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Who Counts as the People in a Democracy? - From Athenian Assembly to Modern Representation | Sleepy Facts About History · Sleepy Facts About History

0:04
Welcome to Sleepy Facts About History. Most of
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us were taught a simple story. Democracy was
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invented in ancient Athens, steadily improved
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over the centuries, and became the system we
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know today. But the historical record tells a
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much more complicated tale. For centuries, the
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word democracy was not an aspiration, but an
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insult, associated with mob rule and instability.
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This episode traces the contested evolution of
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popular power, from the direct participation
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of Athenian citizens to the mixed constitution
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of the Roman Republic, and into the deliberate
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creation of representative government during
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the American and French revolutions. I kept returning
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to one central question while working on this
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episode. How did a term once used to criticize
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the poor masses become the dominant political
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ideal of the modern world? Beyonce is not a straight
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line of inheritance. It's a series of arguments,
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institutional experiments, and hard -fought struggles
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by the people who were originally excluded from
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political life. From the Chartist movement and
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the Seneca Falls Convention to anti -colonial
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independence movements, ordinary people forced
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a constant redefinition of who counts as the
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people entitled to rule. Understanding this history
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does not diminish democracy. Instead, it makes
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the ongoing argument about self -rule more serious
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and honest. It reminds us that the institutions
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we call democratic are the products of specific
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human choices, and that the future of political
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participation will depend on the same difficult
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work of deciding who gets a voice and on what
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terms. The word democracy was once an insult,
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not an aspiration. and the people who built the
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institutions we now call democratic would not
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have recognized their own work by that name.
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What we are tracing is not the fulfillment of
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an ancient promise. It is a long contested argument
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over who gets to rule and what that rule should
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mean. Most of us were taught a simple story.
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Democracy was invented in ancient Athens, where
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citizens gathered in assembly, debated in the
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open air, and voted directly on the affairs of
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the city the idea then traveled through time
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improved upon here and there until it became
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the system we know today elections parliaments
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constitutions universal suffrage the present
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in this telling is the natural fulfillment of
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the ancient promise but the story does not hold
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up many of the institutions we now call democratic
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were not described that way by the people who
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created them The word democracy itself was often
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an insult, not an aspiration, and the path from
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ancient Athens to modern capitals was not a straight
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line of inheritance. It was a series of arguments,
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experiments, reversals and struggles over who
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could claim the power to rule. What we are examining
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is not one fixed system exported unchanged across
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millennia. can authorize, limit, replace, and
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participate in political power. To understand
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this, we need to begin where the word itself
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began. In the Greek city -states of the 5th and
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4th centuries BCE, particularly Athens, the Athenian
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system was direct and participatory. Citizens
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did not elect representatives to make decisions
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for them. They made decisions themselves. Several
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thousand adult male citizens would gather on
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the pin, where they could see the agora below
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and the sacred rock above. They met at dawn.
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According to later comic accounts, a red painted
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rope was sometimes used to herd stragglers toward
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the assembly. Once gathered, they debated war
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and peace, alliances, public finance, and the
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conduct of officials. They voted by raising their
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hands. For many officers, they selected officials
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not by election but by sortition, by lot, using
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stone machines called claritaria with slots for
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bronze tickets. The assumption was that ordinary
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citizens were competent to govern, and that chance
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was preferable to the concentration of power
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in the hands of a few. But this democracy was
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narrow. The citizen body excluded women, enslaved
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people, and resident foreigners called Metics.
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Women were citizens for religious and reproductive
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purposes, but not for political participation.
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Enslaved people, who may have comprised a substantial
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portion of the population, perhaps a third by
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some estimates, were property. Metics, though
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often wealthy and economically essential, could
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not vote or hold office. The democracy was direct.
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But it was direct rule by a privileged minority,
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not by the population as a whole. Nor was it
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universally admired. Many of the writers we now
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read as foundational, Plato, Aristotle, Thucydides,
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were critical of democracy. In his politics,
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Aristotle classified governments by who ruled
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and in whose interest. Democracy, he argued,
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was ruled by the poor in their own interest.
