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History of democracy

A democracy is a political system, or a system of decision-making within an institution, organization, or state, in which members have a share of power.[2] Modern democracies are characterized by two capabilities of their citizens that differentiate them fundamentally from earlier forms of government: to intervene in society and have their sovereign (e.g., their representatives) held accountable to the international laws of other governments of their kind. Democratic government is commonly juxtaposed with oligarchic and monarchic systems, which are ruled by a minority and a sole monarch respectively.

Democracy is generally associated with the efforts of the ancient Greeks, whom 18th-century intellectuals considered the founders of Western civilization. These individuals attempted to leverage these early democratic experiments into a new template for post-monarchical political organization.[3] The extent to which these 18th-century democratic revivalists succeeded in turning the democratic ideals of the ancient Greeks into the dominant political institution of the next 300 years is hardly debatable, even if the moral justifications they often employed might be. Nevertheless, the critical historical juncture catalyzed by the resurrection of democratic ideals and institutions fundamentally transformed the ensuing centuries and has dominated the international landscape since the dismantling of the final vestige of the empire following the end of the Second World War.


Modern representative democracies attempt to bridge the gap between Rousseau's depiction of the state of nature and Hobbes's depiction of society as inevitably authoritarian through 'social contracts' that enshrine the rights of the citizens, curtail the power of the state, and grant agency through the right to vote.[4]

Antiquity[edit]

Prehistoric origins[edit]

Anthropologists have identified forms of proto-democracy that date back to small bands of hunter-gatherers that predate the establishment of agrarian, sedentary societies and still exist virtually unchanged in isolated indigenous groups today. In these groups of generally 50–100 individuals, often tied closely by familial bonds, decisions are reached by consensus or majority and many times without the designation of any specific chief.[4]


These types of democracy are commonly identified as tribalism, or primitive democracy. In this sense, a primitive democracy usually takes shape in small communities or villages when there are face-to-face discussions in a village, council or with a leader who has the backing of village elders or other cooperative forms of government.[5] This becomes more complex on a larger scale, such as when the village and city are examined more broadly as political communities. All other forms of rule – including monarchy, tyranny, aristocracy, and oligarchy – have flourished in more urban centers, often those with concentrated populations.[6] David Graeber and David Wengrow, in The Dawn of Everything, argue in contrast that cities and early settlements were more varied and unpredictable in terms of how their political systems alternated and evolved from more to less democratic.[7]


The concepts (and name) of democracy and constitution as a form of government originated in ancient Athens circa 508 BCE. In ancient Greece, where there were many city-states with different forms of government, democracy ("rule by the demos", i.e. citizen body) was contrasted with governance by elites (aristocracy, literally "rule by the best"), by one person (monarchy), by tyrants (tyranny), etc.

Potential proto-democratic societies[edit]

Although fifth-century BCE Athens is widely considered to have been the first state to develop a sophisticated system of rule that we today call democracy,[8][9][10][11][12][13] in recent decades scholars have explored the possibility that advancements toward democratic government occurred independently in the Near East, the Indian subcontinent, and elsewhere before this.[14]

Witenagemot

The election of in the Pala Empire (8th century).

Gopala

The 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.

túatha

The of Oman, a minority sect distinct from both Sunni and Shia Muslims, have traditionally chosen their leaders via community-wide elections of qualified candidates starting in the 8th century.[90][91] They were distinguished early on in the region by their belief that the ruler needed the consent of the ruled.[92] The leader exercised both religious and secular rule.[91]

Ibadites

The , of economic, social and religious natures, in the later Middle Ages elected officers for yearly terms.

guilds

The (republics) of medieval Italy, as Venice and Florence, and similar city-states in Switzerland, Flanders and the Hanseatic league had not a modern democratic system but a guild democratic system. The Italian cities in the middle medieval period had "lobbies war" democracies without institutional guarantee systems (a full developed balance of powers). During late medieval and renaissance periods, Venice became an oligarchy and others became Signorie ("lordships"). They were, in any case in late medieval times, not nearly as democratic as the Athenian-influenced city-states of Ancient Greece (discussed above), but they served as focal points for early modern democracy.

city-states

, Wiec – popular assemblies in Slavic countries. In Poland, wiece developed in 1182 into the Sejm – the Polish parliament. The veche was the highest legislature and judicial authority in the republics of Novgorod until 1478 and Pskov until 1510.

