The concept of democracy has become tarnished in recent years, as governments become disconnected from voters and pursue unpopular policies. And yet the ideal of democracy continues to inspire movements around the world, such as the Arab Spring. Brian Roper refreshes our understanding of democracy using a Marxist theoretical 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. Roper argues that democracy cannot be understood separately from underlying processes of exploitation and class struggle. He offers an engaging Marxist critique of representative democracy, and raises the possibility of alternative democratic forms. The History of Democracy will be of interest to students and scholars of history and politics and all those concerned about the past, present and future of democracy. "In this stunning and panoramic survey, Brian Roper sheds enormous light on the theory and practice of democracy across the ages. Focusing on issues of freedom, oppression and class domination, Roper makes a compelling case for the enduring importance of socialist models of participatory democracy. This is an important and timely book, which will be of great interest to scholars and activists alike." – David McNally, Professor of Political Science, York University, author of Another World is Possible and Global Slump "Democracy is the product of intense class struggles rather than the incremental decisions of enlightened lawmakers. Brian Roper's insightful and coherent survey convincingly makes this argument through a series of accessible studies that range from ancient Athens through the English Civil War to the workers' revolutions of the 19th and 20th centuries." – Rick Kuhn, Deutscher Prize winner, Reader in Politics at the Australian National University and long-time activist. 'In this stunning and panoramic survey, Brian Roper sheds enormous light on the theory and practice of democracy across the ages' 'Democracy is the product of intense class struggles rather than the incremental decisions of enlightened lawmakers. Brian Roper's insightful and coherent survey convincingly makes this argument through a series of accessible studies that range from ancient Athens through the English Civil War to the workers' revolutions of the 19th and 20th centuries' Brian S. Roper lectures in Politics at the University of Otago, New Zealand. He has been involved in the socialist left and political activism in New Zealand since the early 1980s. He is the author of Prosperity for All? Economic, Social and Political Change in New Zealand since 1935 (2005). The History of Democracy A Marxist Interpretation By Brian S. Roper Pluto Press Copyright © 2013 Brian S. Roper All rights reserved. ISBN: 978-0-7453-3189-8 Contents Preface and acknowledgements, ix, Introduction, 1, 1 Origins: democracy in the ancient Greek world, 14, 2 Democracy suppressed: the Roman republic and empire, 37, 3 The early Middle Ages and the transition from feudalism to capitalism, 62, 4 The English Revolution and parliamentary democracy, 88, 5 The American Revolution and constitutional redefinition of democracy, 119, 6 The revolutionary revival of democracy in France, 153, 7 The revolutions of 1848–49, 178, 8 Capitalist expansion, globalisation and democratisation, 196, 9 The Marxist critique of capitalism and representative democracy, 217, 10 Precursors of socialist participatory democracy: the Paris Commune 1871 and Russian Revolutions of 1905 and 1917, 241, Conclusion: socialism and democracy beyond capitalism, 274, Guide to further reading, 275, Bibliography, 277, Index, 295, CHAPTER 1 Origins: democracy in the ancient Greek world INTRODUCTION Democracy was introduced into the Athenian city-state with the reforms of Cleisthenes in 508–7 BC, reaching its height while Pericles was a leading political figure from around 461 to 429, before being suppressed briefly in the wake of the defeat of Athens by the oligarchic city-state Sparta in the Peloponnesian War in 404. Democracy was soon revived, however, in 403 and persisted in a modified form until 322–1. There is doubt whether this constituted the first democratic city-state in history, since there is some evidence that democratic institutions, practices, and principles emerged even earlier in Sparta and amongst the Phoenicians (Hornblower, 1992: 1–2). Keane (2009: xi) confidently argues that democracy was certainly 'not a Greek invention.' But even if it is the case, as Keane (2009: xi) argues, that the bulk of existing historical scholarship is wrong in claiming that democracy was a Greek invention and in fact popular self-government originated in western Asia, invented by peoples and lands that 'geographically correspond to contemporary Syria, Iraq and Iran', there can be