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Eurocentrism and the History of Democracy

journal contribution
posted on 2016-01-01, 00:00 authored by Benjamin IsakhanBenjamin Isakhan
Building atop these earlier works, this article offers a fresh critique of the work of Dunn and other political scientists and historians who have propagated the Eurocentric history of democracy. The papers argues that such work can be dissected and critiqued along several key lines: their reliance on a distinctly patriarchal discourse riddled with prejudices; the assertion that one can understand the history of democracy via the etymology of the word itself; and the deeply Eurocentric roots of the study of democracy’s past embedded in the canon of Western political thought. The paper concludes by calling on contemporary political scientists and political historians concerned with the history of democracy to be careful in re-iterating this deeply flawed history of democracy and to instead work towards a history of democracy that retrieves the silenced histories and the forgotten democratic moments that lay behind the roar of Western power.

History

Journal

POLITISCHE VIERTELJAHRESSCHRIFT

Volume

51

Pagination

56-+

Location

Berlin, Germany

ISSN

0032-3470

eISSN

1862-2860

Language

English

Publication classification

C Journal article, C1 Refereed article in a scholarly journal

Copyright notice

2016, Springer

Publisher

SPRINGER