Ancient and Modern Democracy

Abstract

Ancient and Modern Democracy is a comprehensive account of Athenian democracy as a subject of criticism, admiration and scholarly debate for 2,500 years, covering the features of Athenian democracy, its importance for the English, American and French revolutions and for the debates on democracy and political liberty from the nineteenth century to the present. Discussions were always in the context of contemporary constitutional problems. Time and again they made a connection with a long-established tradition, involving both dialogue with ancient sources and with earlier phases of the reception of Antiquity. They refer either to a common cultural legacy or to specific national traditions; they often involve a mixture of political and scholarly arguments. This book elucidates the complexity of considering and constructing systems of popular self-rule.

Reimagining Democracy: The Socialist Origins of the Initiative and Referendum in the United States

“…54 As Friedrich Albert Lange (a German socialist and philosopher who, together with Bürkli, played a key role in writing the Zurich Constitution) boasted, it was the "first attempt in history to install democracy on a more rational basis than by popular assemblies or parliaments." 55 Fresh off his success in institutionalizing direct democracy in Zurich, Bürkli journeyed to Basle in September 1869 for the Fourth General Congress of the First International, which included seventy-five socialist delegates from nine nations, including one American, Andrew Cameron of the National Labor Union. 56 Bürkli was one of Switzerland's twenty-two delegates and Rittinghausen, who only the month before had helped to found the Social Democratic Workers' Party of Germany, was among the ten German delegates.…”

“…60 Engels was even harsher, telling August Bebel in 1875 that the Gotha Program's demand for direct legislation was "fashionable nonsense" and that direct legislation had done more damage than good in Switzerland. 61 Transplanting a "Foreign Platform" While Marx and his allies remained skeptical about the Swiss experience with direct legislation, believing it either irrelevant or insufficiently revolutionary, the ideas of Bürkli, Rittinghausen, and Considerant found more fertile soil in the United States, where, as in Switzerland, reformers were able to frame radical institutional change as modernizing or adapting past practices to meet evolving conditions. 62 As Hanspeter Kriesi and Dominique Wisler explain, the existence of New England town meetings and state constitutions requiring popular approval of constitutional amendments gave "the new paradigm of direct legislation … a high 'narrative fidelity'" in the United States "because it resonated well with the stories, myths, and folk tales" that made up the nation's "cultural heritage."…”