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DEMOCRACY
A WORLD HISTORY
TEMMA KAPLAN
Democracy: A World History
The
New
Oxford
World
History
Democracy: A World History
Temma Kaplan
UNIVERSITY PRESS
UNIVERSITY PRESS
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© Oxford University Press 2015
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Kaplan, Temma, 1942- Democracy : a world history / Temma Kaplan. pages cm
Includes bibliographical references and index ISBN 978-0-19-517676-6 (hardback); 978-0-19-533808-9 (paperback) 1. Democracy—History. 2. World politics. I. Title. JC421.K365 2015 321.8—dc23 2014028716
1 3 5 7 9 8 6 4 2 Printed in the United States of America on acid-free paper
Frontispiece: Women voting in Japan. Library of Congress, LC-DIG-ggbain-34126
Contents
Editors' Preface vii
Introduction 1
Chapter 1 Parting the Waters and Organizing the People 5
Chapter 2 Prophetic Movements and Cities of Promise 18
Chapter 3 Democracy against All Odds 31
Chapter 4 Which People Shall Rule? 46
Chapter 5 Social Revolution and Participatory
Democracy 62
Chapter 6 Civil Disobedience and Racial Justice 77
Chapter 7 Optimism and Outrage in Struggles for
Democracy 95
Chapter 8 New World Dawning 112
Chronology 127
Notes 129
Further Reading 139
Websites 143
Acknowledgments 145
Index 151
Editors' Preface
T
his book is part of the New Oxford World History, an innovative series that offers readers an informed, lively, and up-to- date history of the world and its people that represents a signifi cant change from the "old" world history. Only a few years ago, world history generally amounted to a history of the West—Europe and the United States—with small amounts of information from the rest of the world. Some versions of the "old" world history drew attention to every part of the world except Europe and the United States. Readers of that kind of world history could get the impression that somehow the rest of the world was made up of exotic people who had strange customs and spoke difficult languages. Still another kind of "old" world history presented the story of areas or peoples of the world by focusing primarily on the achievements of great civilizations. One learned of great buildings, influential world religions, and mighty rulers but little of ordinary people or more general economic and social patterns. Interactions among the world's peoples were often told from only one perspective.
This series tells world history differently. First, it is comprehensive, covering all countries and regions of the world and investigating the total human experience—even those of so-called peoples without histories living far from the great civilizations. "New" world historians thus share in common an interest in all of human history, even going back millions of years before there were written human records. A few "new" world histories even extend their focus to the entire universe, a "big history" perspective that dramatically shifts the beginning of the story back to the big bang. Some see the "new" global framework of world history today as viewing the world from the vantage point of the Moon, as one scholar put it. We agree. But we also want to take a closeup view, analyzing and reconstructing the significant experiences of all of humanity.
This is not to say that everything that has happened everywhere and in all time periods can be recovered or is worth knowing, but that there is much to be gained by considering both the separate and interrelated stories of different societies and cultures. Making these connections is still another crucial ingredient of the "new" world history. It emphasizes connectedness and interactions of all kinds—cultural, economic, political, religious, and social—involving peoples, places, and processes. It makes comparisons and finds similarities. Emphasizing both the comparisons and interactions is critical to developing a global framework that can deepen and broaden historical understanding, whether the focus is on a specific country or region or on the whole world.
The rise of the new world history as a discipline comes at an opportune time. The interest in world history in schools and among the general public is vast. We travel to one another's nations, converse and work with people around the world, and are changed by global events. War and peace affect populations worldwide as do economic conditions and the state of our environment, communications, and health and medicine. The New Oxford World History presents local histories in a global context and gives an overview of world events seen through the eyes of ordinary people. This combination of the local and the global further defines the new world history. Understanding the workings of global and local conditions in the past gives us tools for examining our own world and for envisioning the interconnected future that is in the making.
Bonnie G. Smith Anand Yang
Introduction
I
n 1947, Winston Churchill, the Prime Minister of Great Britain during the Second World War, told a session of Parliament that "democracy is the worst form of government except [for] all the others that have been tried from time to time."1 This book explores the many meanings of democracy as it has developed in both small groups and large populations over most of human history.
Simply stated, democracy is a process through which people confer with each other to secure food, shelter, land, water, and peace for their mutual benefit. As groups of people grow larger, they usually form specialized committees to meet particular challenges. Although political relationships always depend on group survival, their study seldom considers the provision of physical resources such as land and water as this book does.
As a set of practices associated with the rule of law and widespread participation in administering that law, democracies have developed for thousands of years all over the world. But as diverse as democracies have been, the people who generate laws and those who attempt to create, maintain, or change the laws and practices that permit people to live together in peace have been relatively exclusive and nearly impossible to sustain over long periods. In order to protect those recognized as citizens, most known democracies have considered at least some people as outsiders and have excluded them from the benefits of democracy and citizenship. The existence of democracy among one group does not necessarily lead to the empowerment of all residents or their inclusion in common deliberations. And the decisions made directly or by representatives may rule unfairly against any group that lacks its own representation. It is important to remember that, in practice, democracies can carry out atrocities against as well as grant benefits to large numbers of people.