Is there a human right to democracy?

Abstract

An intriguing episode in the life of the now-defunct United Nations (UN) Commission on Human Rights was its adoption of a series of resolutions on human rights and democracy. In 1999 the Commission adopted a resolution entitled “Promotion of the right to democracy” (CHR Res. 1999/57), in anticipation of the new century and millennium. The resolution endorsed a “right to democratic governance” as including a range of civil and political rights such as those to freedom of expression, thought and association. It also included the rights of “universal and equal suffrage,” free voting procedures, periodic and free elections and “the right of citizens to choose their governmental system through co..