Democracy requires an informed citizenry able to question its government.
Richard N. HaassRead
What countries must do to join the World Trade Organization is precisely what they must do to become productive and democratic: accept the rule of law, reduce corruption, and become open, accountable, and transparent.
Interpretation
To be productive and democratic, countries must embrace principles such as the rule of law and transparency.
Richard N. Haass emphasizes that the requirements for joining the World Trade Organization are intrinsically linked to the foundational elements of a successful society, such as the enforcement of laws, the reduction of corruption, and a commitment to transparency. This quote highlights the importance of governance and ethical practices as prerequisites for economic and democratic advancement.
In practice
During a speech on governance, this quote could underscore the necessity of legal frameworks.
Democracy requires an informed citizenry able to question its government.
American influence in the world depends on the ability to act with real capacity and set an example that others will want to follow. This all takes resources.
There is no getting around the reality that the second Iraq war was a war of choice; had it been carried out differently, it still would have been an expensive choice and almost certainly a bad one.
Nationalism is a tool increasingly used by leaders to bolster their authority, especially amid difficult economic and political conditions.
Terrorism needs to be de-legitimized in the way that slavery has been. Doing so will make governments and individuals think twice before becoming a party to terrorism; it should also make it less difficult to garner support for international action against those who nevertheless carry it out.
The political world is defined by relationships rather than transactions, and by numerous actors at home and abroad with independent power. Navigating such a world is difficult and precarious.
There's a graveyard in northern France where all the dead boys from D-Day are buried. The white crosses reach from one horizon to the other. I remember looking it over and thinking it was a forest of graves. But the rows were like this, dizzying, diagonal, perfectly straight, so after all it wasn't a forest but an orchard of graves. Nothing to do with nature, unless you count human nature.
I would never say I was an icon, but so many people have said I am, so I suppose I am. I mean, I can't not be what everyone says I am. But I don't feel like an icon.
I confused gender identity with sexual orientation. Your gender identity is about who you are, how you feel, the sex that you feel yourself to be. Sexual orientation is who you're attracted to.
The Church has surrendered her once lofty concept of God and has substituted for it one so low, so ignoble, as to be utterly unworthy of thinking, worshiping men. This she has not done deliberately, but little by little and without her knowledge; and her very unawareness only makes her situation all the more tragic.
If a man will comprehend the richness and variety of the universe, and inspire his mind with a due measure of wonder and awe, he must contemplate the human intellect not only on its heights of genius but in its abysses of ineptitude.
The worst thing for a writer is to know another writer, and worse than that, to know a number of other writers. Like flies on the same turd.
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