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Just because things can happen based on a vote, it doesn't mean it's a democracy. Or to rephrase your comment: If a large chunk of a country (like Crimea) can

Just because things can happen based on a vote, it doesn't mean it's a democracy. Or to rephrase your comment: If a large chunk of a country (like Crimea) can leave the country based purely on a vote then I'd say we do have democracy in Ukraine.

arethuza 13y ago
The difference being that the Westminster parliament complied with the wishes of the parliament in Edinburgh to have a referendum - which is hardly the case with the Ukraine and Crimea. As far as I've noticed, guns and deaths have been absent from the debate around Scottish independence.
- mercurial 13y ago
  On the other hand, this was this Irish guy called Michael Collins, back in the day...
  - arethuza 13y ago
    That was almost a century ago, I might as well mention that there was this Scots guy called William Wallace - I don't think either are particularly relevant to the status of democracy in the UK today. Mind you, mentioning that there is an Irish guy called Gerry Adams might be - but that's getting a bit off topic.
    - mercurial 13y ago
      This was a bit tongue in cheek, but I do have a point. AFAIK, the UK political system hasn't changed significantly since, people have. There is nothing intrinsic to democracy when it comes to peaceful secession. Or peaceful anything, really.