Vol. 7 · No. 2 · 2001 · pp. 12-14 (3)

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Abstract

For the want of something better to do, I sometimes reflect on democracy (in the Paris subway, of course). As you know, there is confusion in people's minds about that useful notion. And since I like to side with the greatest number of people possible, I look for definitions that might be acceptable to the largest number. That's not easy, and I don't pretend to have succeeded. But it seems to me that certain useful approximations are possible. To be brief, here is one of them: democracy is the social and political exercice of modesty. Let me explain that.