Synopses & Reviews
This book offers a new approach to the study of European democracy showing how this has developed through key episodes in the history of the process: precursors in the Low Countries; the founding of British parliamentary then American federal democracy; post-revolutionary France; post-war Germany; the European Parliament. It examines the significance of each episode in the development of national or federal democracy and concludes with a positive assessment of the prospects of liberal democracy.
Synopsis
This book offers a new approach to the study of European democracy showing how this has developed through key episodes in the history of the process: precursors in the Low Countries; the founding of British parliamentary then American federal democracy; post-revolutionary France; post-war Germany; the European Parliament. It examines the significance of each episode in the development of national or federal democracy and concludes with a positive assessment of the prospects of liberal democracy.
Description
Includes bibliographical references (p. 128-141) and index.
About the Author
John Pinder is Visiting Professor at the College of Europe, Bruges, and Chairman of the Federal Trust in London.
Table of Contents
Foreword by H.R.H Princess Margriet of The Netherlands * The Development of European Democracy--John Pinder * Medieval Flanders and the Seeds of Modern Democracy--R.C. Van Caenegem * Republican Freedom against Monarchical Absolutism: The Dutch Experience in the Seventeenth Century--E.H. Kossmann * William III, the Glorious Revolution and the Development of Parliamentary Democracy in Britain--Jonathan I. Israel * The United States Constitution and its Roots in British Political Thought and Tradition--Colin Bonwick * Proudhon and Anti-Jacobin Federalism--Bernard Voyenne * Anglo-Saxon Influences and the Development of German Democracy after World War Two--Anthony Glees * The European Parliament and the Idea of European Representative--Richard Corbett * Foundations for Democracy in the European Union--John Pinder