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SF has a notable anti-democratic trend, with Future! Space! Empires! with hereditary rulers and nobles. Asimov's Galactic Empires, Pournelle's CoDominium and Empire, Poul Anderson's empire. Often an empire falls, to be replaced by a second empire.
This hasn't been without rationalization. The usual line is that with poor communications, a feudal structure is good for long-range government. This never felt right, but I was thinking about it in the past day. Really... what? Europe's feudal realms were in rather smaller areas than the Roman Republic at its pre-Imperial height. Roman used pro-consuls and pro-praetors, so there was local autocracy, but appointed by the Senate, not hereditary. And why couldn't a democratic/republican federation handle the needed decentralization? Local governance, representatives sent to the capital. A bit like the early US, or the Commonwealth (though that has a weak Crown still, and had steamships and telegraphs relatively early.)
This hasn't been without rationalization. The usual line is that with poor communications, a feudal structure is good for long-range government. This never felt right, but I was thinking about it in the past day. Really... what? Europe's feudal realms were in rather smaller areas than the Roman Republic at its pre-Imperial height. Roman used pro-consuls and pro-praetors, so there was local autocracy, but appointed by the Senate, not hereditary. And why couldn't a democratic/republican federation handle the needed decentralization? Local governance, representatives sent to the capital. A bit like the early US, or the Commonwealth (though that has a weak Crown still, and had steamships and telegraphs relatively early.)
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Date: 2009-06-27 16:00 (UTC)From:No ancient polities were democracies in the modern sense. Women, slaves and immigrants were always disenfranchised. Ancient socities were always "violent" by modern standards -- it was a crueller and harsher world, with little in the way of competent law enforcement.
As for "manipulated," by definition all political systems are "manipulated," as politics is about the attempts of people to manipulate one another by means short of open warfare.
A definition of "real" democracy that excludes all the ones which have ever existed is meaningless.
no subject
Date: 2009-06-27 16:45 (UTC)From:A definition of "real" democracy that excludes all the ones which have ever existed is meaningless.
Sure, but that's not my definition. I've already mentioned the (proto-)Hellenistic democracy, and other examples in antiquity exist.
Just about the only thing about the Roman Republic that approaches democracy is that they didn't have kings.