Democracy and War
John Keanes guest of Late Night Live, ABC Radio National, Australia, 3 July 2006
At the beginning of the 21st century, 'nation building' has become a catch-cry of the worldwide project to spread democracy - from East Timor and the Solomon Islands, to Iraq and Afghanistan, Western governments are engaged in exporting democracy and 'democratic values', often with the help of armed forces.
Provocative questions about this relationship between war and democracy are raised by the world's first democracy - classical Athens.
Guests
John Keane
Founder and Director of the Centre for the Study of Democracy (Westminster University, London)Josiah Ober
Princeton University Department of Classics and the University Centre for Human Values; Constantine Mitsotakis Professsor at Stanford University.Further Information
'War, Culture and Democracy in Classical Athens' Conference website
John Keane's public lecture July 24
Story Researcher and Producer
Sarah Kanowski
Audio Archive
in Our Time - The Statue of Liberty
The French Revolution; a British Problem
What's happening to democracy?
Mornings with Margaret Throsby ABC Classic FM
ABC National Summer: Thomas Paine
Does Democracy have a violent heart?
Despots, democrats and discontents
The Twenty-First Century Enemies of Democracy
The strange origins of representative democracy
