The Shortest History Of Democracy 4000 Years Of Self Government A Retelling For Our Times Shortest History

Download The Shortest History Of Democracy 4000 Years Of Self Government A Retelling For Our Times Shortest History full books in PDF, epub, and Kindle. Read online The Shortest History Of Democracy 4000 Years Of Self Government A Retelling For Our Times Shortest History ebook anywhere anytime directly on your device. Fast Download speed and no annoying ads. We cannot guarantee that every ebooks is available!

The Shortest History of Democracy: 4,000 Years of Self-Government - A Retelling for Our Times (Shortest History)

Author : John Keane
Publisher : The Experiment, LLC
ISBN 13 : 1615198970
Total Pages : 231 pages
Book Rating : 4.6/5 (151 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Book Synopsis The Shortest History of Democracy: 4,000 Years of Self-Government - A Retelling for Our Times (Shortest History) by : John Keane

Download or read book The Shortest History of Democracy: 4,000 Years of Self-Government - A Retelling for Our Times (Shortest History) written by John Keane and published by The Experiment, LLC. This book was released on 2022-09-06 with total page 231 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The full chronological sweep of democracy, from the assemblies of ancient Mesopotamia and Athens to present perils around the globe. The Shortest History books deliver thousands of years of history in one riveting, fast-paced read. This compact history unspools the tumultuous global story that began with democracy’s radical core idea: We can collaborate, as equals, to determine our own futures. Acclaimed political thinker John Keane traces how this concept emerged and evolved, from the earliest “assembly democracies” in Syria-Mesopotamia to European-style “electoral democracy” and to our uncertain present. Today, thanks to our always-on communication channels, governments answer not only to voters on Election Day but to intense scrutiny every day. This is “monitory democracy”—in Keane’s view, the most complex and vibrant model yet—but it’s not invulnerable. Monitory democracy comes with its own pathologies, and the new despotism wields powerful warning systems, from social media to election monitoring, against democracy itself. At this urgent moment, when despots in countries such as China, Russia, Iran, and Saudi Arabia reject the promises of democratic power-sharing, Keane mounts a bold defense of a precious global ideal.

The Shortest History of Democracy

Author : John Keane
Publisher : The Experiment
ISBN 13 : 9781615198962
Total Pages : 240 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (989 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Book Synopsis The Shortest History of Democracy by : John Keane

Download or read book The Shortest History of Democracy written by John Keane and published by The Experiment. This book was released on 2022-09-06 with total page 240 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In an age of intense social and political polarization, the radical potential of democracy is more important than ever, as revealed in this illuminating history by a celebrated political theorist. From its beginnings in Syria-Mesopotamia and Athens to its role in fomenting revolutionary fervor in France and America, democracy has subverted fixed ways of deciding who should enjoy power and privilege—and why. Democracy encourages people to do something radical: to come together as equals, to determine their own lives and futures. In The Shortest History of Democracy, acclaimed political thinker John Keane traces its byzantine history, from the age of assembly democracy in the Middle East and Greece to European-inspired electoral democracy and the birth of representative government to our age of “monitory democracy”—a helpful concept the author introduces to describe how democratic governments today are under constant media-driven public scrutiny (monitoring) and held accountable by watchdog organizations of every stripe. Keane calls this “the most complex and vibrant form of democracy yet,” reaching far beyond just casting one’s vote on election day. Democracy today is defined by the rapid growth of many new kinds of extra-governmental watchdog mechanisms that reach into every aspect of public and private life—think investigative journalism, activism, strikes, election monitoring, climate action networks, public outcries against scandal and corruption. As the world has come to be shaped by democracy, it has grown more worldly; American-style liberal democracy is giving way to regional varieties in places such as Taiwan, India, Senegal, and South Africa. Meanwhile, despotic regimes in Turkey, Russia, Hungary, the United Arab Emirates, Iran, and China reject the promises of power-sharing democracy. Keane gives new reasons why democracy is a precious global ideal, and how the voice and vote of the average citizen has multiplied through the proliferation of different power-checking outlets. In an age of crisis, he argues, we need the “radical potential of democracy” more than ever. Does democracy have a future, or will the demagogues and despots win? We are about to find out.

