Information about History Of Democracy

Democracy
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The history of democracy traces back from its origins in ancient world to its re-emergence and rise from the 17th century to the present day.

Origins

Ancient Mesopotamia

The Sumerian city states of Mesopotamia (Iraq) are believed to have had some form of democratic setup initially.^[1] They became monarchies over time, although some limits on the king's power were often retained.

Like Greece 2,000 years later, Sumer (Kengir in Sumerian) in southern Mesopotamia was a culture that arose among many independent city-states which only much later were briefly unified, and then dominated by outside empires. In a pattern repeated in some Greek city-states and in Rome, many Sumerian city-states are believed to have started with a form of democracy, but elected dictators in times of war that later kept power to become permanent monarchies.^[2]

Sumerian records are much older than Greek and Roman ones and thus not as clear.

Raul Manglapus, author of Will of the People: Original Democracy in Non-Western Societies, states:

This pattern is repeated to varying degrees in later Mesopotamian states, including Ebla, which elected a "king" (roughly what we'd now call a president) every seven years. Retired kings received a pension from the state.

Ancient India

Further information: Panchayati Raj, Sangha, Gana and Mahajanapadas

One of the earliest instances of civilizations with democracy was found in ancient India, even during the times of the Rigveda, probably the earliest Indo-European literature and one of the most sacred books of the Hindus. The states mentioned are mostly monarchies, but with two democratic institutions called the Sabha and the Samiti. The Sabha (lit., Assembly in Sanskrit) is widely interpreted to be the assembly of the elect or the important chieftains of the tribe, while the Samiti seems to be the gathering of all the men of the tribe, convened only for very special occasions. The Sabha and the Samiti kept check on the powers of the king, and were given a semi-divine status in the Rigveda as the "daughters of the Hindu deity Prajapati"[1]. The later epic Ramayana seems to mention a Samiti summoned by King Dasharatha of Ayodhya for ratification of his son Prince Ramachandra as the successor (Book II, Canto II:80). Later, there were even many republics in ancient India, which were established sometime before the 6th century BC, and prior to the birth of Gautama Buddha. These republics were known as Maha Janapadas, and among these states, Vaishali (in what is now Bihar, India) was the world's first republic. The democratic Sangha, Gana and Panchayat systems were used in some of these republics; the Panchayat system is still used today in Indian villages. Later during the time of Alexander the Great in the 4th century BC, the Greeks wrote about the Sabarcae and Sambastai states in what is now Pakistan and Afghanistan, whose "form of government was democratic and not regal" according to Greek scholars at the time.^[3] Another example was Gopala's rise to power by democratic election in Bengal, which was documented by the Tibetan historian Taranath.^[4][5]

Ancient Greece

For more details on this topic, see Athenian democracy.

Athens is among the first recorded and one of the most important Western democracies in ancient times; the word "democracy" (Greek: δημοκρατία - "rule by the people") was invented by Athenians in order to define their system of government, around 508 BC, after the proposals of Cleisthenes. In the next generation, Ephialtes of Athens had a law passed severely limiting the powers of the Council of the Areopagus, which deprived the Athenian nobility of their special powers; Pericles was the greatest democratic leader, although he has been accused of running a political machine.

Athenian democracy, was based on selection of officials by lot, and decisions in other cases by majority rule. The assembly of all male citizens in Athens voted on decisions directly (compare direct democracy). Elected officials did not determine decisions — giving decision-making power to elected officials was considered by the ancient Athenians to take away the power of the people, effectively making the state an oligarchy.

The Assembly twice voted the democratic constitution out of existence during the crisis at the end of the Pelopponesian War; both votes were under manipulation and pressure (in 404 BC, the presence of an army of occupation); and democracy was recovered in less than a year in both cases.

When the Macedonians conquered Greece, they installed Demetrius of Phalerum as ruler of Athens, for a longer period. Athens restored the forms of its ancient constitution in later antiquity; but the extent to which it was a democracy, and the extent to which it was a tourist exhibit, are debatable.

Roman Republic

For more details on this topic, see Roman Republic.

