Your wording suggests you believe that Stross’s considerations don’t just support democracy, but also explain why democracy has mostly won out over other systems, or why people have believed in it, or something else that otherwise would be mysterious. Is the latter a claim you really intended to make?
Back when I had the same question, I found http://www.antipope.org/charlie/blog-static/2008/02/politics.html most enlightening. Once I realized it wasn’t really about making good policy or making sure people were really represented it made much more sense.
Your wording suggests you believe that Stross’s considerations don’t just support democracy, but also explain why democracy has mostly won out over other systems, or why people have believed in it, or something else that otherwise would be mysterious. Is the latter a claim you really intended to make?
I already came to that conclusion a while ago, but I like finding out what people in different groups think about it.