Authors:
Tells the complete story of the development of democracy
Analyses the paradox of human societies: the democratic or despotic potential of humans prevails
Pays special attention to the role of women in society, and their influence on the political process
Is firmly grounded in the work of Aristotle and Locke
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Table of contents (154 chapters)
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Front Matter
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The Emergence of Democracy in Bands and Tribes
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Front Matter
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Tribal Society: Clan and Tribal Democracy
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Front Matter
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About this book
Part One covers tribes. It uses anthropological literature to describe the “campfire democracy” of the African Bushmen, the Pygmies, and other band societies. Its main focus is on the tribal democracy of the Cheyenne, Iroquois, Huron, and other tribes, and it pays special attention to the role of women in tribal democracies. Part Two describes the city-states of Mesopotamia, Syria, and Canaan-Phoenicia, and includes a section on the theocracy of the Jews. This part focuses on the transition from tribal democracy to city-state democracy in the ancient Middle East – from the Sumerian city-states to the Phoenician. Part Three focuses on the origins of democracy and covers Greece—Mycenaean, Dorian, and the Golden Age. It presents a detailed description of the tribal democracy of Archaic Greece – emphasizing the causal effect of the hoplite-phalanx military formation in egalitarianizing Greek tribal society. Next, it analyses the transition from tribal to city-state democracy—with the new commercial classes engendering the oligarchic and democratic conflicts described by Plato and Aristotle. Part Four describes the Norse tribes as they contacted Rome, the rise of kingships, the renaissance of the city-states, and the parliamentary monarchies of the emerging nation-states. It provides details of the rise of commercial city states in Renaissance Italy, Hanseatic Germany and the Netherlands.
Keywords
- Absolute Monarchy with Kingly Dominance
- Biological Evolution vs. Human History
- Campfire Democracy with Informal Leadership Roles
- City-State Democracy in the Acient Middle East
- Commercial City-States of Hanseatic Germany
- Commercial City-States of Renaissance Italy
- Commercial City-States of The Netherlands
- Constitutional Monarchy with Parliamentary Dominance
- Democracy and Despotism in Mesopotamia
- Military Formation in Greek Tribal Society
- Origins of Human Political Institutions
- Science and Rational Secular Law in Greece
- The Babylonian Exile and Theocracy in Israel
- The Politics of Tribal Societies
- Tribal Democracy of Band Societies
- Tribal Democracy of Norse Tribes in Post-Roman Europe
- Women's Movement in the Golden Age
Authors and Affiliations
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NYU School of Liberal Studies, New York, USA
Ronald M. Glassman
About the author
Bibliographic Information
Book Title: The Origins of Democracy in Tribes, City-States and Nation-States
Authors: Ronald M. Glassman
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-51695-0
Publisher: Springer Cham
eBook Packages: Social Sciences, Social Sciences (R0)
Copyright Information: Springer International Publishing AG 2017
Hardcover ISBN: 978-3-319-51693-6Published: 13 July 2017
Softcover ISBN: 978-3-319-84718-4Published: 06 September 2018
eBook ISBN: 978-3-319-51695-0Published: 19 June 2017
Edition Number: 1
Number of Pages: CLXXXVI, 1736
Topics: Cultural Studies, Cultural Heritage, Anthropology, Political Science