What defines a citizen Who can become one Does the creation of new citizens benefit a country or threaten it All democracies grapple with questions about who should or should not become citizens of their countries. But not all countries answer these questions in the same ways. The benefits of democracy can be found in every part of the globe. Since the collapse of the Soviet Union and its communist ideology in 1991 democracy has been touted as the only real answer to the worlds challenges. At the same time the true meaning of democracy has rarely been so extensively tested.