Representation and Consent
Why They Arose in Europe and Not Elsewhere
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 7635320 |
|---|---|
| Authors | David Stasavage (0000-0001-9964-716X, New York University, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2016 |
| Volume | 19 |
| Issue | 1 |
| Pages | 145-162 |
| Publication date | 2016-05-11 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Annual Review of Political Science (BOOK_SERIES) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1094-2939 • E-ISSN: 1545-1577 |
| Publisher | Annual Reviews (PUBLISHER • US) |
| DOI | 10.1146/annurev-polisci-043014-105648 |
| OpenAlex | W2207736815 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 42 |
| References cited | 66 |
Medieval Western Europeans developed two practices that are the bedrock of modern democracy: representative government and the consent of the governed. Why did this happen in Europe and not elsewhere? I ask what the literature has to say about this question, focusing on the role of political ideas, on economic development, and on warfare. I consider Europe in comparison with the Byzantine Empire, the Abbasid Caliphate, and Song Dynasty China. I argue that ultimately Europe's different path may have been an accident. It was produced by Western Europe's experience of outside invasion that replaced the Western Roman Empire with a set of small, fragmented polities in which rulers were relatively weak. Small size meant low transaction costs for maintaining assemblies. The relatively weak position of rulers meant that consent of the governed was necessary. I also suggest how these conclusions should influence our understanding of democracy today
Caliphate · China · Democracy · Empire · Government (linguistics · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Sociology · American Constitutional Law and Politics · Culture, Economy, and Development Studies · Historical Economic and Social Studies · History · Law · Philosophy
A theory of political divergence and gradual institutional change
New Perspectives on Power and Political Representation from Ancient History to the Present Day
The Origins of Secular Institutions
The corporation—a return to origins?
Making Social Spending Work
State Building in the Middle East
Transition to broader-based politics
The Governance and Leadership of Prehispanic Mesoamerican Polities
The Patterns of Democracy in Context of Historical Political Science
The political economy of feudalism in medieval Europe
Medieval representative assemblies
The Political Limits of the Patriarchy
Institutional Change on Digital Platforms
An old, novel idea
Contexts of State Violence
The Birth of Representative Institutions
Medieval Roots of the Modern State
Long live the doge? Death as a term limit on Venetian chief executives
The political economy of imperial power successions in ancient China
Arms Technology and the Coercive Imbalance Outside Western Europe
Muslim conquest and institutional formation
Endogenous Institutions and Economic Outcomes
Power and Persistence
Bringing the Church Back In
The Collapse of State Power, the Cluniac Reform Movement, and the Origins of Urban Self-Government in Medieval Europe
Succession, power‐sharing and the development of representative institutions in medieval Europe
Muslim Trade and City Growth Before the Nineteenth Century
Violent Conflict and Political Development Over the Long Run
Tilly Goes to Church
The Budgetary Origins of Fiscal-Military Prowess
Mirrors for Princes and Sultans
Vox Populi
The Diffusion of Urban Medieval Representation
The Ecclesiastical Roots of Representation and Consent
War, International Finance, and Fiscal Capacity in the Long Run
Leader Succession and Civil War
Can Democratic Reforms Promote Political Activism? Evidence From the Great Reform Act of 1832
Early Statehood and Support for Autocratic Rule in Africa
Window of Opportunity
The cycle of monasticism
Political Institutions, Economic Liberty, and the Great Divergence
A Western Reversal Since the Neolithic? The Long-Run Impact of Early Agriculture
The Formation of national States in Western Europe
The Principles of Representative Government
Political Transformations and Public Finances
States of Credit
The Rise of the Western World
Taxation and Development
Income and Democracy
The Rise of Europe
The history of government from the earliest times
Birth of the Leviathan
Consent, Dissent, and Patriotism
Democracy and Development
Framing the Early Middle Ages
Representation (Since the Thirteenth Century)
Consent, Coercion, and Limit
The origins of political order
Political Order and Inequality
Institutions and the Path to the Modern Economy
The Rise and Fall of Classical Greece
War and State Formation in Ancient China and Early Modern Europe
From Baghdad to London
Of Rule and Revenue
The Emergence and Demise of Nascent Constitutional Rights
A typology of representative institutions in late medieval Europe
Coercion, capital, and European states, 990–1990
Taxation and representation
Fiscal Centralization, Limited Government, and Public Revenues in Europe, 1650–1913
Constitutions and Commitment
China, Europe, and the Great Divergence
Charting the “Rise of the West”
Guns, Germs, and Steel. The Fate of Human Societies
The rise and decline of European parliaments, 1188–1789 1
A Note on Taxation, Development, and Representative Government
The Feudal Revolution and Europe's Rise
When Distance Mattered
Was Weber Right? The Role of Urban Autonomy in Europe's Rise
Guns, Germs, and Steel
Endogenous Democratization
The Conscription of Wealth
The Concept of Representation in Contemporary Democratic Theory
The Origins of Democracy in England
The World Economy
Technology and the Era of the Mass Army
The Other Transition
Climate Change during and after the Roman Empire
The Absence of the Corporation in Islamic Law
Democracy, Development, and the International System
Some Social Requisites of Democracy
A Theory of Endogenous Institutional Change
Democracy, War, and Wealth
TheMaddisonProject
The Machiavellian Moment
No Taxation of Elites, No Representation
| Unique citing works | 42 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 4,67 |
| Citation span | 2017 - 2026 (10) |
| Citation velocity | current |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 41 |