:

For more details on this topic, see Democracy in Ancient Rome.

Birth of the Republic

In 7th century BC, the Etruscans, early Italian settlers built city-states throughout central Italy and ruled Rome for over a century; and in 510 BC the last king was deposed. The king was expelled by a group of aristocrats led by Lucius Junius Brutus. The founding of the new Republic did not mark the end for Roman troubles, since the new constitution was not flawless and there remained powerful external enemies. Internally, one serious threat was the feuding of the leading families. Another was the struggle between the ruling families(patricians) as a whole and the rest of the population, especially the plebeians. After years of conflicts the plebs forced the senate to pass a written series of laws (the Twelve Tables) which recognized certain rights and gave the plebs their own representatives, the tribunes. By the 4th Century BC, the plebs were given the right to stand for consulship and other major offices of the state.

Rome became the ruler of a great Mediterranean empire. The new provinces brought wealth to Italy, and fortunes were made through mineral concessions and enormous slave run estates. Slaves were imported to Italy and wealthy landowners soon began to buy up and displace the original peasant farmers. By the late 2nd Century this led to renewed conflict between the rich and poor and demands from the latter for reform of constitution. The background of social unease and the inability of the traditional republican constitutions to adapt to the needs of the growing empire led to the rise of a series of over-mighty generals, championing the cause of either the rich or the poor, in the last century BC.

Fall of the Republic

Over the next few hundred years, various generals would bypass or overthrow the Senate for various reasons, mostly to address perceived injustices, either against themselves or against poorer citizens or soldiers. After the dictatorship of Sulla, which was overthrown with the help of Pompey the Great and Marcus Licinius Crassus, the two men joined forces with Julius Caesar to form what is now known as the First Triumvirate, a then secret pact to rule Rome together. The pact did not last long as distrust between the three led to Caesar being charged with war crimes, and he in turn marched on Rome and took supreme power over the republic. Caesar's career was cut short by his assassination at Rome in 44 BC by a group of Senators including Marcus Junius Brutus, the descendant of the Brutus who expelled the Etruscan King four and half centuries before.

In the power vacuum that followed Caesar's assassination, his friend and chief lieutenant, Marcus Antonius, and Caesar's grand-nephew Octavian who also was the adopted son of Caesar, rose to prominence. After some initial disagreements, Antony, Octavian, and Antony's ally Marcus Aemilius Lepidus, formed the Second Triumvirate. Their combined strength gave the triumvirs absolute power.

In 31 BC war between the two finally broke out. Approximately 200 senators, one-third of the Senate, abandoned Octavian to support Antony and Cleopatra. The final confrontation of the Roman Republic occurred on 2 September 31 BC, at the naval Battle of Actium where the fleet of Octavian under the command of Agrippa routed the combined fleet of Antony and Cleopatra; the two lovers fled to Egypt. After his victory, Octavian skillfully used propaganda, negotiation, and bribery to bring Antony's legions in Greece, Asia Minor, and Cyrenaica to his side. Anthony and Cleopatra committed suicide to escape capture.



The period of civil wars were finally over. Thereafter, there was no one left in the Roman Republic who wanted, or could stand against Octavian, as the adopted son of Caesar moved to take absolute control. He designated governors loyal to him to the half dozen "frontier" provinces, where the majority of the legions were situated, thus, at a stroke, giving him command of enough legions to ensure that no single governor could try to overthrow him. He also reorganized the Senate, purging it of unreliable or dangerous members, and "refilled it" with his supporters from the provinces and outside the Roman aristocracy, men who could be counted on to follow his lead. However, he left the majority of Republican institutions apparently intact, albeit feeble. Consuls continued to be elected, tribunes of the plebeians continued to offer legislation, and debate still resounded through the Roman Curia. However it was Octavian who influenced everything and ultimately, controlled the final decisions, and had the legions to back it up, if necessary.