The Shortest History of Greece: The Odyssey of a Nation from Myth to Modernity (Shortest History)

Author : James Heneage
Publisher : The Experiment, LLC
ISBN 13 : 1615199497
Total Pages : 239 pages
Book Rating : 4.6/5 (151 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Book Synopsis The Shortest History of Greece: The Odyssey of a Nation from Myth to Modernity (Shortest History) by : James Heneage

Download or read book The Shortest History of Greece: The Odyssey of a Nation from Myth to Modernity (Shortest History) written by James Heneage and published by The Experiment, LLC. This book was released on 2023-03-21 with total page 239 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Discover the cultural and political riches of Greece across 3,000 years, from classical might to modern rebirth. The Shortest History books deliver thousands of years of history in one riveting, fast-paced read. Philosophy, art, democracy, language, even computers—the glories of Greek civilization have shaped our world even more profoundly than we realize. Pericles and the Parthenon may be familiar, but what of Epaminondas, the Theban general who saved the Greek world from Spartan tyranny? Alexander the Great’s fame has rolled down the centuries, but the golden Hellenistic Age that followed is largely forgotten. “Byzantine” conjures decadence and deadly intrigue, yet the thousand-year empire that ruled from Constantinople and saved Europe twice from invasion was, in fact, Greek. Greece’s modern chapter, too, tells of triumph and calamity—from liberation and expansion to schism, homegrown dictatorship, Nazi occupation, and civil war. Today’s nation is battered by austerity, encroaching climate change, and a refugee crisis—yet unwavering in its ancient values. James Heneage captures the full Grecian drama in this riveting, short history, revealing Greece as the wellspring of Western civilization—and a model that may yet save modern democracy.

The Shortest History of Europe: How Conquest, Culture, and Religion Forged a Continent - A Retelling for Our Times (Shortest History)

Author : James Hirst
Publisher : The Experiment, LLC
ISBN 13 : 1615199152
Total Pages : 268 pages
Book Rating : 4.6/5 (151 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Book Synopsis The Shortest History of Europe: How Conquest, Culture, and Religion Forged a Continent - A Retelling for Our Times (Shortest History) by : James Hirst

Download or read book The Shortest History of Europe: How Conquest, Culture, and Religion Forged a Continent - A Retelling for Our Times (Shortest History) written by James Hirst and published by The Experiment, LLC. This book was released on 2022-11-08 with total page 268 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Uncover the decisive moments that shaped a world-changing continent. The Shortest History books deliver thousands of years of history in one riveting, fast-paced read. Celebrated historian John Hirst draws from his own lectures to deliver this ultra-accessible master class on the making of modern Europe, from Ancient Greece through World War II. With over 600,000 copies sold worldwide, this brief history is a global sensation propelled by a thesis of astonishing simplicity: Just three elements—German warfare, Greek and Roman culture, and Christianity—come together to explain everything else, from the Crusades to the Industrial Revolution. Hirst’s razor-sharp grasp of cause and effect helps us see with sparkling clarity how the history of Europe—the crucible of liberal democracy—shapes the way we live today.

