Qaddafi

Those of us not familiar with the Libya leader's antics have been learning quite a bit lately about a certain Col. Qaddafi of late. Like that he built the worlds largest underground river. Or that he is guarded night and day by an all female bodyguard. Libya's system of direct democracy that he pioneered sounds really interesting too.

The key lies in Libya's system of popular committees, ostensibly 30,000 councils of 100 people each that guide the course of the nation. While it's difficult to find anyone outside Libya–or inside, for that matter–who really believes these committees drive policy, they may provide a channel through which real concerns at the bottom could reach the very few at the top.