"Until philosophers are kings, or the kings and princes of this world have the spirit and power of philosophy, and political greatness and wisdom meet in one, and those commoner natures who pursue either to the exclusion of the other are compelled to stand aside, cities will never have rest from their evils - no, nor the human race, as I believe - and then only will this our State have a possibility of life and behold the light of day." - Plato, Book V, 473-C

"Democracy passes into despotism." 

"The people have always some champion whom they set over them and nurse into greatness. ...This and no other is the root from which a tyrant springs; when he first appears he is a protector." Plato, Book VIII, 562-A and 565-C.

"The idea that parties are guided by policy decisions made by voters also seems to be a myth; in reality, the parties make the policies and we fall into line. To minimise cognitive dissonance – the gulf between what we perceive and what we believe – we either adjust our views to those of our favoured party or avoid discovering what the party really stands for. This is how people end up voting against their interests.

...

Even the less ambitious notion of democracy – that it’s a means by which people punish or reward governments – turns out to be divorced from reality. We remember only the past few months of a government’s performance (a bias known as 'duration neglect') and are hopeless at correctly attributing blame." -- George Monbiot, "Lies, fearmongering and fables: that's our democracy", The Guardian, Oct. 4, 2016.

"Wealth is the parent of luxury and indolence, and poverty of meanness and viciousness, and both of discontent." - Plato, Book IV, 422-A

Building Global Democracy

Democracy International

Democracy Earth

Global Justice Ecology Project (GJEP) "explores and exposes the intertwined root causes of social injustice, ecological destruction, and economic domination"

Global Justice in the 21st Century "commentary on global issues" by Richard A. Falk

International Union of Socialist Youth (IUSY) "All over the world to change it"

Progressive International "A grassroots movement for global justice"

System Change, Not Climate Change "an ecosocialist coalition"

The Equality Trust "Because more equal societies work better for everyone" (-> resources)

The Paulo Freire Democratic Project (PFDP)

Transition Network.org "A movement of communities coming together to reimagine and rebuild our world"

World Justice Project "Advancing the rule of law worldwide" -> WJP Rule of Law Index

Zonta International "Empowering Women Through Service & Advocacy"

Democracy in Europe Movement 2025 (DiEM25); national and local groups / DSCs

European Alternatives "Democracy, Equality and Culture beyond the nation"

European Commission Against Racism and Intolerance (ECRI)

Social Europe

Social Platform (facebook)

solidar "Advancing Social Justice In Europe and Worldwide" (member organisations)

Task Force on the Americas "in solidarity with the social justice movements of Latin America and the Carribean"

National Endowment for Democracy (NED) "Supporting freedom around the world"
Blumenthal, Max, 2018, "Inside America's Meddling Machine: NED, the US-Funded Org Interfering in Elections Around the Globe," TheGrayzone.

Achen, Christopher H. &  Bartels, Larry M., 2016, Democracy for Realists: Why Elections Do Not Produce Responsive Government, Princeton University Press.

Assange, Julian, with Appelbaum, Jacob, Müller-Maguhn, Andy & Zimmermann, Jérémie, 2012, Cypherpunks: Freedom and the Future of the Internet, OR Books.

Assange, Julian, 2014, When Google Met Wikileaks, OR Books.

Balanya, Bela; Doherty, Ann; Hoedemann, Olivier; Ma'anit, Adam & Wesselius, Eric, 2003, Europe Inc.: Regional and Global Restructuring and the Rise of Corporate Power, second edition, Pluto Press.

Bernish, Claire, 2018, "Government’s Own Data Shows US Interfered In 81 Foreign Elections", MintPressNews, March 22, 2017.

Einstein, Albert, 1949, "Why Socialism?", Monthly Review, May 1949.

Fraser, Steve, 2015, The Age of Acquiescence: The Life and Death of American Resistance to Organized Wealth and Power (review), Little, Brown & Company.

Freire, Paulo, 1968/1970/2007, Pedagogy of the Oppressed, Continuum.

Gilens, Martin; Page, Benjamin I., 2014, "Testing Theories of American Politics: Elites, Interest Groups, and Average Citizens", Perspectives on Politics, 12(3), 564-581.

Graeber, David, 2009, Direct Action: An Ethnography, AK Press.

Graeber, David, 2013, The Democracy Movement: A History, A Crisis, A Movement, Allen Lane.

Hedges, Chris, articles on truthdig and TheNation.

