Global efforts are under way to raise democratic principles to new levels. But a critical question remains: How effective are democratic principles, such as free and fair election and government by consent, in resolving ethnic and religious oppression and conflict, social discrimination (including contempt for women) and poverty in developing countries?

The Oct. 28th municipal elections in the Kosovo province of Yugoslavia, administered by the Organization of Security and Cooperation of Europe, represented the first step toward resolving the region's ethnic conflict in accordance with democratic procedures.

The community of Kosovo was destroyed by a series of violent incidents triggered by a policy of ethnic cleansing initiated by former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic. That policy is responsible for the expulsion of ethnic Albanians by Serbs, which turned the province into a battlefield; the bombing of Yugoslavia by the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and the subsequent stationing of the NATO Kosovo Force; and the return of ethnic Albanians, which resulted in the expulsion of Serb residents.