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just as oligarchy was ruled by the wealthy in
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theirs. He associated democracy with demagoguery,
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the manipulation of the masses by skilled speakers,
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and with instability. Thucydides, in his History
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of the Peloponnesian War, gave Pericles a famous
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funeral oration praising Athenian openness and
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civic equality, but he also described the Corserian
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Civil War. where democratic and oligarchic factions
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murdered each other with escalating brutality
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as evidence of democracy's capacity for self
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-destruction the greek word democratia meaning
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power of the people was used by its critics as
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much as by its defenders it was not a neutral
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or honorific term the athenian experiment lasted
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roughly two centuries from the reforms of clisthenes
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in 508 bce through periods of overthrow and restoration
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until the macedonian conquest in 322 bce it was
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real it was consequential and it was specific
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it was not a template for all future politics
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and in the ancient world it was not the only
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model the romans developed something different
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the roman republic which endured from roughly
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509 to 27 bce was not a democracy in the Athenian
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sense. It was a mixed constitution. Power was
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divided among consuls, who held executive authority,
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the Senate, an aristocratic body of former officeholders,
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and various popular assemblies, which could elect
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officials and pass laws. The tribunes of the
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plebs, created after plebeian secession, could
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veto measures harmful to common citizens. This
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balance, monarchical, aristocratic and popular
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elements combined, was praised by Roman writers,
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most notably Cicero in his dialogue De Republica.
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Cicero admired the Roman system precisely because
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it was not a pure democracy. He believed that
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unmixed democracy led to mob rule. that unmixed
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aristocracy led to oligarchic selfishness, and
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that monarchy risked tyranny. The Roman answer
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was distribution and balance, not direct popular
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rule. This Roman model proved enormously influential.
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When Republican thought revived in Renaissance
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Italy, in writers like Machiavelli and Ghiardini,
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it was the Roman mixed constitution they studied,
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not Athenian direct democracy. Machiavelli. in
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his Discourses on Livy, praised civic virtue
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and popular participation in defense of the republic.
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But he was not advocating for assembled citizens
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to decide every matter by majority vote. He was
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interested in how a republic could be stable
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and vigorous, how it could avoid corruption and
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conquest. Similarly, in early modern England,
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Thinkers like James Harrington and Algernon Sidney
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drew on Roman and Renaissance republicanism to
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argue for mixed government and the rule of law,
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not for democracy as such. For centuries, in
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fact, the word democracy largely disappeared
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from respectable political vocabulary in Europe.
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It was associated with disorder, with the mob,
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with the chaos of the English Civil War, and
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the radical phases of the French Wars of Religion.
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When early modern writers discussed good government,
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they discussed monarchy, aristocracy, mixed constitutions,
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or republics. They did not advocate for democracy.
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The word had not yet been rehabilitated. This
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matters because it helps us understand what happened
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next. When the revolutions of the 18th century
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created new political forms, their architects
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did not see themselves as completing an ancient
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democratic project. They saw themselves as doing
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something different, and they said so explicitly.
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The American, French, and Haitian revolutions
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of the late 18th century were transformative
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events, but they were not simply continuations
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of Athenian democracy. They invented something
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new, representative government on a large scale,
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designed for territories far larger than a single
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city -state. In Philadelphia in 1787, the delegates
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to the Constitutional Convention designed a system
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that they called a republic, not a democracy.
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James Madison, writing in Federalist No. 10,
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made the distinction with precision. A pure democracy,
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he wrote, was a society consisting of a small
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number of citizens who assemble and administer
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the government in person. A republic, by contrast,
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was a government in which the scheme of representation
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takes place. The difference was not merely semantic.
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Madison believed that representation would refine
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and enlarge the public views by passing them
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through the medium of a chosen body of citizens.
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The representative would be wiser, more deliberative,
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less susceptible to sudden passion than the assembled
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multitude. The system was designed to filter
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and elevate public opinion, not to transmit it
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directly. This was a deliberate departure from
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ancient democracy, not its fulfillment. The American
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founders knew their classical history. They knew
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that Athens had been unstable, that it had been
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defeated by oligarchic Sparta, that it had executed
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Socrates. They did not want to replicate it.
