Just Finished Reading: The Shortest History of Democracy by John Keane (FP: 2022) [201pp] 

Whenever people (including myself here) think of the origins of Democracy they usually point to ancient Athens as its birthplace. According to this interesting and often fascinating book the reason we think this is because Athens had a particularly good PR department and left a plethora of documents to back up their claim (or at the very least the claims of future historians). In fact, assembly democracy is far older than the Athenian version and was far more widely spread across Asia and into the Indian sub-continent. As you might expect from a diverse group of cultures the variety of these democratic states were varied in their rules, their longevity and their ultimate end. 

Although the democratic impulse didn’t die in Athens it took very much a back seat across the world until what we now think of as “Democracy” slowly came together throughout the 18th and 19th centuries most notably in Europe and the newly minted United States. Yet again, for cultural and historical reasons each variety of democracy varied, often significantly, from other versions along lines of who could vote, how people voted, how often they could vote and much else. For most of that time only men of property could cast their ballot but, slowly, the wealth/property restriction was relaxed and, eventually – although surprisingly late in some countries – women were eventually given the same voting rights as men. Other groups, notably racial minorities, took even longer to gain the right. 

The history of democracy has been far from straightforward. It has ebbed and flowed across Europe and the world, emerging here, falling there. There was a flowering following the Great War and the self-asserted right to free determination. It retreated in the 1920’s and 30’s in the face of the rise of fascism and other strains of totalitarianism. It flowered again with the fall of the Soviet Union and was, at least briefly, declared triumphant. That, as we know, didn’t last long and we are, yet again, living through a time when democracy is under stress or even in retreat across the globe. How such a process plays out will have to be seen. 

This was definitely a thought provoking and very well argued look at the democratic urge throughout history. I certainly learnt a lot and reading this showed me, amongst other things, not to take democracy for granted – as many people around the world are finding out. Along with the desire to be directly involved in the running of any particular state (or organisation) there is all too often the countervailing desire to restrict people’s access to this sort of power. Democracy is, by its very nature messy and inefficient but people are, as a rule, also messy and inefficient. Democracy allows voices to be heard, decisions to be made that encompass more ideas and a better, deeper understanding of what people want and what people will accept. But it can’t just be the right to vote for a leadership every 4-5 years and that’s it. Any government, even a democratically elected one, can overstep its powers and having to quietly wait years to address the problem is no longer tenable. Governments need holding to account, they need to be monitored, exposed to publicity, laughed at, and checked by the law, by public protest, by independent investigations, by a free press and by people being aware enough and politically educated enough to know what’s happening. Reading this book will help with that. Definitely recommended in this troubled time. More ‘short’ histories to come especially from this most impressive series.