Between the Lines: Democracy Holds a Party

Last June, representatives from more than 100 nations met in Warsaw, Poland, to draft the guiding principles of a "Community of Democracies." U.S. organizers of the conference described the resulting "Warsaw Declaration" as an unprecedented effort to form a global consensus on the elements of democracy and to cooperate in their promotion and defense. Is it? Or is it a well-meaning but largely empty exercise in legacy-hunting by the outgoing U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright? Herewith the first installment of a new Foreign Policy feature that decodes and deconstructs noteworthy public documents.