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They wanted to create something that could govern
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a continental territory. protect property and
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prevent the mischiefs of faction that madison
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believed had destroyed earlier republics the
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result was a system of separated powers checks
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and balances and indirect election with suffrage
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restricted in most states to white male property
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owners it was innovative influential and exclusive
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the french revolution introduced a different
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language that of popular sovereignty The Declaration
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of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen in 1789
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declared that No individual or group could exercise
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authority that did not derive from the nation
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as a whole. But the Declaration did not use the
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word democracy. The revolutionaries debated whether
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France should be a constitutional monarchy, a
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republic, or something else. When they established
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a republic in 1792, It was a representative system
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with property qualifications for voters, not
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a direct democracy. The Jacobin phase brought
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more radical popular participation through the
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activism of working -cast Parisians known as
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sans -culottes and through local surveillance
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committees. But this was followed by the terror,
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a reaction against it, and eventually Napoleon's
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empire. The French Revolution raised the principle
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of popular sovereignty more powerfully than any
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previous event, but it struggled to institutionalize
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it in stable form. The Haitian Revolution, often
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marginalized in conventional accounts, posed
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an even more radical question. Beginning in 1791,
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enslaved people in the French colony of Saint
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-Amang rose in revolt, defeated European armies,
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and in 1804 established an independent Haiti.
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The revolution forced a question that the American
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and French revolutions had largely evaded who
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counted as the people entitled to sovereignty.
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The American founders had restricted citizenship
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and suffrage. The French had abolished slavery
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in 1794 but re -imposed it under Napoleon. The
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Haitian revolution asserted that enslaved and
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colonized populations were fully human. fully
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capable of self -government and entitled to the
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rights that Europeans claimed for themselves.
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It was a democratic claim in the broadest sense,
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but it was met with isolation, indemnity demands,
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and decades of punitive exclusion from the community
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of nations. The revolution demonstrated that
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the boundaries of the people were not self -evident.
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They were contested, and the contest was often
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violent. By the early 19th century then, representative
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government existed in recognizable form in the
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United States and in fragments in Europe. But
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it was not democratic in the modern sense. The
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suffrage was restricted by property, race and
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gender. The systems were designed to be representative,
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not participatory. To filter opinion, not to
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express it directly. and to protect established
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interests, not to empower the dispossessed. The
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word democracy was still suspect. What changed
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this, and what eventually merged democracy with
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the system of representative government, was
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two centuries of struggle by those who had been
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excluded. The transformation was not automatic.
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It was fought for, organized, and sometimes won
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and lost repeatedly. In Britain, The Chartist
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movement of 1838 to 1857 was the first mass working
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-class political campaign. Its People's Charter
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demanded universal male suffrage, secret ballots,
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annual parliaments, and payment for members of
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parliament so that workingmen could afford to
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serve. Chartists organized massive petitions,
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held enormous meetings at Kennington Common in
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1848. Estimates ranged from 50 ,000 to 150 ,000
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people, and presented their demands to a parliament
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that repeatedly rejected them. The movement failed
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in its immediate goals, but it established a
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model of working -class political organization
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and helped shift the boundaries of acceptable
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reform. Universal male suffrage in Britain was
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not achieved until 1918. and full equal suffrage
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for women not until 1928 in the united states
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the seneca falls convention of 1848 issued a
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declaration of sentiments modeled on the declaration
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of independence asserting that women were entitled
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to the full rights of citizenship including suffrage
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68 women and 32 men signed it including frederick
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douglas who argued that the struggle for women's
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rights was inseparable from the struggle for
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black rights. The abolitionist movement, the
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Civil War and Reconstruction brought constitutional
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amendments abolishing slavery and establishing
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birthright citizenship and equal protection.
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But these were undermined by Jim Crow laws, disenfranchisement
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and violence. The women's suffrage movement continued
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for seven decades after Seneca Falls, achieving
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its goal with the 19th Amendment in 1920. Anti
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-colonial movements in Asia, Africa and the Caribbean
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raised the question of democracy in a different
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register. Indian nationalists from the early
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20th century through independence in 1947 demanded
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not only national self -determination, but democratic
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governance within the new state. The Indian Constitution
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of 1950 established universal adult suffrage
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at a time when some European countries still
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restricted suffrage or maintained colonial subjecthood.
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African independence movements in the 1950s and
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1960s similarly asserted democratic self -government.
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But many new states soon fell under authoritarian
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rule. The Haitian precedent that colonized and
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enslaved people could claim and exercise sovereignty
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resonated through these struggles, even when
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the outcomes fell short of democratic ideals.
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These movements did not simply expand a pre -existing
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democratic system. They transformed its meaning.
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Each struggle, labor, abolitionist, women's anti
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-colonial, forced a redefinition of who counted
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as the people. Each challenged the assumption
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that representation could be restricted to propertied
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white men. without betraying its own principles,
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and each contributed to a gradual merger between
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democracy and liberal constitutionalism, the
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idea that popular government must be accompanied
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by individual rights, rule of law, and limits
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on state power. But this merger was never complete
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or automatic. Democracy and liberalism arose
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through different histories and sometimes conflict.