Hedges, Chris, 2009, Empire of Illusion: The End of Literacy and the Triumph of Spectacle, Nation Books.

Hedges, Chris, 2010, The World As It Is: Dispatches on the Myth of Human Progress, Nation Books.

Hedges, Chris, 2010, Death of the Liberal Class, Nation Books.

Hedges, Chris, 2015, Wages of Rebellion: The Moral Imperative of Revolt, Nation Books.

Joseph, Peter, 2017, The New Human Rights Movement: Reinventing the Economy to End Oppression, BenBella Books. (video)

Keane, John, 1984, Public life and late capitalism: Toward a socialist theory of democracy, Cambridge University Press.

Keane, John, 2002, Whatever Happened to Democracy?, Institute for Public Policy Research.

Keane, John, 2004, Violence and Democracy, Cambridge University Press.

Keane, John, 2009, The Life and Death of Democracy, Simon & Schuster / W. W. Norton & Company.

Krishan, Kumar (ed.), 1973, Revolution: The Theory and Practice of a European Idea, London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson.

Lukács, György, 1923/1968, History and Class Consciousness: Studies in Marxist Dialectics, Merlin Press.

Luxemburg, Rosa, (publications)

Luxemburg, Rosa, 1900, Reform or Revolution,

Luxemburg, Rosa, 1904, Social Democracy and Parliamentarism,

Luxemburg, Rosa, 1906, The Mass Strike, the Political Party and the Trade Unions,
 

Mason, Paul, 2007, Live Working or Die Fighting: How the Working Class Went Global, London: Harvill Secker.

Mason, Paul, 2012, Why It's Still Kicking Off Everywhere: The New Global Revolutions, revised and updated edition, Verso.

McChesney, Robert W., 2013, Digital Disconnect: How Capitalism Is Turning the Internet Against Democracy, The New Press.

McChesney, Robert W., 2014, Blowing the Roof Off the Twenty-First Century: Media, Politics, and the Struggle for Post-Capitalist Democracy, Monthly Review Press.

McChesney, Robert W. & Nichols, John, 2016, People Get Ready: The Fight Against a Jobless Economy and a Citizenless Democracy, Nation Books.

McLaren, Peter, 1994, Critical Pedagogy and Predatory Culture: Oppositional Politics in a Postmodern Era, Routledge.

McLaren, Peter, 2000, Che Guevara, Paulo Freire, and the Pedagogy of Revolution, Rowman & Littlefield.

McLaren, Peter; Farahmandpur, Ramin, 2005, Teaching against Global Capitalism and the New Imperialism: A Critical Pedagogy, Rowman & Littlefield.

McLaren, Peter, 2006, Capitalists and Conquerors: A Critical Pedagogy against Empire, Rowman & Littlefield.

McLaren, Peter; Jaramillo, Natalia, 2007, Pedagogy and Praxis in the Age of Empire: Towards a New Humanism, Sense Publishers.

McLaren, Peter; Macrine, Sheila; Hill, Dave (eds.), 2010, Revolutionizing Pedagogy: Education for Social Justice Within and Beyond Global Neo-Liberalism, Palgrave.

McLaren, Peter, 2015, Pedagogy of Insurrection: From Resurrection to Revolution, Peter Lang.

Nafeez, Ahmed, 2014, "The open source revolution is coming and it will conquer the 1% - ex CIA spy", TheGuardian.

Robson, David, 2019, "The '3.5% rule': How a small minority can change the world", BBC, future now.

Standing, Guy, 2017, "Why you've never heard of a Charter that's as important as the Magna Carta", openDemocracyUK, Nov. 6, 2017.

Street, Paul, 2014, They Rule: The 1% vs. Democracy, Paradigm Publishers.

Wilkinson, Richard G., 2005, The Impact of Inequality: How to Make Sick Societies Healthier, London: Routledge.

Wilkinson, Richard G. & Pickett, Kate E., 2009/2011, The Spirit Level: Why Greater Equality Makes Societies Stronger (the documentary), New York: Bloomsbury.

Wolin, Sheldon, 2003, "A Kind of Fascism Is Replacing Our Democracy", Newsday, July 18, 2003. (also see "inverted democracy")

Wolin, Sheldon, 2008, Democracy Incorporated: Managed Democracy and the Specter of Inverted Totalitarianism [free download], Princeton University Press.

Monbiot, George, 2019, TED talks, "The new political story that could change everything"