He wrote: "A democracy cannot function effectively when its constituent members believe laws are being bought and sold."

It is an offering to the idea of Justice as a concept without which modern democracy could not function.

A democracy, like science, functions best only when all actions are open to question, and when we require the highest levels of accountability.

And I think democracy can't function unless it's led by men and women who know what kind of people they are.

In a recent article Herman offers a solution to the long standing question of how a direct democracy run by masses could have functioned at all.

Aristotle understood this more than 2,000 years ago when he wrote that democracy cannot function if there are extremes of wealth.

The current parlous conditions, combined with political history, call into question whether democracy can function at this stage of Pakistan's development.

But the fact that we now fear abuse of power and nepotism indicates that, unfortunately, democracy is not fully functioning yet.

No democracy can function without free and independent debate, journalists being able to feel safe and citizens being able to express their views.

Moreover, this is an extremely practical view, because how a country develops depends on the quality of its constitution and how its democracy is functioning.