Not only does it face increasingly assertive opponents, but growing numbers of its beneficiaries either take it for granted, or else doubt its merits. We have to admit that democracy is experiencing a crisis of confidence. The Kofi Annan Foundation and its partners have just held regional conferences in Latin American and Southeast Asia, which highlighted the challenges democracy faces in those regions, but also peoples’ commitment to its ideals. Since leaving the UN, I have set up the Electoral Integrity Initiative with a group of concerned organisations and individuals who seek to promote the legitimacy of elections as a fundamental pillar of democratic practice.

I am happy to acknowledge the current head of the Fund, Annika Savill, who is here with us this evening. As the UN Secretary General, I oversaw the creation of Democracy Day and the UN’s Democracy Fund, to support grassroots democracy around the world. I have been a tireless defender of democracy all my life because I am convinced it is the political system most conducive to peace, sustainable development, the rule of law and the respect for human rights, the three pillars of any healthy and democratic society. I am honoured to speak in his name and, as you will see, I believe many of his insights are as relevant today as they were in antiquity. Man is born, lives and dies as a member of a community and the affairs of that community are therefore his and vice-versa. Not least is Aristotle’s recognition that “Man is, by nature, a political animal”.

His very name means “excellent insight”, and he certainly left us quite a few, which continue to resonate more than 2,000 years after his death. This lecture is being given in the name of Aristotle, one of the most enduring thinkers Greece, and indeed the world, has ever produced. Prokopios Pavlopoulos, Excellencies, ladies and gentlemen, let me start by thanking the New York Times for inviting me to this conference here in Greece, the ancient cradle of democracy.

Your Excellency, the President of the Hellenic Republic, Mr. This speech was originally made by Kofi Annan at the 2017 Athens Democracy Forum on 13 September 2017.

Aristotle view on democracy