The Deep Roots of Modern Democracy

• In Event: Historical Dynamics in European Parties, Regimes, and States

Abstract

Work in the global-historical genre is usually concerned with explaining economic development, inequality, the course of colonialism and imperialism, the quality of governance, or the development of the nation-state. This project (a book in progress) focuses on democracy. Here, we launch two major arguments centered on geography and globalization, respectively.
Geography. The geographic argument centers on access to the sea. This is afforded by natural harbors, which may be located on the coast or on navigable rivers that flow, unimpeded, to the coast. By virtue of enhancing connections to the wider world, we argue that natural harbors fostered development, mobility, naval-based defense forces, and global diffusion. Through these pathways, operative over many centuries, geography placed its imprint on political institutions. As a consequence, areas blessed with natural harbors are more likely to develop democratic forms of government in the modern era.
Globalization. The second part of our argument centers on the long-run impact of globalization. Beginning about 1500, with the advent of sailing vessels capable of circumnavigating the globe, Europeans began to populate the distant abroad. By 1900, they could be found virtually everywhere, in varying proportions. We argue that the resulting ratio of Europeans to non-Europeans structured the fate of democracy around the world. Where Europeans were numerous (relative to indigenes and migrants from elsewhere), they championed some form of popular sovereignty, though often with restrictions limiting suffrage or office-holding to those of European heritage. Where they were in the minority they were more reticent and often actively resisted democratization. And where Europeans were entirely absent there was no one – at least initially – to carry the democratic torch. We argue that this demographic mechanism – which we call European ancestry – was the most powerful pathway of democratic diffusion from Europe to the world and one of the more enduring causes of regime-type in the modern era.
Interconnections. These two arguments are interconnected, as foreshadowed. The fact that representative democracy developed on the European continent is, we shall argue, partly a product of its geography, which is especially aqueous. Natural harbors also foster an outward orientation. Trade and seafaring come naturally to a civilization bordering the sea. From this perspective, it is not surprising that Europe discovered the world, rather than the reverse. Finally, we must make allowances for how Europe accessed the world beyond. It was of course through ships. And this means that areas (outside Europe) that were well-endowed with natural harbors were also likely to be the first to be discovered and settled, and to have the closest ongoing relationships with Europe. Harbors connect. So harbors may help explain some things about Europe – namely, its advanced form of democracy, its outward orientation, and its mode of interaction with the world. Of course, harbors don’t explain everything about the special role that Europe would play during the age of imperialism.
To summarize, we shall argue that natural harbors serve as a prime mover of political institutions in the modern era, having a direct effect on democracy as well as an indirect effect – through the medium of the European diaspora.

Authors

• John Gerring, University of Texas, Austin

• Brendan Apfeld, University of Texas, Austin

• Tore Wig, University of Oslo

• Andreas Forø Tollefsen, Peace Research Institute Oslo