The Roman Senate and the Roman citizens, tired of the never-ending civil wars and unrest, were willing to toss aside the incompetent and unstable rule of the Senate and the popular assemblies in exchange for the iron will of one man who might set Rome back in order. By 27 BC the transition, though subtle and disguised, was made complete. In that year, Octavian offered back all his extraordinary powers to the Senate, and in a carefully staged way, the Senate refused and in fact titled Octavian Augustus — "the revered one". He was always careful to avoid the title of rex — "king", and instead took on the titles of princeps — "first citizen" and imperator, a title given by Roman troops to their victorious commanders. The Roman Empire had been born.

Once Octavian named Tiberius as his heir, it was clear to everyone that even the hope of a restored Republic was dead. Most likely, by the time Augustus died, no one was old enough to know a time before an Emperor ruled Rome. The Roman Republic had been changed into a despotic régime, which, underneath a competent and strong Emperor, could achieve military supremacy, economic prosperity, and a genuine peace, but under a weak or incompetent one saw its glory tarnished by cruelty, military defeats, revolts, and civil war. The Roman Empire was eventually divided between the Western Roman Empire which fell in 476 AD and the Eastern Roman Empire (also called the Byzantine Empire) which lasted until the fall of Constantinople in 1453 AD.

Local popular institutions

Most of the procedures used by modern democracies are very old. Almost all cultures have at some time had their new leaders approved, or at least accepted, by the people; and have changed the laws only after consultation with the assembly of the people or their leaders. Such institutions existed since before the Iliad or the Odyssey, and modern democracies are often derived or inspired by them, or what remained of them. Nevertheless, the direct result of these institutions was not always a democracy. It was often a narrow oligarchy, as in Venice, or even an absolute monarchy, as in Florence.

These early institutions include:

• The Panchayats in India
• The collegia of the Roman period: associations of various social, economic, religious, funerary and even sportive natures elected officers yearly, often directly modelled on the Senate of Rome.
• The Christian Church well into the 6th Century had its bishops elected by popular acclaim.
• The Pope was elected by a college of cardinals.
• Medieval guilds of economic, social and religious natures elected officers for yearly terms.
• The German tribal system described by Tacitus in his Germania.
• The Frankish custom of the Marzfeld or "March field".^[6]
• The Althing, the parliament of the Icelandic Commonwealth, was founded in 930. It consisted of the 39, later 55, goğar; each owner of a goğarğ; and membership, which could in principle be lent or sold, was kept tight hold of by each hereditary goği. Thus, for example, when Burnt Njal's stepson wanted to enter it, Njal had to persuade the Althing to enlarge itself so a seat would be available. But as each independent farmer in the country could choose what goği represented him the system could be claimed as an early form of democracy. The Alşing has run nearly continuously to the present day. The Althing was preceded by less elaborate "things" (assemblies) all over Northern Europe.^[7]
• The Thing of all Swedes, which was held annually at Uppsala in the end of February or early March. Like in Iceland, the assemblies were presided by the lawspeaker, but the Swedish king functioned as a judge. A famous incident took place circa 1018, when King Olof Skötkonung wanted to pursue the war against Norway against the will of the people. Şorgnır the Lawspeaker reminded the king in a long speech that the power resided with the Swedish people and not with the king. When the king heard the din of swords beating the shields in support of Şorgnır's speech, he gave in. Adam of Bremen wrote that the people used to obey the king only when they thought his suggestions seemed better, although in war his power was absolute.
• The túatha system in early medieval Ireland. Landowners and the masters of a profession or craft were members of a local assembly, known as a túath. Each túath met in annual assembly which approved all common policies, declared war or peace on other tuatha, and accepted the election of a new "king"; normally during the old king's lifetime, as a tanist. The new king had to be descended within four generations from a previous king, so this usually became, in practice, a hereditary kingship; although some kingships alternated between lines of cousins. About 80 to 100 túatha coexisted at any time throughout Ireland. Each túath controlled a more or less compact area of land which it could pretty much defend from cattle-raids, and this was divided among its members.
• The city-states of medieval Italy, of which Venice and Florence were the most successful, and similar city-states in Switzerland, Flanders and the Hanseatic league. These were often closer to an oligarchy than a democracy in practice, and were, in any case, not nearly as democratic as the Athenian-influenced city-states of Ancient Greece (discussed in the above section), but they served as focal points for early modern democracy.
• Veche, Wiec - popular assemblies in Slavic countries. In Poland wiece have developed in 1182 into Sejm - Polish parliament. The veche was the highest legislature and judicial authority in the republics of Novgorod until 1478 and Pskov until 1510.
• Rise of parliamentary bodies in other European countries.

