Democratic governments everywhere are in trouble. In Britain, the Labour government is tottering. In Japan, defeat looms for Prime Minister Taro Aso¡¯s Liberal Democratic Party. In Italy, Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi is clinging on amid a sea of scandal. In France, hyperactive President Nicolas Sarkozy is attracting growing contempt and criticism.

Even U.S. President Barrack Obama is coming under a barrage of attacks as the American economy enters its predictable double dip and inflated expectations collapse like a punctured balloon.

Is the process of democratic government as we know it getting too difficult to sustain?