History of democracy

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

Origins

Prehistoric democracies

The earliest forms of democracy may have originated in the bands and tribes of prehistoric times. These groups of people, related by blood and marriage, often assigned the most senior man in each group to be its leader. As groups became larger, a method of selecting a ruler from among the elders of various family lines had to be developed. This process began to take on more of a religious nature and could become either more or less democratic. Larger societies tended to be less democratic for the simple reason that technology for communication was extremely limited. For the largest societies, democracy was perhaps less efficient than a strong central ruler in managing the complex economic and military spheres associated with civilization. Because it is based on writing, the historical record is likely to be biased towards less democratic societies because of the advantages associated with a strong central government. Nevertheless, earlier forms of government may have survived for some time. The Iroquois Confederacy is a modern example of tribal democracies that likely existed beyond the written record.

Ancient India

An early form of democracy was used by republics ( Maha Janapadas) in ancient India before the 6th century BC (before the time of Buddha). [1] Among these states, Vaishali was the first oligarchic republic of the world. Later on, during the time of Alexander ( 4th century BC), the Greeks came in contact with two of these republics, 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.

Ancient Greece

The speaker's platform in the Pnyx, the meeting ground of the assembly where all the great political struggles of Athens were fought out during the "Golden Age". Here Athenian statesmen stood to speak, such as Pericles and Aristides in the 5th century BC and Demosthenes and Aeschines in the 4th, along with countless humbler citizens as well. In the background high on the Acropolis is the Parthenon, the temple of Athena, the city's protective goddess, looking down upon their deliberations.

Athens is one of the first recorded and probably the most important democracy 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 BCE.

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. Democracy had (and for some people still has) the meaning of equality in decisions and of elections in decisions, not the election of persons charged to decide (see representative democracy). Few checks on or limits to the power of the assembly existed, with the notable exception of the graphe paranomon (also voted on by the assembly), which made it illegal to pass a law that was contrary to another.

One of the reasons why this system was feasible was because of the relatively small population of Athens, by modern standards — only 300,000 people. Additionally, there were severe restrictions that dictated who had the right to participate as a citizen, which excluded over half of the total population. Citizenship rights were limited strictly to male, adult, non-slave Athenians of citizen descent. Therefore, women, children, slaves, foreigners and resident aliens — groups that together made up a majority of the city's population — had no rights to participate in the assembly. On the other hand, modern democracy has its own limitations in comparison to the ancient model, as for most citizens participation is limited to voting, voting itself is usually limited to once every several years, voters merely get to choose their representatives in the legislative or executive branches (with the exception of occasional referendums), and it is those representatives, not the voters themselves, who have the power to decide in matters of state.

Pay for political service was a democratic principle, though which forms of service were covered changed over time. In contrast to the professional wages paid to politicians and public servants under modern democracies, this pay was low, about as much as a man could earn doing unskilled manual labour. That is to say, it was aligned with the earning power of the very poorest citizens and intended only to cover what they might otherwise have earned during the days or parts of days they gave over to political service.

During the golden age of classical Athens, in the 5th century BC, when it was hegemon of the Greek city-states, the Athenians encouraged democracy abroad. This led to the adoption of democratic or quasi-democratic forms of government in several of Athens' allies and dependent states. However, in the 5th century BC, the Peloponnesian War saw the Greek world divided between an alliance led by Athens and a rival coalition led by Sparta. The Spartans won and democracy was abolished in all the Greek city-states which had adopted it. The Athenians themselves restored their democracy in less than a year, but were no longer in a position to promote it abroad.

Hundreds of other Greek cities were at one time or other democratic, but information on how their systems worked is scanty. Many will have followed the Athenian lead. Aristotle in the discussions in his Politics of the different kinds of democracies speaks of systems where the people vote only on the election of officeholders, but have no direct say themselves either on legislation or executive decisions. This would seem to be a form of representative democracy. (Aristotle Politics 1318b21-2; 1274a15-18; 1281b32-4)

Later in the ancient world, the Roman republic elected its leaders and passed its laws by popular assemblies. However, since the system had been effectively gerrymandered in the interest of the rich and well-born, the Roman republic is usually not considered a democracy.

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 German tribal system described by Tacitus in his Germania.
• The Frankish custom of the March Field.
• The Althing, the "parliament" of the Icelandic Commonwealth, was founded in 930. It consisted of the 39, later 55, goðar; each owner of a goðarð; and membership, which could in principle be lent or sold, was kept tight hold of by each hereditary goði. 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. The Althing was preceded by less elaborate " things" (assemblies) all over Northern Europe.
• 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 c 1018, when King Olof Skötkonung wanted to pursue the war against Norway against the will of the people. Þorgnýr 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 Þorgnýr's speech, he gave in. Adam of Bremen wrote that the people used to obey the king only when they thought he made sense.
• The tuatha system in early medieval Ireland. Landowners and the masters of a profession or craft were members of a local assembly, known as a tuath. The members of a tuath were of common descent, although outsiders could be adopted. Each tuath 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 tuatha coexisted at any time throughout Ireland. Each tuath 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.

Rise of democracy in modern national governments

Pre-Eighteenth century milestones

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:

The free election of Augustus II at Wola, outside Warsaw, Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, in 1697. Painted by Bernardo Bellotto

• Introduction of the idea that powerholders are responsible to an electorate — Simon de Montfort ( 1265) (although only landowners were allowed to vote in the 1265 English election)
• 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.
• Rise of democratic parliament in the United Kingdom: Magna Carta ( 1215) limiting the authority of powerholders, First elected parliament ( 1265), English Civil War ( 1642- 1651), Habeas Corpus Act ( 1679), British Bill of Rights ( 1689). See also: other documents listed at the Constitution of the United Kingdom, History of the parliament of the United Kingdom.

Eighteenth and nineteenth century milestones

• 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 Magna Carta ( 1215) and the Bill of Rights ( 1689).
  • Virginia Declaration of Rights of 1776 (based on the British Bill of Rights)
  • United States Constitution ratified in 1789 and the new United States Bill of Rights
  • Polish Constitution of May 3, 1791
• 1789- 1799: the French Revolution
• Early 19th century: 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).
• Introduction of the secret ballot.

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. Likewise, the Russian Revolution of 1917 inaugurated a brief period of soviet democracy. However, by the early 1930s these trends had been reversed: The Soviet Union became a dictatorship under Stalin, and, in Europe, the Great Depression caused a great deal of social and political turmoil which eventually ended with the rise of fascism. This, in turn, led to World War II.

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, the 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.

New waves of democracy swept across Europe in the 1970s and late 1980s, when representative governments were instituted in the nations of Southern, Central and Eastern Europe respectively.

India became a democratic republic in 1950.

Japan 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 became fully democratic in 1947.

Both Africa (following the process of decolonization) and Latin America saw a great number of political upheavals that changed dictatorships into democracies and vice versa. Currently, a majority of the countries on both continents are democratic, though most of these democracies are very young.

Freedom House claims that in 2000, 120 (62.5%) of the world's 192 nations were democracies. They point out that no nation permitted women to vote in 1900, and therefore would not now count as a full democracy. ( New Zealand enacted universal suffrage in 1893, but they count it as still a colony.) Their list of democracies includes some governments which have since collapsed into autocracy, such as Nepal or been overthrown either by non-violent protest or by revolution, such as Ukraine and Kyrgyzstan . [2]

Contemporary trends

• E-democracy/ Internet democracy