Abstract
The franchise changes outlined in the last chapter clearly show the same general trend in the four countries under consideration. From being the preserve of the privileged male few, the chance to elect one’s representative to parliament has come to be seen as a human right that should be available to all adults. This transition is, in part, a response to certain basic social changes in western societies, as well as an accompanying philosophical shift concerning notions of sovereignty, legitimacy and citizenship.
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Notes
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However, ‘a number of Swiss cantons and German cities thought themselves “democratic” in the eighteenth century’. S.R. Graubard, ‘Democracy’ in Dictionary of the History of Ideas, Vol. 1 (New York, 1973), p. 661.
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To raise the example of modern India, where relatively stable democracy has endured alongside about 66 per cent illiteracy, is to apply the wisdom of hindsight.
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Levin, M. (1992). The Case Against Democracy. In: The Spectre of Democracy. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-12547-0_2
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