The Shortest History of Our Universe: The Unlikely Journey from the Big Bang to Us (Shortest History)

Author : David Baker
Publisher : The Experiment, LLC
ISBN 13 : 1615199748
Total Pages : 297 pages
Book Rating : 4.6/5 (151 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Book Synopsis The Shortest History of Our Universe: The Unlikely Journey from the Big Bang to Us (Shortest History) by : David Baker

Download or read book The Shortest History of Our Universe: The Unlikely Journey from the Big Bang to Us (Shortest History) written by David Baker and published by The Experiment, LLC. This book was released on 2023-05-02 with total page 297 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A complete history of the universe, spanning 13.8 billion years in an ultra-accessible, uncommonly illuminating, exhilarating chronicle of key events “Baker introduces us not only to the history of our species and our planet, but the history of our vast universe.”—from the foreword by John Green, author of The Anthropocene Reviewed and The Fault in Our Stars In this thrilling history, David Baker captures the longest-possible time span—from the Big Bang to the present day—in an astonishingly concise retelling. His impressive timeline includes the “rise of complexity” in the cosmos and the creation of the first atoms; the origin of all galaxies, stars, and our solar system; and the evolution of life on Earth, from tiny single-celled organisms to human beings. Weaving together insights across the sciences—including chemistry, physics, biology, archaeology, and anthropology—Baker answers the fundamental questions: How did time begin? Why does matter exist? What made life on Earth the way it is? He also argues that never before has life on Earth been forced to adjust to a changing climate so rapidly, nor has one species ever been responsible for such sudden change. Baker’s grand view offers the clearest picture of what may come next—and the role we can still play in our planet’s fate.

The Shortest History of Israel and Palestine: From Zionism to Intifadas and the Struggle for Peace (Shortest History)

Author : Michael Scott-Baumann
Publisher : The Experiment, LLC
ISBN 13 : 1615199519
Total Pages : 227 pages
Book Rating : 4.6/5 (151 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Book Synopsis The Shortest History of Israel and Palestine: From Zionism to Intifadas and the Struggle for Peace (Shortest History) by : Michael Scott-Baumann

Download or read book The Shortest History of Israel and Palestine: From Zionism to Intifadas and the Struggle for Peace (Shortest History) written by Michael Scott-Baumann and published by The Experiment, LLC. This book was released on 2023-02-28 with total page 227 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An accessible chronicle of how the Israel-Palestine conflict originated and developed over the past century. The Shortest History books deliver thousands of years of history in one riveting, fast-paced read. The ongoing struggle between Israel and Palestine is one of the most bitter conflicts in history, with profound global consequences. In this book, Middle East expert Michael Scott-Baumann succinctly describes its origins and charts its evolution from civil war to the present day. Each chapter offers a lucid explanation of the politics and ends with personal testimony from Palestinians and Israelis whose lives have been impacted by the dispute. While presenting competing interpretations, Scott-Baumann examines the key flash points, including the early role of the British, the establishment of the state of Israel in 1948, the Six-Day War of 1967, and the Trump administration’s peace plan, pitched as “the deal of the century,” in 2020. He delineates both the nature of Israeli control over the Palestinian territories and Palestinian resistance—going to the heart of the clashes in recent decades. The result is an indispensable history, including a time line, glossary, and analysis of why efforts to restore peace have continually failed and what it will take to succeed.

Understanding Society and Knowledge

Author : Nico Stehr
Publisher : Edward Elgar Publishing
ISBN 13 : 1802203796
Total Pages : 197 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (22 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Book Synopsis Understanding Society and Knowledge by : Nico Stehr

Download or read book Understanding Society and Knowledge written by Nico Stehr and published by Edward Elgar Publishing. This book was released on 2023-07-01 with total page 197 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Understanding Society and Knowledge proposes that knowledge rather than nature, violence, or power provides the basis of and the driving force behind human action in modern society. It demonstrates how the legally enforced restricted use of knowledge enables the transformation of the knowledge society into knowledge capitalism.

