Other models have been tried and they have failed -- fascism and communism, rule by one man and rule by committee.

WHITEHOUSE: President Obama Speaks to the Australian Parliament

"It's very difficult going from a closed regime -- essentially one-man rule -- to a democracy that is trying to be born and learn to walk, " Clinton explained.

CNN: Could Egypt fall apart?

"It's very difficult going from enclosed regime -- essentially one-man rule -- to a democracy that is trying to be born and learn to walk, " she told CNN.

CNN: STORY HIGHLIGHTS

Teamwork will replace Mr Westerwelle's one-man rule.

ECONOMIST: Will the new face for the Free Democrats be tough enough?

Many think this progression from one-man to collective rule is progress, and in many ways it is.

FORBES: China's Anti-Reformers Take Over

After decades of iron rule by one man, it will take time to build the institutions needed for a democratic Libya.

WHITEHOUSE: President Obama Salutes the People of Libya

But is de facto rule by one man - or at least one man and his advisers - by definition a bad thing?

BBC: Moroccan king: despot or benevolent autocrat?

Man is as much a rule-following animal as a purpose-seeking one.

FORBES: The Order of Public Reason

So Christian Maronite leaders, including their patriarch, have rallied to prevent the Druze leader anointing his own man as president, a post the constitution allots to one of their own, even though uneasy about the continuing rule of their co-religionist, President Emile Lahoud, who is seen as a stooge of his Syrian counterpart, Bashir Assad.

ECONOMIST: Lebanon