UN General Assembly
1990

In this regard, however, we take exception to the view that the mode of democracy practised in a select group of countries is the only legitimate democracy. We find considerable danger and paradox in the attempt to prescribe, in a virtually dictatorial, intolerant fashion, a brand of democracy which is ready-made and presumed to be the only correct one. I wish to urge the people of the world to agree that the cause of democracy would be better served by accepting pluralism, not only within the borders of a given State but also throughout the world. In this way, international democracy will emerge as an acceptance of multiple approaches to political freedom by the various peoples of the world. If the fundamental basis of democracy is the tolerance of alternative views within a given economy, then the logical extension of this concept to the international level is the tolerance of alternative perceptions of democratic freedom by different cultures.