Western Democracy: The History and Legacy of Representative Governments in the West from the Ancient World to Today
Written by Charles River Editors
Narrated by Jim Johnston
3/5
()
About this audiobook
In today’s modern world every political regime, even the most authoritarian or repressive, describes itself as democracy or a Democratic People’s Republic. The concept of rule by the people, on behalf of the people, has come to be accepted as the norm, and very few would overtly espouse the cause of dictatorship, absolute monarchy or oligarchy as the most desirable political system upon which to base the government of any country.
It is also generally accepted that democracy, as a political ideology, began in Greece, specifically in Athens, in the 7th century BCE and reached its zenith in the 5th century under the leadership of Pericles. Dating an exact starting point is impossible, but at the beginning of the 7th century BCE, Solon inaugurated a series of reforms that began the movement away from rule by individuals, or tyrants, and by the end of that century the reforms of Cleisthenes provided the basis of the Athenian democratic system that culminated in the radical institutions introduced by Ephialtes and Pericles in the 5th century. The result was the first, and possibly only, truly participative democratic state.
The Greeks and Romans would not have recognized, or accepted, any of today’s modern versions of democracy as being truly “democratic.” A rejection of dictatorships masquerading as democracies would be understandable, but the ancients would have been equally scathing of Western-style representative democracies that they would undoubtedly have seen as anti-democratic. The key to democracy, as far as the Greeks and Romans were concerned, was active participation by the citizen body in all political aspects of life.
More audiobooks from Charles River Editors
The Rape of Nanking: The History and Legacy of the Notorious Massacre during the Second Sino-Japanese War Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Gnosticism: The History and Legacy of the Mysterious Ancient Religion Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Mossad: The History and Legacy of Israel’s National Intelligence Agency Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Ur: The History and Legacy of the Ancient Sumerian Capital Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The East India Company: The History of the British Empire's Most Famous Mercantile Company Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Project MK-Ultra: The History of the CIA’s Controversial Human Experimentation Program Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Nineveh: The History and Legacy of the Ancient Assyrian Capital Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Legends of the West: Deadwood, South Dakota Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5J. Robert Oppenheimer: The Life and Legacy of the Father of the Atomic Bomb Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Cambrian Period: The History and Legacy of the Start of Complex Life on Earth Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Arnold Rothstein and Meyer Lansky: The Lives and Legacies of the Gangsters Who Reformed Organized Crime in America Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMysteries of the South: Ghosts, Legends, and Unexplained Phenomena in Dixie Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Mysterious Midwest: Mysteries, Legends, and Unexplained Phenomena in America's Heartland Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Life and Trial of Lizzie Borden: The History of 19th Century America's Most Famous Murder Case Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Madame de Pompadour: The Life and Legacy of French King Louis XV’s Chief Mistress Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Battle of Hamburger Hill: The History and Legacy of One of the Vietnam War's Most Controversial Battles Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Denisovans: The History of the Extinct Archaic Humans Who Spread Across Asia during the Paleolithic Era Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Culper Ring: The History and Legacy of the Revolutionary War's Most Famous Spy Ring Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Battle of the Somme: The History and Legacy of World War I’s Biggest Battle Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Medieval England: The History of England from the Fall of Rome to the Rise of the Tudor Dynasty Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Pleistocene Era: The History of the Ice Age and the Dawn of Modern Humans Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Fermi Paradox: The History and Legacy of the Famous Debate over the Existence of Aliens Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5
Related to Western Democracy
Related audiobooks
Early Democracy: The History and Legacy of the World’s Democratic Systems from Antiquity to the French Revolution Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsDemocracy: A Guided Tour Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsYou Say You Want a Revolution?: Radical Idealism and Its Tragic Consequences Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5A Brief Global History of the Left Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA Macat Analysis of John W. Dower’s War Without Mercy: Race and Power in the Pacific War Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5History of Colonial America Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsModern Democracy: The History and Legacy of the World’s Democratic Institutions Since the American Revolution Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsImperialism Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Ancient Libyans and Nubians: The History and Legacy of Ancient Egypt’s Most Prominent Neighbors in Africa Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsFighting in World War I: The History and Legacy of Warfare during the Great War Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsHistory and Morality Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA Macat Analysis of John Lewis Gaddis’s We Now Know: Rethinking Cold War History Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5A Macat Analysis of Hamid Dabashi's Iran: A People Interrupted Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5A Macat Analysis of Hamid Dabashi's Theology of Discontent Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Socialism Explained Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA Macat Analysis of Frederick Jackson Turner's The Significance of the Frontier in American History Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings20 Dictators Currently Supported by the U.S. Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Making the Imperial Nation: Colonization, Politics, and English Identity, 1660-1700 Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Mao Zedong: A Biography of the Chinese Revolutionary Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The History of Herodotus - Book 9: Calliope (Unabridged) Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe War of the Keys: The History and Legacy of the Military Conflict Between the Holy Roman Empire and the Vatican Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Anglo-Ashanti Wars: The History and Legacy of the Conflicts Between the British and the Ashanti Empire in Africa Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAfghanistan War Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5History of Vladimir Lenin Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsArmenian Genocide: Atrocities, Deportation, and Plunder by the Convicts Army Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Our Damaged Democracy: We the People Must Act Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Ancient History For You
Meditations Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/51177 B.C.: The Year Civilization Collapsed: Revised and Updated Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire - Volume I Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Ancient Rome: The Rise and Fall of An Empire Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Epic of Gilgamesh Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Emperor's Handbook: A New Translation of The Meditations Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Killing Jesus: A History Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A.D. The Bible Continues: The Revolution That Changed the World Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Our Occulted History: Do the Global Elite Conceal Ancient Aliens? Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Past Mistakes: How We Misinterpret History and Why it Matters Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Babylon: Mesopotamia and the Birth of Civilization Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Pandora's Jar: Women in the Greek Myths Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Ancient Greece 101: Greek History, Myth, and Civilization Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Caligula: The Mad Emperor of Rome Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Roman History 101: From Republic to Empire Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Ten Caesars: Roman Emperors from Augustus to Constantine Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Hekate Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Histories Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Greek Mythology: An Elaborate Guide to the Gods, Heroes, Harems, Sagas, Rituals and Beliefs of Greek Myths Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Underworld: The Mysterious Origins of Civilization Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5When God Had a Wife: The Fall and Rise of the Sacred Feminine in the Judeo-Christian Tradition Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Plutarch's Lives: Volume 1 of 2 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Persian Fire: The First World Empire and the Battle for the West Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Bullies and Saints: An Honest Look at the Good and Evil of Christian History Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5History Is Wrong Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Horse, the Wheel, and Language: How Bronze-Age Riders from the Eurasian Steppes Shaped the Modern World Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Mary Magdalene: Women, the Church, and the Great Deception Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Wheel of Time: The Shamans of Mexico Their Thoughts about Life Death and the Universe Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Related categories
Reviews for Western Democracy
1 rating0 reviews