UN General Assembly
2009

contribution. We have formal separation of powers, but in many places power remains a single monopoly disguised in multiple public entities. We have rule of law, but the reach of the law is tested every day by Governments incapable of applying it, when not determined actually to weaken it. We have political constitutions and international treaties that reaffirm our belief in democratic values, but populations still prone to toss those values aside for material gain. Paraphrasing the great Argentinean writer Jorge Luis Borges, we can say that most inhabitants of developing countries do not identify with the State, which seems to them an abstract concept, removed from their immediate concerns. That is why they allow a Government to end before its constitutional period has elapsed or to continue in power beyond that period. That is why they expect the Government to offer social welfare and public services, but do not recognize the reciprocal obligations of citizens. That is why they prefer caudillos to political parties, messianic leaders to democratic institutions.