Gerald Stourzh is professor emeritus at the University of Vienna. He is the author of several books in English and German, including Benjamin Franklin and American Foreign Policy, published by the University of Chicago Press. Cynthia Peck-Kubaczek is an editor, writer, and translator for the Austrian Academy of Sciences and The Vienna Review.

• PrefaceIntroduction1 Isonomy in Greek Antiquity2 Gradations: Hierarchy in This World and the Other World3 Equalizations: Ways toward Modern Isonomy in America and in France4 Democracy with Adjectives5 The Six Components of Modern IsonomyGeneral Legal Capacity: From Slavery to FreedomEquality before the LawThe Liberation of PeasantsTolerance and Equalization of Religious GroupsJewish Emancipation and Renewed Deprivation of RightsOn the Equal Rights of WomenIndigenous PersonsCitizens and ForeignersPositive Discrimination (Affirmative Action)The Evolution of Fundamental RightsThe Protection of Fundamental Rights as Part of Constitutional JusticeThe Internationalization of Fundamental Rights as Human RightsDemocracyConclusion: The Two Focal Points of Modern IsonomyBibliographyIndex of Names

“Stourzh revives the half-forgotten word ‘isonomy’ as rival to ‘democracy’ from its start in Herodotus, its development through regimes with ‘gradations’ of hierarchy, and its modern flowering in ‘equalizations’ and ‘democracy with adjectives.’ In brief compass he supplies a wonderful variety of thoughtful descriptions from the many sources of his remarkable learning.”