The Shortest History of Democracy

Author : John Keane
Publisher : Pan Macmillan
ISBN 13 : 9390742943
Total Pages : 227 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (97 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Book Synopsis The Shortest History of Democracy by : John Keane

Download or read book The Shortest History of Democracy written by John Keane and published by Pan Macmillan. This book was released on 2023-01-12 with total page 227 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Indispensable for understanding democracy today' Michael Schudson A bold new history of democracy from the popular assemblies of Syria-Mesopotamia and the Indian subcontinent to present-day challenges around the world. From its beginnings in Syria-Mesopotamia and the Indian subcontinent to its role in fomenting revolutionary fervour in France and America, democracy has subverted fixed ways of deciding who should enjoy power and privilege, and why. For democracy encourages people to do something radical: to come together as equals, to determine their own lives and futures. In this vigorous, illuminating history, acclaimed political thinker John Keane traces its byzantine history, from the age of assembly democracy in Athens, to European-inspired electoral democracy and the birth of representative government, to our age of monitory democracy. He gives new reasons why democracy is a precious global ideal, and shows that as the world has come to be shaped by democracy, it has grown more worldly. In today’s age of populist strongmen threatening democracy in India, China, Russia, Saudi Arabia, the US and elsewhere, we need its radical potential more than ever. Does democracy have a future, or will the demagogues and despots win? We are about to find out."

The Life and Death of Democracy

Author : John Keane
Publisher : Simon and Schuster
ISBN 13 : 1847377602
Total Pages : 717 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (473 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Book Synopsis The Life and Death of Democracy by : John Keane

Download or read book The Life and Death of Democracy written by John Keane and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2009-06-01 with total page 717 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: John Keane's The Life and Death of Democracy will inspire and shock its readers. Presenting the first grand history of democracy for well over a century, it poses along the way some tough and timely questions: can we really be sure that democracy had its origins in ancient Greece? How did democratic ideals and institutions come to have the shape they do today? Given all the recent fanfare about democracy promotion, why are many people now gripped by the feeling that a bad moon is rising over all the world's democracies? Do they indeed have a future? Or is perhaps democracy fated to melt away, along with our polar ice caps? The work of one of Britain's leading political writers, this is no mere antiquarian history. Stylishly written, this superb book confronts its readers with an entirely fresh and irreverent look at the past, present and future of democracy. It unearths the beginnings of such precious institutions and ideals as government by public assembly, votes for women, the secret ballot, trial by jury and press freedom. It tracks the changing, hotly disputed meanings of democracy and describes quite a few of the extraordinary characters, many of them long forgotten, who dedicated their lives to building or defending democracy. And it explains why democracy is still potentially the best form of government on earth -- and why democracies everywhere are sleepwalking their way into deep trouble.

Can Democracy Work?

Author : James Miller
Publisher : Farrar, Straus and Giroux
ISBN 13 : 0374717249
Total Pages : 320 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (747 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Book Synopsis Can Democracy Work? by : James Miller

Download or read book Can Democracy Work? written by James Miller and published by Farrar, Straus and Giroux. This book was released on 2018-09-18 with total page 320 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A new history of the world’s most embattled idea Today, democracy is the world’s only broadly accepted political system, and yet it has become synonymous with disappointment and crisis. How did it come to this? In Can Democracy Work? James Miller, the author of the classic history of 1960s protest Democracy Is in the Streets, offers a lively, surprising, and urgent history of the democratic idea from its first stirrings to the present. As he shows, democracy has always been rife with inner tensions. The ancient Greeks preferred to choose leaders by lottery and regarded elections as inherently corrupt and undemocratic. The French revolutionaries sought to incarnate the popular will, but many of them came to see the people as the enemy. And in the United States, the franchise would be extended to some even as it was taken from others. Amid the wars and revolutions of the twentieth century, communists, liberals, and nationalists all sought to claim the ideals of democracy for themselves—even as they manifestly failed to realize them. Ranging from the theaters of Athens to the tents of Occupy Wall Street, Can Democracy Work? is an entertaining and insightful guide to our most cherished—and vexed—ideal.

Can Democracy Work?

