This is termed as Universal Adult Franchise or Universal Suffrage.

Prior to 20thcentury, the governments were elected mostly by men, and in the case of the United States, mostly white men.

Many of the countries in Asia, Africa and European Nations became democracies immediately after the Second World War in 1945.Ghana was a British colony and was called the Gold Coast as it had rich gold reserves. Ghana was amongst the first African countries to gain independence in 1957.

The process of world democratisation was accelerated by the collapse of the Soviet Union, which controlled much of Eastern Europe. The break-up of the Soviet Union into many independent countries led to major changes in the political map of the world.

About 140 countries held multi-party, democratic elections in the year 2005. Countries, including powerful nations like China, North Korea and Burma, are still non-democratic.

Myanmar, previously known as Burma, gained independence from Great Britain in 1948 and became a democracy. Democracy in Myanmar did not last very long, as the country was taken over in a military coup by General Ne Win in 1962.In 1990, the National League for Democracy, led by Aung San Suu Kyi, won the election. A major restructuring of the political systems of the world happened during the twentieth century.Countries that had established democracy during 1900s were the United States and Canada in North America, and the United Kingdom, France, Norway and Greece in Europe. By the 1950s, some countries in Asia gained independence and subsequently formed democratic governments of their own like India, Japan and the Philippines.

Another major country which became a democracy around 1950s is Australia.By the year 2000, African countries started their transition towards democracy.Major countries that are still non-democratic are North Korea, Myanmar and China in Asia, Saudi Arabia in the Middle East, Peru in South America, Morocco, Libya, Somalia and Sudan in Africa, and Belarus in Europe.

Some important factors: Democracy spread throughout the world during the 20thcentury. Democracy did not spread evenly in all parts of the world, but in different regions and in different phases. While a majority of the countries are democratic, there are still large parts of Africa and Asia that are not democratic.There are many institutions in the world that perform the functions of a world government to some extent. These organizations can influence the government to take action that will promote peace in that region. The primary organization that plays this role is the United Nations.

The United Nations, which is head-quartered in New York, was formed after the Second World War in 1945 to maintain peace and security around the world. The United Nations is a global association of nations of the world that co-operate with each other to maintain international law, security, economic development and social equity.

The United Nations makes laws and rules to govern the seas that do not fall within the boundaries of any single country. It takes steps to control environmental degradation by making conventions that are binding on member nations.

The UN Security Council, a division of the United Nations, is responsible for maintaining peace between countries. The United Nations however cannot interfere in the internal political problems of a country.Another organization that is global in nature is the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank.

While the IMF can bail out countries from their international debts, the World Bank is responsible for giving loans for development projects around the world.The UN has 192 member countries, and each country gets one vote in the UN General Assembly. The General Assembly cannot make any decisions about what action should be taken in case of a conflict between two countries.

The US, Russia, the UK, France and China are the five permanent members of the Security Council. Ten more other members are elected by the General Assembly every two years.

The real power lies only with the five permanent members. These permanent members, particularly the United States, contribute most of the money that is needed to maintain the UN. Only a permanent member has the power to veto, which means to repeal an action.

The IMF has 185 member nations and lends money to any country that needs it. Nearly 54% of the voting power rests in the hands of only 10 countries - the US, Japan, the UK, Germany, France, China, Italy, Saudi Arabia and Canada.

The World Bank has an unequal voting framework. The president of the World Bank is always a US citizen and is nominated by the Treasury Secretary of the US Government.Most global institutions will fail the simple test of democracy.In 2003, the United States attacked Iraq, deposed Saddam Hussein and installed an interim government in the name of democracy.