The Decline and Rise of Democracy (eBook)

A Global History from Antiquity to Today

David Stasavage (Autor)

eBook Download: EPUB

2020
424 Seiten
Princeton University Press (Verlag)
978-0-691-20195-5 (ISBN)

Infos

One of the most important books on political regimes written in a generation.Steven Levitsky, New York Timesbestselling author of How Democracies DieA new understanding of how and why early democracy took hold, how modern democracy evolved, and what this history teaches us about the futureHistorical accounts of democracy's rise tend to focus on ancient Greece and pre-Renaissance Europe. The Decline and Rise of Democracy draws from global evidence to show that the story is much richerdemocratic practices were present in many places, at many other times, from the Americas before European conquest, to ancient Mesopotamia, to precolonial Africa. Delving into the prevalence of early democracy throughout the world, David Stasavage makes the case that understanding how and where these democracies flourishedand when and why they declinedcan provide crucial information not just about the history of governance, but also about the ways modern democracies work and where they could manifest in the future.Drawing from examples spanning several millennia, Stasavage first considers why states developed either democratic or autocratic styles of governance and argues that early democracy tended to develop in small places with a weak state and, counterintuitively, simple technologies. When central state institutions (such as a tax bureaucracy) were absentas in medieval Europerulers needed consent from their populace to govern. When central institutions were strongas in China or the Middle Eastconsent was less necessary and autocracy more likely. He then explores the transition from early to modern democracy, which first took shape in England and then the United States, illustrating that modern democracy arose as an effort to combine popular control with a strong state over a large territory. Democracy has been an experiment that has unfolded over time and across the worldand its transformation is ongoing.Amidst rising democratic anxieties, The Decline and Rise of Democracy widens the historical lens on the growth of political institutions and offers surprising lessons for all who care about governance.

Produkt-Details

• Erscheint lt. Verlag: 2.6.2020
• Reihe/Serie: The Princeton Economic History of the Western World
• Reihe/Serie: The Princeton Economic History of the Western World
• Zusatzinfo: 32 b/w illus.
• Sprache: englisch
• Themenwelt: Geisteswissenschaften ► Geschichte ► Allgemeine Geschichte
• Themenwelt: Sozialwissenschaften ► Politik / Verwaltung ► Politische Systeme
• Themenwelt: Sozialwissenschaften ► Politik / Verwaltung ► Politische Theorie
• Schlagworte: abbasid caliphate • Agricultural Productivity • Agriculture • Agriculture (Chinese mythology) • Ancient Egypt • Ancient India • Anglo Saxon monarchy • Anglo-Saxons • Anti-Federalism • autocracy • Backwardness • Balance of Power • Barry Eichengreen • Barry Weingast • British democracy • Bureaucracy • bureaucrat • Caliphate • Capitalism • central government • Champa rice • chiefdom • China • city-state • Colonialism • commercial revolution • Conscription • contemporary African history • Daron Acemoglu • Democracy • Democratization • Demokratia • despotism • Domesday Book • Douglass North • Dutch Republic • early modern period • Economic Development • Economic Growth • Economic History • Economic Inequality • ekklesia • Election • Emerging Technologies • England’s modern democracy • Escape from Rome • Estates General (France) • Europe • Forged through Fire • Frances McCall Rosenbluth • French democracy • Full Powers • Germanic tribes, Arabia • Glorious Revolution • Governance • Government • Greek city-states, Athens • Green Revolution • Hurons in seventeenth-century Canada • Ideology • Illustration • Imperial China • Imperial examination • imperialism • imperial state • Industrial Revolution • Institution • Islamic history • James Robinson • John Ferejohn • John Joseph Wallis • Larry Bartels • Legislation • Market Economy • Middle Ages • Military Service • Monarchies in Europe • Monarchy • Muslim world • Native American History • newspaper • Nobility • North America • Oman and democracy • Political Economy • Political Party • Political Science • Politics • politics of the united states • Polity • population density • Pre-Islamic Arabia • premodern China • Prerogative • Princeton University Press • Qin Shi Huang • representative assembly • Representative Democracy • Republic • Robert C. Allen • role of agriculture • Ruler • sasanian empire • Sasanid bureaucracy • Shang dynasty • Slavery • slavery in America • Society • Song dynasty • State Formation • Suffrage • Sumer • Supporter • Tax • Tax Rate • Technology • The Estates • thetes • Thomas J. Sargent • Tlaxcalans in early sixteenth-century Mexico • Umayyad Caliphate • United States constitution • Universal Suffrage • urbanization • Violence and Social Orders • Voting • Walter Scheidel • war • warfare • Warring States Period • Wealth • Western Europe • What Happened • Writing • Xia dynasty
• ISBN-10: 0-691-20195-1 / 0691201951
• ISBN-13: 978-0-691-20195-5 / 9780691201955