Author : Jim Miller
Publisher : Oneworld
ISBN 13 : 9781786074027
Total Pages : 0 pages
Book Rating : 4.0/5 (74 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Book Synopsis Can Democracy Work? by : Jim Miller

Download or read book Can Democracy Work? written by Jim Miller and published by Oneworld. This book was released on 2018 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Democracy today is widely regarded as an ideal form of government. Yet in practice it sometimes seems a sham, a political puppet show in which hidden elites pull all the strings. As trust in elected representatives around the world plunges, it is no wonder that democratic revolts have erupted - from Cairo to Kiev and beyond - in an effort to 'take back control'. In this urgent and lively history, James Miller reminds us that democracy has always generated tensions and contradictions. Through philosophical debates and violent uprisings, it has been contested, corrupted, and refined. In different times and different places - from ancient Athens to revolutionary France to post-war America - its meaning has shifted in surprising ways. For over two thousand years, the world has experimented with democracy. But can it really work - especially in complex modern societies?

The Shortest History of Germany

Author : James Hawes
Publisher : The Experiment
ISBN 13 : 1615195696
Total Pages : 257 pages
Book Rating : 4.6/5 (151 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Book Synopsis The Shortest History of Germany by : James Hawes

Download or read book The Shortest History of Germany written by James Hawes and published by The Experiment. This book was released on 2019-03-19 with total page 257 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 2,000 years of history in one riveting afternoon A country both admired and feared, Germany has been the epicenter of world events time and again: the Reformation, both World Wars, the fall of the Berlin Wall. It did not emerge as a modern nation until 1871—yet today, Germany is the world’s fourth-largest economy and a standard-bearer of liberal democracy. “There’s no point studying the past unless it sheds some light on the present,” writes James Hawes in this brilliantly concise history that has already captivated hundreds of thousands of readers. “It is time, now more than ever, for us all to understand the real history of Germany.”

The New Despotism

Author : John Keane
Publisher : Harvard University Press
ISBN 13 : 0674246691
Total Pages : 321 pages
Book Rating : 4.6/5 (742 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Book Synopsis The New Despotism by : John Keane

Download or read book The New Despotism written by John Keane and published by Harvard University Press. This book was released on 2020-05-12 with total page 321 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An Australian Book Review Best Book of the Year A disturbing in-depth exposé of the antidemocratic practices of despotic governments now sweeping the world. One day they’ll be like us. That was once the West’s complacent and self-regarding assumption about countries emerging from poverty, imperial rule, or communism. But many have hardened into something very different from liberal democracy: what the eminent political thinker John Keane describes as a new form of despotism. And one day, he warns, we may be more like them. Drawing on extensive travels, interviews, and a lifetime of thinking about democracy and its enemies, Keane shows how governments from Russia and China through Central Asia to the Middle East and Europe have mastered a formidable combination of political tools that threaten the established ideals and practices of power-sharing democracy. They mobilize the rhetoric of democracy and win public support for workable forms of government based on patronage, dark money, steady economic growth, sophisticated media controls, strangled judiciaries, dragnet surveillance, and selective violence against their opponents. Casting doubt on such fashionable terms as dictatorship, autocracy, fascism, and authoritarianism, Keane makes a case for retrieving and refurbishing the old term “despotism” to make sense of how these regimes function and endure. He shows how they cooperate regionally and globally and draw strength from each other’s resources while breeding global anxieties and threatening the values and institutions of democracy. Like Montesquieu in the eighteenth century, Keane stresses the willing complicity of comfortable citizens in all these trends. And, like Montesquieu, he worries that the practices of despotism are closer to home than we care to admit.

Democracy

Author : Temma Kaplan
Publisher : Oxford University Press, USA
ISBN 13 : 0195338081
Total Pages : 177 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (953 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Book Synopsis Democracy by : Temma Kaplan

Download or read book Democracy written by Temma Kaplan and published by Oxford University Press, USA. This book was released on 2015 with total page 177 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Focusing on local movements to achieve equal distribution of social, economic, and political rights and natural resources, Democracy examines how ordinary and extraordinary men and women of different cultural and religious backgrounds have formed and attempted to sustain institutions that would permit them to live together in equality and peace.

