Can a government claim that everything it does is legitimate because it was elected? The leaders of Hamas seem to think so. When the United States announced it would boycott the Palestinian Authority after voters elected the terrorist group to run it, Prime Minister and Hamas senior leader Ismail Haniyeh complained that Washington was punishing the Palestinians for their democratic choice. "This government was elected in a free and honest election, and in accordance with the democratic principles the American administration is calling for," he said.

It is an argument that is being made a lot these days. Considering that Washington is on a campaign to spread democracy around the Middle East, its critics say, it can hardly complain when the voters choose a government it doesn't like. Canadian critics said the same thing when the Conservative government of Prime Minister Stephen Harper cut off aid to the PA because Hamas had refused to renounce terrorism or recognize Israel's right to exist.

Hamas was, indeed, elected, in a process that international observers considered generally free and fair. That gives it the right to claim the government it leads is the representative of the Palestinian people. But it doesn't mean the rest of us have to like their choice. Nor does it mean we have to approve of everything their new government does. The virtue of being elected does not exempt a government from the basic rules that govern civilized countries.

One of those rules, surely, is that you don't support or condone terrorism, as Hamas did when it defended last weekend's horrific suicide bombing in Tel Aviv. Another is that you respect the agreements signed by your country or territory. Hamas has refused to abide by the interim peace accords between Israel and the Palestinian Authority, even though the accords were signed and certified before the whole world. Another is that you exert authority over your territory. Hamas has said that, while its own militants are respecting a ceasefire, it will do nothing to control the other groups that are attacking Israel -- among them Islamic Jihad, the group that carried out the Tel Aviv bombing. That is an abdication of its governmental responsibility, as well as a violation of past Palestinian promises to curb terrorism.

Nowhere is it written that other countries need to deal with, much less give aid to, a government that breaks these simple rules of lawful conduct. Joining a club doesn't give you the right to break its codes; to the contrary, it puts an onus on you to respect them. The club of democratic nations has standards and the existing members have every right to stand up for them. Hitler, of course, became leader of Germany through the ballot box. His foreign apologists never tired of pointing out how popular he was at home. Who today would argue that his elected status gave him a free hand to do what he did?

Besides, becoming a true democracy takes more than winning one election. It means a whole host of things, from respecting free expression to abiding by the rule of law. Some unelected governments -- say Hong Kong's under British rule -- are more democratic than many elected ones. Hong Kong had press freedom, an independent judiciary and the right of habeas corpus, which was more than the People's Republic of China next door could say. Most democracies that deserve the name also have some form of "civil society," the web of independent, private groups (such as unions, professional associations, charities, advocacy groups and religious organizations) that allow citizen to express their views and work for their interests free of government control.

Governments, democratic or otherwise, are judged on how they act, both toward their people and toward their neighbours. Being elected does not give any government a free pass from the norms of decent conduct

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