Indigenous peoples of the Americas

Historian Jack Weatherford asserts that Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, and others, got their ideas on democracy not from any Greek or Roman influence, but from the Iroquois and other indigenous peoples of the Americas, who practiced the type of democracy found in the United States Constitution, through self-governing territories that were part of a larger whole. This democracy was founded between the years 1000-1450, and lasted several hundred years. He also states that American democracy was continually changed and improved by the influence of Native Americans throughout North America. For example, the right of women to vote started on the American frontier, and moved eastward. In other words, Americans learned democracy from the Indigenous peoples of the North America.

The Aztecs also practiced elections, and the elected officials elected a supreme speaker, but not a ruler.

^[8]

Rise of democracy in modern national governments

Pre-Eighteenth century milestones

• Rise of democratic parliaments in England and Scotland: Magna Carta (1215) limiting the authority of powerholders, First elected parliament (1265), The Levellers political movement, English Civil War (1642-1651), Habeas Corpus Act (1679), English Bill of Rights and Scottish Claim of Right (1689). See also: other documents listed at the Constitution of the United Kingdom, History of the parliament of the United Kingdom.
• Simon de Montfort in 1265 introduced the idea that powerholders are responsible to an electorate — (although only landowners were allowed to vote in the 1265 English election)
• Renaissance humanism was a cultural movement in Europe beginning in central Italy (particularly Florence) in the last decades of the 14th century. It revived and refined the study of language (First Latin, and then the Greek language by mid-century), science, philosophy, art and poetry of classical antiquity. The "revival" was based on interpretations of Roman and Greek texts. Their emphasis on art and the senses marked a great change from the medieval values of humility, introspection, and passivity.

The humanist philosophers looked for secular principles on which society could be organized, as opposed to the concentration of political power in the hands of the Church. Prior to the Renaissance, religion had been the dominant force in politics for a thousand years.

Humanists looked at ancient Greece and found the concept of democracy. In some cases they began to implement it (to a limited extent) in practice.

• Rise of Golden Liberty (Nobles' Democracy, Rzeczpospolita Szlachecka) in the Kingdom of Poland and Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth: Nihil novi of 1505, Pacta conventa and King Henry's Articles (1573). See also: Szlachta history and political privileges, Sejm of the Kingdom of Poland and the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, Organisation and politics of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth.
• William Penn wrote his Frame of Government of Pennsylvania in 1682. The document gave the colony a representative legislature and granted liberal freedoms to the colony's citizens.

Eighteenth and nineteenth century milestones

• 1755: The Corsican republic led by Pasquale Paoli with the Corsican Constitution
• 1760s-1790s Americans develop and apply concept of Republicanism; basis of American Revolution
• Virginia Declaration of Rights of 1776 (based on the English Bill of Rights)
• United States Constitution ratified in 1789 and the new United States Bill of Rights
• 1780s: development of social movements identifying themselves with the term 'democracy': Political clashes between 'aristocrats' and 'democrats' in Benelux countries changed the semi-negative meaning of the word 'democracy' in Europe, which was until then regarded as synonymous with anarchy, into a much more positive opposite of 'aristocracy'.
• From late 1770s: new Constitutions and Bills explicitly describing and limiting the authority of powerholders, many based on the British Bill of Rights (1689). Polish Constitution of May 3, 1791 is widely recognized as the second oldest constitution in the world.^[9]
• 1791: The Haitian Revolution, the first, and only, successful slave revolution, established a free republic.
• 1791: Constitution of May 3, 1791 in Poland.
• 1789-1799: the French Revolution
• 1790s First Party System in U.S. involves invention of locally-rooted political parties in the United States; networks of party newspapers; new canvassing techniques; use of caucus to select candidates; fixed party names; party loyalty; party platform (Jefferson 1799); peaceful transition between parties (1800)
• Early 19th century: in Europe rise of political parties competing for votes.
• Extension of political rights to various social classes: elimination of wealth, property, sex, race and similar requirements for voting (See also universal suffrage).
• 1850s: introduction of the secret ballot in Australia; 1872 in UK; 1892 in USA

