Yang Xiaoping, a villager from Linzi, Shandong province, was pleasantly surprised to earn an extra 5,000 yuan ($738) or so by selling electricity generated from his rooftop photovoltaic equipment.
While the concept of a constitutional democracy as a form of government originated in ancient Athens circa 508 BC, only 6.4 percent of today’s global population, in 21 countries, are considered to be living under fully democratic governments. At the opposite end of the spectrum, 37.1 percent of the world’s population, in 59 countries, are under an authoritarian regime.
Turning autocracy into democracy has never been easy. Sometimes even if a country successfully achieves democracy, it might be taken away by another dictator.
One estimate shows that 3.5 percent of a country’s population must participate in a protest to topple an autocratic