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Liberalism, as a political philosophy, emphasizes
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individual rights, limited government, and protection
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of private property. It can exist without democracy,
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as it did in 19th century constitutional monarchies
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with restricted suffrage. Democracy, as a system
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of popular authorization and participation, can
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exist without liberalism, as it has in various
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illiberal majoritarian systems. The two can reinforce
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each other, but they are not the same thing.
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and their combination in the 20th century was
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a historical achievement not a logical necessity
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similarly democracy is not identical to republicanism
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majority rule social equality or the rule of
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law republicanism in its classical and early
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modern forms emphasized civic virtue mixed government
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and the common good often with suspicion of both
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monarchy and pure popular rule Many historical
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republics restricted participation severely.
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Majority rule is a decision procedure, not a
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complete political system. It can conflict with
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minority rights and constitutional limits. Social
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equality is a condition of status or opportunity.
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Democracy as a political system does not guarantee
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it, and it can be pursued through non -democratic
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means. The Rule of Law The principle that all
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persons and institutions are subject to publicly
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disclosed, evenly enforced laws, can exist in
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non -democratic systems, and can be absent in
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formally democratic ones. These concepts are
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adjacent to democracy, sometimes overlapping,
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sometimes in tension, treating them as identical
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obscures more than it clarifies. Nor is democracy
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a purely Western invention. exported unchanged
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to the rest of the world. Consultative and participatory
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traditions existed in many societies outside
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Europe, though they were often suppressed or
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ignored by colonial powers. Indigenous governance
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systems in the Americas, Africa, Asia, and the
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Pacific frequently involved deliberation by councils,
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consensus building, and mechanisms for holding
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leaders accountable. The Haudenosaunee Confederacy
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in North America, for example. developed a system
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of federal governance with checks on authority
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that predates European colonization, though the
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exact dating remains debated. Village councils
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and various African societies made decisions
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through extended deliberation. These traditions
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were not identical to Athenian democracy or modern
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representative government, but they demonstrate
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that the aspiration to collective self -rule
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was not confined to one civilization. Colonial
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powers often dismantled these systems, imposed
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authoritarian rule, and then claimed that democracy
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was a Western gift to the colonized. The historical
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record does not support this claim. By the mid
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-20th century, democracy had become the dominant
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political ideal in much of the world. But its
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meaning remained contested. The Cold War saw
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both Western and Soviet blocs claim democratic
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legitimacy. with radically different understandings
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of what the term implied. The Soviet bloc called
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itself People's Democracy, while Western states
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emphasized competitive elections and individual
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rights. Both sides claimed to represent the true
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will of the people. Decolonization brought new
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states into existence with democratic constitutions,
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many of which were quickly subverted by military
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coups or one -party rule. The late 20th century
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saw waves of democratization in Southern Europe,
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Latin America, East Asia and Eastern Europe.
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But it also saw the emergence of what scholars
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called illiberal democracy. Systems with competitive
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elections but weak protections for rights and
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minorities. What then can we say with confidence?
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Democracy is not one ancient machine. perfected
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in Athens and inherited by the modern world.
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It is an evolving argument over how ordinary
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people can authorize, limit, replace and participate
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in political power. The argument has taken different
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forms in different times and places. It has sometimes
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been direct and participatory, sometimes representative
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and filtered. It has sometimes included broad
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segments of the population, sometimes restricted
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them ruthlessly. It has sometimes been combined
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with liberal rights and constitutional limits,
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sometimes asserted against them. It has been
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claimed by movements for inclusion and by regimes
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that suppress dissent. Its meaning has never
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been fixed. When we argue about democracy today,
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about who counts as the people, about what powers
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they should have, about how they should exercise
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them, we are not resolving questions that were
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settled in ancient Greece. We are continuing
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an argument that has been going on for millennia
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across many societies with many different answers.
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The institutions we call democratic are the products
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of specific struggles, accidents and choices,
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not the inevitable unfolding of a single idea.
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Understanding this does not diminish democracy.
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It makes the argument more serious, more honest
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and more open to the recognition that the future
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of self -rule, like its past, will be shaped
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by human agency, contestation, and the difficult
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work of deciding who gets to participate and
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on what turns.