MOHAMAD ABDALLA Founding director of the Griffith University Islamic Research Unit and a co-director of the National Centre of Excellence for Islamic Studies, AustraliaLARISSA BEHRENDT Professor of Law and Director of Research at the Jumbunna Indigenous House of Learning at the University of Technology, Sydney, AustraliaPATRICIA PIRES BOULHOSA has held the Snorri Sturluson Icelandic Fellowship, and in 2006 delivered the Jón Sigurðsson Memorial LecturePOPPY FRY Assistant Professor of History at Saint Anselm College in Manchester, New Hampshire, USA.K. LUISA GANDOLFO Researcher affiliated to the Centre for Middle Eastern and Mediterranean Studies at the Panteion University in Athens, GreeceBENJAMIN ISAKHAN Research Fellow with the Centre for Dialogue at La Trobe University, AustraliaJOHN KEANE Professor of Politics at the University of Westminster, UK and at the Wissenschaftszentrum Berlin, GermanyPAULINE KEATING Senior Lecturer in the History Programme at the Victoria University of Wellington, New ZealandIMMACULATE KIZZAProfessor of English at The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, USASTEVEN MUHLBERGER Professor of History at Nipissing University in North Bay, Ontario, CanadaPHILIPPE PAINE Independent Canadian scholar who has researched and written on the cross-cultural history of democracy for two decadesHALIM RANE Deputy Director of the Griffith University Islamic Research Unit, AustraliaSTEPHEN STOCKWELL Professor of Journalism and Communication, at Griffith University's, Australia

This book explores the intriguing idea that there is much more democracy in human history than is generally acknowledged. It establishes that democracy was developing across greater Asia before classical Athens, clung on during the 'Dark Ages', often formed part of indigenous governance and is developing today in unexpected ways.

Rethinks the history of democracy, and democracy itself, by exploring unexpected and intriguing occurrences of government by the people around the world and across time

Introduction: Democracy and History PART I: PRE-ATHENIAN DEMOCRACY What is so 'Primitive' about 'Primitive Democracy'? Comparing the Ancient Middle East and Classical Athens; B.Isakhan Before Athens: Early Popular Government in Phoenicia and Greek City States; S.Stockwell Republics and Quasi-Democratic Institutions in Ancient India; S .Muhlberger Digging for Democracy in China; P.Keating PART II: DEMOCRACY IN THE 'DARK AGES' Behind a Veil: Islam's Democratic History; M.Abdalla & H.Rane Ideals and Aspirations: Democracy and Law-Making in Medieval Iceland; P.P.Boulhosa Democratic Culture in the Early Venetian Republic; S.Stockwell PARR III: INDIGENOUS DEMOCRACY AND COLONIALISM Africa's Indigenous Democracies: The Baganda of Uganda; I.Kizza The Hunters who Owned Themselves; P.Paine Aboriginal Australia and Democracy: Old Traditions, New Challenges; L.Behrendt The Pre-History of the Post-Apartheid Settlement: Non-Racial Democracy in South Africa's Cape Colony, 1853-1936; P.Fry PART IV: ALTERNATIVE CURRENTS IN MODERN DEMOCRACY Birthing Democracy: The Role of Women in the Democratic Discourse of the Middle East; K.L.Gandolfo The Streets of Iraq: Protests and Democracy after Saddam; B. Isakhan Monitory Democracy? The Secret History of Democracy Since 1945; J.Keane Conclusion: Democratizing the History of Democracy; B.Isakhan & S.Stockwell

This book explores the intriguing idea that there is much more democracy in human history than is generally acknowledged. It establishes that democracy was developing across greater Asia before classical Athens, clung on during the 'Dark Ages', often formed part of indigenous governance and is developing today in unexpected ways.