No established democracy should think it can rest on its laurels because it holds elections and has leaders who do well in opinion polls.

Their most frightening point was that, even in established democracies, the point of maximum danger was a war-like crisis which demanded and justified dictatorial powers that were then never returned.

After increasing for many decades, there has been a trend of decreasing voter turnout in most established democracies since the 1960s.

Political finance legislation started in 1967 and by 1983 was more comprehensive than other established democracies.

Contrary to political discourse and media attention, plutocratic funding and interested money are no longer a great danger in most established democracies.