The secret ballot

The notion of a secret ballot, where one is entitled to the privacy of their votes, is taken for granted by most today by virtue of the fact that it is simply considered the norm. However, this practice was highly controversial in the 19th century; it was widely argued that no man would want to keep his vote secret unless he was ashamed of it.

The two earliest systems used were the Victorian method and the South Australian method. Both were introduced in 1856 to voters in Victoria and South Australia. The Victorian method involved voters crossing out all the candidates whom he did not approve of. The South Australian method, which is more similar to what most democracies use today, had voters put a mark in the preferred candidate's corresponding box. The Victorian voting system also was not completely secret, as it was traceable by a special number.

20th century waves of democracy

The end of the First World War was a temporary victory for democracy in Europe, as it was preserved in France and temporarily extended to Germany. Already in 1906 full modern democratic rights, universal suffrage for all citizens was implemented constitutionally in Finland as well as an proportional representation, open list system. Likewise, the February Revolution in Russia in 1917 inaugurated a few months of liberal democracy under Alexander Kerensky until Lenin took over in October. The terrific economic impact of the Great Depression hurt democratic forces in many countries. The 1930s became a decade of dictators in Europe and Latin America.

World War II was ultimately a victory for democracy in Western Europe, where representative governments were established that reflected the general will of their citizens. However, many countries of Central and Eastern Europe became undemocratic Soviet satellite states. In Southern Europe, a number of right-wing authoritarian dictatorships (most notably in Spain and Portugal) continued to exist.

Japan had moved towards democracy during the Taishō period during the 1920s, but it was under effective military rule in the years before and during World War II. The country adopted a new constitution during the postwar Allied occupation, with initial elections in 1946.

World War II also planted seeds of freedom outside Europe and Japan, as it weakened all the colonial powers while strengthening anticolonial sentiment worldwide. Many restive colonies/possessions were promised subsequent independence in exchange for their support for embattled colonial powers during the war. The United States, itself a former colony, flexed its new influence in support of the decolonization process, for example supporting prominent Arab nationalist Nasser during the Suez Crisis in 1956, often cited as the last gasp of European colonialism.

India became a democratic republic in 1950 upon achieving independence from Great Britain. Most of the former colonies were independent by 1965. The process of decolonization created much political upheaval in Africa and parts of Asia, with some countries experiencing often rapid changes to and from democratic and other forms of government.

The Voting Rights Act of 1965 in the United States helped to protect the black vote, especially in the southern states.

New waves of democracy swept across Southern Europe in the 1970s and Central Europe in the late 1980s.

Much of Eastern Europe, Latin America, East and Southeast Asia, and several Arab, central Asian and African states, and the not-yet-state that is the Palestinian Authority moved towards greater liberal democracy in the 1990s and 2000s.

An analysis by Freedom House argues that there was not a single liberal democracy with universal suffrage in the world in 1900, but that in 2000 120 of the world's 192 nations, or 62% were such democracies. They count 25 nations, or 19% of the world's nations with "restricted democratic practices" in 1900 and 16, or 8% of the world's nations today. They counted 19 constitutional monarchies in 1900, forming 14% of the world's nations, where a constitution limited the powers of the monarch, and with some power devolved to elected legislatures, and none in the present. Other nations had, and have, various forms of non-democratic rule. ^[10] While the specifics may be open to debate (for example, New Zealand actually enacted universal suffrage in 1893, but is discounted due to a lack of complete sovereignty and certain restrictions on the Māori vote), the numbers are indicative of the expansion of democracy during the twentieth century.

