People abroad may be confused by the odd rules and traditions of the Iowa caucuses.

But the first votes of the 2020 presidential election are also a reaffirmation of American democracy.

Brett Bruen was the director of global engagement in the Obama White House and a career American diplomat. He runs the crisis-communications agency Global Situation Room.

This is an opinion column. The thoughts expressed are those of the author.

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"Where the heck is Iowa?"

Many Americans will have the Midwestern state's general whereabouts placed in their minds. The same cannot be said for those people who live beyond the borders of the US. Many of those abroad will undoubtedly have heard speak of during recent months and prior presidential elections.

Yet, its exact location and importance in our democracy remain largely a mystery, even as the first test of our presidential candidates draws close.

While those aboard may be confused by the customs and exact location of Iowa, Monday's caucuses are a powerful reminder to the world about the democracy on which the US is founded.

A small expression of American democracy

The uniqueness of Iowa's presidential race can leave a non-American observer with a lot of questions. Such as: what the heck is a caucus?

Let's start with the strange notion that it's an election, at least on the Democratic side, without actual ballots. Many foreigners I've discussed the election with find the notion that Iowans have something approximating a debate before proceeding to vote antiquated.

Odder still is the fact that participants then have to physically place themselves in different parts of the room. If their candidate doesn't get over 15%, voters have to uncomfortably move to another aspirant's corner. In the case of a tie, contests can come down to a coin toss.

The confusion abroad can also be extended to all of the quaint customs candidates have to abide in order to campaign in the state, such as eating meat on a stick and pouring beers at the Iowa State Fair.

Another question I've heard: why the heck does it take so darn long? Campaigning for American presidential elections starts years ahead of the votes being actually cast. Then, the primaries are painfully spread over months. For the rest of the world, this is unnecessarily excruciating and fairly inexplicable. Why not just declare a day and be done with it?

When the heck will it be done? Despite all of the buildup up and buzz, those following from abroad are mostly trying to figure out what it means after February 3.

Concepts like beating expectations and gaining momentum are hard to decipher. So, some may incorrectly interpret the winner of Iowa as the new frontrunner. While others will wonder how Mike Bloomberg could skip the whole thing and still be considered competitive.

A reminder of why America works

But despite the oddities of Iowa, one of the most important messages that comes from the caucuses is a conceptual one.

The person who wants to attain the highest office in the country has to start by spending significant time in small states, in cramped living rooms. It is an illustration, a reminder each cycle that power is supposed to come from the people. The US is not, as many other countries are, a place where communities must subsume their interests for national ones.

The truth of the matter is that despite the size of our country, American presidential elections are surprisingly local.

It's not just in Iowa and New Hampshire. Many states, especially the early contests, expect that national leaders will pay considerable attention to them and their issues. From debates over what flag should fly over a state capitol to courting powerful unions like that of Nevada's culinary workers, selecting who should lead the US often hinges on very parochial problems and policies.

There are a number of negatives to the hyper-localization and personalization of the process. We often lose sight of the big picture. We lose candidates who can't sustain their campaigns until more diverse states are in play. We tend to overemphasize small slights and slip ups that matter to a few. Perhaps of greatest concern, we give a few local leaders far too much influence in picking our national leaders.

America looks far different from afar. We are often seen a country with more common traits than we in fact possess. And the local aspect of the caucuses and the presidential primaries are a chance to highlight some of those distinctive features across regions and states. People from beyond America's shores have the opportunity to hear from people in many of the places that don't regularly get as much global coverage.

In short, the primaries and especially the Iowa caucus provides us with a unique moment to show the world who we really are and how our system is designed to work.

There are certainly no shortage of questions as to the viability of our modern democracy after three years of Trump. That's what makes this caucus so critical. It will be the first formal presidential poll since that fateful day in the fall of 2016. No matter who comes out ahead or in a close second, there is a far more question on the ballot: who are we as a country? The world will be watching.

Brett Bruen is President of the crisis communications firm, the Global Situation Room, Inc. He was Director of Global Engagement at the White House and spent twelve years as an American diplomat. In addition to teaching crisis management at Georgetown University, he serves on the Board of the FDR Foundation at Harvard and the Clinton Institute at University College Dublin.