ALBERT SOMIT is Professor Emeritus at Southern Illinois University, USA. He has served as Executive Vice-President of SUNY-Buffalo and President of Southern Illinois University. He is a pioneer of biopolitics.STEVEN A. PETERSON is Professor of Politics, Penn State University at Harrisburg, USA and Director of its School of Public Affairs. He has authored or edited 15 books, mostly in the area of public policy. His research interests include political behaviour, political psychology, and biology and politics.

'Al Somit and Steve Peterson have written a book that is provocative, unconventional, and all too persuasive. Even if U.S. policies were more thoughtful and consistent, the efforts to create democratic regimes in the Third World are likely to fail: given the trajectory of genetic and cultural evolution, most of us are more comfortable with social systems that are stratified and hierarchical. Democracy requires eternal vigilance, which is a lot of trouble. With a choice between the liberte, egalite, and fraternite trinity and the combination of security and prosperity, most of us will settle for the latter.'- J. David Singer, University of Michigan, USA

• Forward Introduction Authoritarian Government: The Default Option What Is a Democracy?: Toward a Working Definition Democratic Nation Building: From Concept to Operational 'Check List' Democracy: The Requisite 'Enabling Conditions' - No Small Order Will the Real Democracies Please Stand Up? American Nation Building, 1945-2005: Costs and Consequences The Fourth 'Whereas' 'Therefore Be It Resolved...': Toward More Realistic Foreign and Domestic Policies