Contemporary trends

• E-democracy

See also

Ideas

• Direct democracy
• Indirect democracy
• Direct democracy (history in the United States)
• Liberal democracy
• List of types of democracy
• Political philosophy
• Political system
• Representative democracy
• Soviet democracy
• Suffrage
• Anarchy

Documents

• Magna Carta of 1215
• Corsican Constitution of 1755 (see Pasquale Paoli)
• Swedish Constitution of 1772

People

• Edmund Burke
• Cornelius Castoriadis
• Anders Chydenius
• Francis Fukuyama
• Samuel P. Huntington
• Thomas Jefferson
• John Locke
• Niccolò Machiavelli
• James Madison
• John Stuart Mill
• John Stewart
• Karl Marx
• Simon de Montfort
• Thomas Paine
• Pasquale Paoli
• Cola di Rienzi
• Jean-Jacques Rousseau
• Charles de Secondat, Baron de Montesquieu
• Amartya Sen
• Alexis de Tocqueville
• John Wilkes

Events

• De Montfort's Parliament (1265) - first elected parliament in England

Notes

References

• Becker, Peter, Juergen Heideking and James A. Henretta, eds. Republicanism and Liberalism in America and the German States, 1750-1850. Cambridge University Press. (2002).
• Robert Dahl, Ian Shapiro, and Jose Antonio Cheibub, eds, The Democracy Sourcebook MIT Press (2003)
• Diamond, Larry and Marc Plattner, The Global Resurgence of Democracy, 2nd edition Johns Hopkins University Press, 1996
• Himes, Kenneth R. Catholic Intellectuals and the Challenge of Democracy (2002), about 19th and 20th century European Catholic thinkers, including anti-democrats like Hillaire Belloc
• Keane, John. Violence and Democracy (2004)
• Keyssar, Alexander. The Right to Vote: The Contested History of Democracy in the United States (2001)
• Lijphart, Arend. Patterns of Democracy. Government Forms and Performance in Thirty-Six Countries Yale University Press (1999)
• Lipset, Seymour Martin. “Some Social Prerrequisites of Democracy: Economic Development and Political Legitimacy”, American Political Science Review, (1959) 53 (1): 69-105. online at JSTOR
• Macpherson, C. B. The Life and Times of Liberal Democracy. Oxford University Press (1977)
• Markoff, John, Waves of Democracy, 1996, ISBN 0-8039-9019-7
• Muhlberger, Steve, Phil Paine, Democracy's Place in World History, Journal of World History, 4: 23-45; 1993
• Putnam, Robert. Making Democracy Work Princeton University Press. (1993)
• Rothbard, Murray N., For a New Liberty, 1973, online, last accessed on 24 May, 2005
• Vanhanen, Tatu, The Emergence of Democracy: A comparative study of 119 states, 1850-1979 Helsinki, 1984
• Weingast, Barry. “The Political Foundations of the Rule of Law and Democracy”, American Political Science Review, (1997) 91 (2): 245-263. online at JSTOR
• Wood, Gordon S. The Radicalism of the American Revolution (1993), examines democratic dimensions of republicanism
• Manglapus, Raul S. "Will of the People: Original Democracy in Non-Western Societies" (1987), democracy in Asia, the Middle East and elsewhere dates to at least 2500 B.C, predating western democractic traditions.

Further reading

• Charles Tilly, Contention and Democracy in Europe, 1650-2000, Cambridge University Press, 2004, ISBN 0-521-53713-4, Google Print

External links

• English elections 1265-1832 (only landowners were allowed to vote during this period)
• History of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, 1216-2005
• World History of Democracy
• Historical Atlas of the Twentieth Century
• Waves of democracy often get reversed, Lipset reminds social scientists
• Review of 'Waves of democracy' and 'Development and Social Change'
• Democracy online - Records of democracy evolving in global politics
• The site for the book Delusional Democracy - Fixing the Republic Without Overthrowing the Government and related articles by Joel S. Hirschhorn.