The Edinburgh Companion to the History of Democracy Hardcover - 2012

From the rear cover

Author Approved 'A learned and powerful corrective to the conventional wisdom that democracy has specifically Western roots. The editors and contributors authoritatively demonstrate, rather, that the will of the people, citizen engagement and the rule of law have cut across very different cultural and historical trajectories. In so doing they reveal the complexity of democratic ideas and counter the facile and self-satisfied assumptions that have long characterised their study.' James Piscatori, Durham University 'This celebration of democracy's big tent explores a wide range of historical societies that might be seen as manifesting democratic tendencies or proto-democratic institutions, probes the successes and failures of recent democratic movements, and interrogates the future of citizen government.' Josiah Ober, Stanford University Democracy has never been more popular. It is successfully practised today in many different ways by people across virtually every cultural, religious or socio-economic context. The 45 original essays collected in this companion suggest that the global popularity of democracy derives in part from its breadth and depth in the common history of human civilization. It sets a benchmark as the first collection on the history of democracy to present lesser known examples, such as those of ancient China, medieval Islam, colonial Africa or today's Burma, alongside more familiar cases like Athens, the English Parliament, the French Revolution and Women's Suffrage. Understanding where democracy comes from, and where its greatest successes and most dismal failures lie, is central to democracy's project of inventing ways to address the need of people everywhere to live in peace and freedom and with a say in the decisions that affect their lives. Key Features - Confronts the critical questions: what is democracy and where does it come from - Includes chapters that range in scope from pre-history to new technologies, addressing democracy on every inhabited continent, and in conjunction with every major religious belief or set of cultural customs - Includes contributions from an international range of authors including Jack Goody, John Keane, John Markoff, Larbi Sadiki and many others Benjamin Isakhan is Australian Research Council Discovery (DECRA) Research Fellow in the Centre for Citizenship and Globalisation at Deakin University, Australia. He is author of Democracy in Iraq: History, Politics and Discourse (2012). Stephen Stockwell is Professor of Journalism and Communication at Griffith University, Australia. He is author of Political Campaign Strategy (2005) and Rhetoric and Democracy (2010). Cover image: Dawn Of Democracy, Maldives, 2008 (c) Mauroof Khaleel/Getty Images. Cover design: [EUP logo] www.euppublishing.com