It has been an extraordinary year for people power. Mass protests have overturned governments round the world, checked blatant abuses of power and offered hope that the 21st century may prove to be an era of genuine democracy. In each case, however, the government that was turned out had already ridden to power on a wave of popular protest. A warning has been sounded: Populists beware.
The first inklings of this new restlessness were visible in Peru, where the people took to the streets this spring to protest President Alberto Fujimori's attempts to steal a third term in office. While the instrument of his downfall may have been the videotape of his accomplice, shadowy intelligence chief Vladimiro Montesinos, paying off an opposition lawmaker, it was mass discontent with the regime that forced the president's hand and obliged him to call new elections.
The most spectacular exhibition of the strength of the people was visible in Yugoslavia, where demonstrations against President Slobodan Milosevic forced his resignation after 10 years of corruption and misrule. The wily Mr. Milosevic gambled that the opposition would prove once again to be its own worst enemy; he bet wrong and the people vented a decade of frustrations and rage when he tried to ignore the popular will by attempting to rig a vote.