The History of Democracy

Höfundur: Brian S. Roper (Útgáfa: 1)
The History of Democracy

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Democracy under neoliberalism has become tarnished, as governments become disconnected from voters and pursue policies against the interests of the people. And yet the ideal of democracy continues to inspire movements around the world. Brian Roper refreshes our understanding of democracy using a Marxist framework. He traces the history of democracy from ancient Athens to the emergence of liberal representative and socialist participatory democracy in Europe and North America, through to the global spread of democracy during the past century.

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Útgefandi
Pluto Press
ISBN
9781849647144
Print ISBN
9780745331898
Format
ePub
Útgáfa
1
Höfundar
Brian S. Roper
Tungumál
English
Útgefið
2012-11-20
Prent takmörkun á líftíma
100
Prent takmörkun
2
Afritunar takmörkun
2

Kaflar

  • Cover
  • Title page
  • Copyright page
  • Contents
  • Preface and acknowledgements
  • Introduction
  • 1 Origins: democracy in the ancient Greek world
  • Introduction
  • The historical emergence of Athenian democracy
  • Class struggle in the Ancient Greek polis
  • Cleisthenes’ reforms: establishing demokratia
  • Peasant citizens, class struggle and democracy
  • The suppression of democracy from 322–1 BC
  • Conclusion
  • Guide to further reading
  • 2 Democracy suppressed: the Roman republic and empire
  • Introduction
  • The historical origins and development of the Roman republic from 509 to 27 BC
  • Roman territorial expansion
  • The economic and social structure of Roman society
  • The political institutions of the Roman republic and the ‘conflict of orders’
  • The ‘mixed constitution’ of the Roman republic: democracy or oligarchy?
  • From the principate to the fall of the Roman empire, 27 BC to 476 AD
  • Conclusion
  • Guide to further reading
  • 3 The early Middle Ages and the transition from feudalism to capitalism
  • Introduction
  • The early Middle Ages and the emergence of feudalism in Europe
  • Historical retrogression during the early Middle Ages
  • The origins of feudalism in Western Europe
  • The central features of feudalism
  • The growth of feudalism
  • The crisis of feudalism and the emergence of absolutism in France and capitalism in England
  • The crisis of feudalism
  • French absolutism
  • Explaining the emergence of capitalism in England
  • Conclusion
  • Guide to further reading
  • 4 The English Revolution and parliamentary democracy
  • Introduction
  • The English Revolution and civil war, 1640–59
  • English society in the mid-seventeenth century: population, class, gender and religion
  • The historical origins of the English Parliament
  • Background and context, 1603–40
  • Parliamentary rebellion, civil war and the Levellers, 1640–49
  • The republic and protectorate of Oliver Cromwell, 1650–59
  • From the restoration of 1660 to the Glorious Revolution of 1688–89
  • Conclusion
  • Guide to further reading
  • 5 The American Revolution and constitutional redefinition of democracy
  • Introduction
  • The American Revolution 1775–87
  • Background and context
  • Narrative of events
  • The constitutional redefinition of democracy, 1787–91
  • The Philadelphia Convention of 1787
  • Ratification of the Constitution: federalists versus anti-federalists
  • The historical novelty of representative democracy
  • Completing the revolution: civil war 1861–65
  • Conclusion
  • Guide to further reading
  • 6 The revolutionary revival of democracy in France
  • Introduction
  • Background and context
  • Classes, clergy, monarchy
  • Enlightenment philosophy
  • Long and short-term causes of the revolution
  • Narrative of events
  • The revolt of the nobility
  • The bourgeois revolution of 1789
  • The revolutionary Jacobin government and the popular movement, 1792–95
  • The Jacobin Constitution of 1793
  • 1795: The fall of the Jacobins and the Thermidorian reaction
  • Conclusion
  • Guide to further reading
  • 7 The revolutions of 1848–49
  • Introduction
  • Background and causes
  • A wave of revolution sweeps Europe
  • The June insurrection
  • The Conservative counter-revolution
  • Springtime of the peoples
  • Conclusion: The historical legacy of the 1848 revolutions
  • Guide to further reading
  • 8 Capitalist expansion, globalisation and democratisation
  • Introduction
  • Capitalist expansion on a global scale
  • The key characteristics of representative democracy
  • The development of representative democracy in the advanced capitalist societies and the growing geographical spread of representative democracy
  • The impact of globalisation on representative democracy
  • Conclusion
  • Guide to further reading
  • 9 The Marxist critique of capitalism and representative democracy
  • Introduction
  • The Marxist critique of capitalism
  • Exploitation and inequality
  • Environment
  • Competition, imperialism and war
  • Crisis
  • Oppression
  • Alienation
  • The democratic swindle
  • The social and economic context of representative democracy
  • The institutional mechanisms of representative democracy
  • Conclusion: exploitation, alienation and democracy
  • Guide to further reading
  • 10 Precursors of socialist participatory democracy: the Paris Commune 1871 and Russian Revolutions of 1905 and 1917
  • Introduction
  • The Paris Commune 1871
  • Classical Marxist interpretations of the Commune
  • The Russian revolutions of 1905 and 1917: workers’ power
  • Historical context
  • The 1905 Revolution
  • War, crisis and revolution
  • The February Revolution and dual power
  • The Bolsheviks and the October Revolution
  • Was the Russian Revolution a ‘Bolshevik coup’?
  • The new workers’ state: constructing socialism?
  • The Stalinist degeneration of the Russian Revolution
  • Conclusion: socialism and democracy beyond capitalism
  • Guide to further reading
  • Bibliography
  • Index