回复：I thought the concept was proposed by Greece over 2,000 yrs.

not sure.  Democratilization is a (messy) process, certainly w/ a lot of problems along the way (and still is).  You have to compare the countries (societies) during the same timeframe.  Every country has dark and bright chapters of the history.  The key is that in today's world, it has been proved that democracy is the best form of government (simple and makes sense; people are their own masters, even Maxism accepts that, well, in theory).