Synopses & Reviews
This timely and fascinating historical study of democracy in non-Western societies will increase the reader's appreciation of the continued struggle for democratic change and independence that still occurs in many countries all over the world. Clearly written and extremely readable, this book provides a scholarly perspective on democracy and despotism, explores events and ideologies in various non-Western areas such as India, Africa, Mesopotamia, Korea, and Japan, and it offers some new and important thoughts in recent developments around the world.
About the Author
PAUL S. MANGLAPUS is President of Democracy International and former President (now International Vice-President) of the Center for Development Policy.
Table of Contents
Preface
Introduction
Democracy and Despotism: Chicken and Egg?
Marx and Toynbee vs. "The Cake of Custom"
Mesopotamia: Earliest Formal Democracy
India: The Spirit of Licchavis
The Stubborn Village
The Panchayat: Gandhi vs. Britain
Varna and Pygmalion
Confucius said...?
The Hills are Alive
The Adat--Durable Cake
Stone Age Legislatures
The Consesual Islands
Iroquois--The First American Republic
The Tribes: Proving Jefferson Right
Aztecs: Mexican Schizophrenia
Incan Empire: The Democratic Fringe
Bantu Assembly: Original South African Democracy
One-Party Systems: Un-African Activity
Semitic Pluralism
Korea and Japan--The "Improbable Democracies?"
Index