The Shortest History of England: Empire and Division from the Anglo-Saxons to Brexit - A Retelling for Our Times (Shortest History)

Author : James Hawes
Publisher : The Experiment, LLC
ISBN 13 : 1615198156
Total Pages : 305 pages
Book Rating : 4.6/5 (151 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Book Synopsis The Shortest History of England: Empire and Division from the Anglo-Saxons to Brexit - A Retelling for Our Times (Shortest History) by : James Hawes

Download or read book The Shortest History of England: Empire and Division from the Anglo-Saxons to Brexit - A Retelling for Our Times (Shortest History) written by James Hawes and published by The Experiment, LLC. This book was released on 2022-03-15 with total page 305 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: How the most powerful country in the UK was forged by invasion and conquest, and is fractured by its north-south divide. The Shortest History books deliver thousands of years of history in one riveting, fast-paced read. England—begetter of parliaments and globe-spanning empires, star of beloved period dramas, and home of the House of Windsor—is not quite the stalwart island fortress that many of us imagine. Riven by an ancient fault line that predates even the Romans, its fate has ever been bound up with that of its neighbors; and for the past millennia, it has harbored a class system like nowhere else on Earth. This bracing tour of the most powerful country in the United Kingdom reveals an England repeatedly invaded and constantly reinvented—yet always fractured by its very own Mason-Dixon Line. It carries us swiftly through centuries of conflict between Crown and Parliament (starring the Magna Carta), America’s War of Independence, the rise and fall of empire, two World Wars, and England’s break from the EU. We discover: why the American colonists of 1776 believed that they were the true Anglo-Saxons how the British Empire was undermined from within why Winston Churchill said the UK could only be saved by splitting up England itself and how populism spawned Brexit and its “new elite.” The Shortest History of England brings all this and more to prescient life—offering the most direct, compelling route to understanding the country behind today’s headlines.

Plagues upon the Earth

Author : Kyle Harper
Publisher : Princeton University Press
ISBN 13 : 0691224722
Total Pages : 704 pages
Book Rating : 4.6/5 (912 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Book Synopsis Plagues upon the Earth by : Kyle Harper

Download or read book Plagues upon the Earth written by Kyle Harper and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2021-10-12 with total page 704 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A sweeping germ’s-eye view of history from human origins to global pandemics Plagues upon the Earth is a monumental history of humans and their germs. Weaving together a grand narrative of global history with insights from cutting-edge genetics, Kyle Harper explains why humanity’s uniquely dangerous disease pool is rooted deep in our evolutionary past, and why its growth is accelerated by technological progress. He shows that the story of disease is entangled with the history of slavery, colonialism, and capitalism, and reveals the enduring effects of historical plagues in patterns of wealth, health, power, and inequality. He also tells the story of humanity’s escape from infectious disease—a triumph that makes life as we know it possible, yet destabilizes the environment and fosters new diseases. Panoramic in scope, Plagues upon the Earth traces the role of disease in the transition to farming, the spread of cities, the advance of transportation, and the stupendous increase in human population. Harper offers a new interpretation of humanity’s path to control over infectious disease—one where rising evolutionary threats constantly push back against human progress, and where the devastating effects of modernization contribute to the great divergence between societies. The book reminds us that human health is globally interdependent—and inseparable from the well-being of the planet itself. Putting the COVID-19 pandemic in perspective, Plagues upon the Earth tells the story of how we got here as a species, and it may help us decide where we want to go.

The Decline and Rise of Democracy

Author : David Stasavage
Publisher : Princeton University Press
ISBN 13 : 0691228973
Total Pages : 424 pages
Book Rating : 4.6/5 (912 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Book Synopsis The Decline and Rise of Democracy by : David Stasavage

Download or read book The Decline and Rise of Democracy written by David Stasavage and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2021-08-24 with total page 424 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Historical 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 richer--democratic 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 flourished--and when and why they declined--can 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."--