The Life and Death of Democracy
| Author | John Keane |
|---|---|
| Cover artist | Jem Butcher |
| Country | United Kingdom and United States |
| Language | English |
| Subject | History Politics Democracy |
| Publisher | Simon & Schuster |
|
Publication date
|
2009 |
| Media type | Hardcover |
| Pages | 992 |
| ISBN | |
| OCLC | 225432107 |
The Life and Death of Democracy is a 2009 book by John Keane and published by Simon & Schuster. Keane claims his book is the first attempt to write a full history of democracy for well over a century - the last such attempt he states on this scale was by the American Nahum Capen, whose first volume was published in 1874. Some have claimed to have already provided such a comprehensive history, but Keane has rejected this claim.
Keane's book deals with the meaning and institutions of democracy, historical roots and its present-day trends. The starting point in Keane's history is to re-consider democracy's roots. Fifth century BCE Athens (Greece), for many the cradle of democracy, was an important stage of the development process of democracy, but certainly not its point of origin. The origins of the idea of this new way of governing stretch beyond the Peloponnesus' coasts and date back to the ancient civilizations of Syria-Mesopotamia (ca. 2500 BCE).
This and other discoveries that the book unearths are not a merely antiquarian exercise, for it is argued that these are historical facts that force us to rethink some of the core ideas that have influenced historians of the past, and, more importantly, shape the politics of the present. Not only does Keane propose that democratic assemblies have Eastern origins, Keane also strongly questions the old assumption that democracy is a universal norm that reflects Western values; hence, he argues that the future of democracy is not tied neither to the West, nor to representative democracy, its current most widely adopted form. See for instance, the history of India, which shows the possibilities of multiethnic democracies – Keane calls it "banyan democracy", and of Islam, that many consider the antithesis of democracy and instead has a neglected democratic tradition.
Ideally, Keane writes, "the democratic ideal thinks in terms of government of the humble, by the humble, for the humble, everywhere, any time. Its universality, the applicability of this ideal across borders, in a wide variety of settings, whether in South Africa, China, Russia or the European Union, stems from its active commitment to what might be called 'pluriversality'," that is "the yearning of the democratic ideal to protect the weak and to empower people everywhere, so that they can get on with living their diverse lives on earth freed from the pride and prejudice of moguls and magnates, tyrants and tycoons."
But ideals often do not conform to reality, and in this book Keane considers all the ways in which democracies have gone wrong over the course of history.
The book begins with a rather radical examination of the origins of the family of terms to which the word democracy belongs; the author goes onto explore the evolution and mutations of the language and institutions of democracy through the centuries, and its often hotly disputed meanings. Looking beyond the Athens-Runnymede-Philadelphia axis, Keane traces democracy's roots back to Sumeria and follows its tendrils as far afield as Pitcairn Island and Papua New Guinea.
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