Veche

The system of the Basque Country in which farmholders of a rural area connected to a particular church would meet to reach decisions on issues affecting the community and to elect representatives to the provincial Batzar Nagusiak/Juntos Generales.[93]

elizate

The rise of democratic parliaments in and Scotland: Magna Carta (1215) limiting the authority of the king; first representative parliament (1265).[94][95] The version of Magna Carta signed by King John implicitly supported what became the English writ of habeas corpus, safeguarding individual freedom against unlawful imprisonment with right to appeal. The emergence of petitioning in the 13th century is some of the earliest evidence of this parliament being used as a forum to address the general grievances of ordinary people.

England

Early institutions included:

or the Nobles' Democracy (Rzeczpospolita Szlachecka) arose in the Kingdom of Poland and Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. This foreshadowed a democracy of about ten percent of the population of the Commonwealth, consisting of the nobility, who were an electorate for the office of the King.[99] They observed 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.[100]

Golden Liberty

1588: The in the Dutch Republic argued that the sovereignty over the Netherlands was not in the hands of the monarch, but in those of the States-General, an assembly consisting of nobles and representatives of cities from all over the Netherlands. Furthermore, it decided that the sovereignty of the states was better guaranteed by the assembly, instead of a singular autocrat.[101]

Justificatie of Deductie

1610: in England decided that "the King by his proclamation or other ways cannot change any part of the common law, or statute law, or the customs of the realm" and that "the King hath no prerogative, but that which the law of the land allows him."

The Case of Proclamations

1610: decided that "in many cases, the common law will control Acts of Parliament".

Dr. Bonham's Case

1619: The , the first representative legislative body in the New World, is established.

Virginia House of Burgesses

1620: The , an agreement among the Pilgrims, and fellow voyagers on forming a government among themselves, based on majority rule, is signed.

Mayflower Compact

1628: During a period of ,[102] the Petition of Right was passed by the Parliament of England. It established, among other things, the illegality of taxation without parliamentary consent and of arbitrary imprisonment.[103]

renewed interest in Magna Carta

1642–1651: The idea of the political party with took form in Britain around the time of the English Civil War. Soldiers from the Parliamentarian New Model Army and a faction of Levellers freely debated rights to political representation during the Putney Debates of 1647. The Levellers published a newspaper (The Moderate) and pioneered political petitions, pamphleteering and party colours. Later, the pre-war Royalist (then Cavalier) and opposing Parliamentarian groupings became the Tory party and the Whigs in the Parliament.

factions

1679: English Act of , safeguarding individual freedom against unlawful imprisonment with right to appeal; one of the documents integral to the constitution of the United Kingdom and the history of the parliament of the United Kingdom.

Habeas Corpus

1682: wrote his Frame of Government of Pennsylvania. The document gave the colony a representative legislature and granted liberal freedoms to the colony's citizens.

William Penn

1689: The , enacted by Parliament, set out the requirement for regular parliaments, free elections, rules for freedom of speech in Parliament, and limited the power of the monarch. It ensured (with the Glorious Revolution of 1688) that, unlike much of the rest of Europe, royal absolutism would not prevail.[104][105]

Bill of Rights 1689

1689: published the Two Treatises of Government, attacking monarchical absolutism and promoting social contract theory and the consent of the governed.

John Locke

Democracy in the 21st century[edit]

By region[edit]

The 2003 US-led invasion of Iraq led to a toppling of President Saddam Hussein and a new constitution with free and open elections.[126]. Later, around 2011, the Arab Spring led to much upheaval, as well as to the establishing of a democracy in Tunisia and some increased democratic rights in Morocco. Egypt saw a temporary democracy before the re-establishment of military rule. The Palestinian Authority also took action to address democratic rights.


In Africa, out of 55 countries, democratization seems almost stalled since 2005 because of the resistance of some 20 non-democratic regimes, most of which originated in the 1980s.[127] In exception to this, in 2016, after losing an election, the president of the Gambia attempted to cling to power but a threatened regional military intervention forced him to leave. In 2018 dictatorships in Sudan and Algeria fell; As of 2019 it remains unclear what type of regimes will emerge in these two countries.

Aristotle (1912). . Translated by William Ellis – via Wikisource.

Politics 

Diodorus Siculus (1814). . Translated by G. Booth – via Wikisource.

Historical Library 

Plato. . Translated by Benjamin Jowett – via Wikisource.

The Republic 

Livy (1905). . Translated by Rev. Canon Roberts – via Wikisource.

From the Founding of the City 

Kaplan, Temma. (Oxford University Press, 2014)

Democracy: A World History

by Our World in Data

Democracy