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.
Richard N. HaassRead
Democracy requires an informed citizenry able to question its government.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Democracy relies on citizens being knowledgeable and willing to hold their government accountable.
This quote emphasizes the essential role that an educated and aware populace plays in a democracy. It suggests that for a democratic system to function properly, citizens must not only be informed but also possess the critical thinking skills necessary to challenge and question their governmentβs actions, ensuring that it remains accountable to the people it serves.
Themes
DemocracyCitizenGovernmentAccountabilityInformed
In practice
Example use cases
In a civic education class to emphasize the importance of informed voting.
More from Richard N. Haass
All quotes βThere 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.
Richard N. HaassRead
Nationalism is a tool increasingly used by leaders to bolster their authority, especially amid difficult economic and political conditions.
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.
Richard N. HaassRead
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.
Richard N. HaassRead
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.
Richard N. HaassRead
Similar quotes
The working classes in every country only learn to fight in the course of their struggles...Social democracy...is only the advance guard of the proletariat, a small piece of the total working masses; blood from their blood, and flesh from their flesh. Social democracy seeks and finds the ways, and particular slogans, of the workers' struggle only in the course of the development of this struggle, and gains directions for the way forward through this struggle alone.
Rosa LuxemburgRead
While democracy must have its organizations and controls, its vital breath is individual liberty.
Charles Evans HughesRead
If economic progress is not translated into better quality of life and respect for citizens' rights, we will witness more Tahrir Squares in Africa.
Mo IbrahimRead
A political problem thought of in military terms eventually becomes a military problem.
George C. MarshallRead
Where free unions and collective bargaining are forbidden, freedom is lost.
Ronald ReaganRead
What is it but a cunningly devised scheme to take from one State and to give to another - to replenish the treasury of some of the States from the pockets of the people of the others; in reality, to make them support the governments and pay the debts of other States as well as their own?
John C. CalhounRead