Democracy and autocracy

Sir, – There is room for intelligent disagreement about the advisability of US house speaker Nancy Pelosi’s recent visit to Taiwan and the wisdom of her rhetoric about the world’s facing a choice between democracy and autocracy.

There are numerous examples of allegedly well-intentioned but ultimately disastrous interventions in the internal affairs of other states. But since an autocracy by definition is a system of government in which one person wields absolute power, Aidan Roddy’s claim that the decision between democracy and autocracy is “best left to every country, its leader or leaders and its people” is problematic (Letters, August 5th).

An autocracy in which the people got to choose between democracy and autocracy would be a contradiction in terms. – Yours, etc,

CONOR RODDY,