Edinburgh Companion to the History of Democracy

Benjamin Isakhan is Associate Professor of Politics and Policy Studies and Director of the Middle East Studies Forum in the Alfred Deakin Institute at Deakin University, Australia. He is also Adjunct Senior Research Associate, Department of Politics and International Relations at the University of Johannesburg, South Africa and an Associate of the Sydney Democracy Network at the University of Sydney, Australia. He is the author of Democracy in Iraq: History, Politics and Discourse (Ashgate, 2012) and the editor of 6 books including The Edinburgh Companion to the History of Democracy (Edinburgh University Press, 2015 [2012]). Ben’s current research includes a 3-year funded project entitled ‘Measuring Heritage Destruction in Iraq and Syria’. Stephen Stockwell is Professor of Journalism and Communication in the School of Humanities at Griffith University, Australia. Previously he worked as a journalist, press secretary and media consultant. His publications include All Media Guide to Fair and Cross Cultural Reporting (2000), Political Campaign Strategy (2005), Rhetoric and Democracy (2010) and The Secret History of Democracy (2011).

• Acknowledgements; Notes on Contributors; Preface; Jack Goody; Introduction: The Complex and Contested History of Democracy, Benjamin Isakhan; Part I: Pre-Classical Democracy; Pre-History, Christopher Boehm; The Assyrians , Benjamin Isakhan; Ancient India, Steven Muhlberger; Ancient China, Victoria Tin-bor Hui; Israel and Phoenicia, Stephen Stockwell; Part II: Classical Democracy ; Early Greece, Kurt A. Raaflaub; Athens , David J. Phillips; Rome, Philip Matyszak; Part III: Medieval Democracy; Islam, Larbi Sadiki; Venice, Stephen Stockwell; The Nordic Countries, Frode Hervik; The Christian Church , John P. Hittinger; Part IV: Early Modern Democracy; The English Parliament, Ann Lyon; The Levellers and Diggers, Andrew Bradstock; The Swiss Cantons, Thomas Lau; The American Revolution, Andrew Shankman; The French Revolution, John Markoff; Part V: Colonialism and Democracy; Africa, Maxwell Owusu; Native Americans, Bruce E. Johansen; Australasia, Tim Rowse; Singapore, Christine Doran; Part VI: National Movements; 1808: South American Liberation, John Fisher;1848: European Revolutions, Mike Rapport;1919: After Versailles, Conan Fischer;1945: Post WWII Japan, Takashi Inoguchi;1989: Eastern Europe, Peter M. E. Volten; Part VII: Peoples’ Movements; Anti-Slavery, Seymour Drescher; Women’s Suffrage, Patricia Grimshaw and Charles Sowerwine; Socialism, Communism, Anarchism, Barry Hindess; Civil Rights, Michael L. Ondaatje; Part VIII: Democracy Today; South Africa, Roger Southall; Bolivia, Juan Manuel Arbona and Carmen Medeiros; Georgia, Lincoln A. Mitchell; Iraq, Benjamin Isakhan; Burma, Donald M. Seekins; China Since Tiananmen Square, Baogang He; Islam Since 9/11, Nader Hashemi; Part IX: Futures and Possibilities; Democracy Promotion, Christopher Hobson; Transnational Democracy, James Anderson; Digital Democracy, Brian Loader; Radical Democracy, Lincoln Dahlberg; Deliberative Democracy, Kasper M. Hansen and Christian F. Rostbøll; New Thinking, John Keane; Conclusion: The Future History of Democracy, Stephen Stockwell; Index.

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.