‘What did I do for democracy today?’

The annual Athens Democracy Forum has developed into a fixed point from which we can evaluate the health of democracy globally. Among other things, this year's meeting highlighted the need for democracy to be seen to be delivering goods to the public, and for its institutions to inspire trust and participation. When the first of these meetings was held in 2012, with The New York Times cooperating with the City of Athens and Kathimerini, Greece was overwhelmed by a wave of anger and doubt which sank the political center and lifted the extremes on the Left and Right. At the time, however, the model of "liberal democracy," as it developed in "Western" societies, appeared dominant and unshakable, the measure by which we judged the well-being of nations.

Today, even as democracy has spread to places where it did not exist, developments are so swift that even in mature democracies...