LOUDmouth,

Is that a cryptic comment?

I give up. What are you trying to tell me?

Dear Joe,

Here's where you just look and reply":
" SERIOUSLY?"

Dear Foxy,

Gotcha :)

Misop,

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Life_and_Death_of_Democracy

You could also try:

http://books.google.com.au/books?hl=en&lr=&id=NfIYd7bjJRUC&oi=fnd&pg=PT8&dq=john+keane+civil+society&ots=SfkLUkGmNZ&sig=CjKqxZ3LawdWgj65LMSP09Ro9gQ#v=onepage&q=john%20keane%20civil%20society&f=false

I think John Keane is originally from Adelaide, or at least Australia.

Joe

Dear Mr Opinion,

You wrote: "I'm sure that there a lots of examples of proto-democracy but western democracy as we know it developed from our knowledge of the Greeks and the classical world.

It was in Greece particularly Athens that people began to set themselves apart from the gods and see themselves establishing social and political action as governed by people and not by divine rule.

I cannot think of any instances of this happening prior to the Greeks."

You are wrong: Western democracy as we know did not exist in ancient Athens. Western democracy as we know it has suffrage for all adults, freedom of religion and a path of citizenship for immigrants.

In ancient Athens women could not vote, Socrates was condemned to death for impiety to the gods and all people were not regarded as citizens even though their family had lived in Athens for many generations. Athens was just one step on the road to modern democracy.

Democracy is still evolving. The current candidate for vice-president of the Democratic Party in the USA has Indian and black ancestry. This could not have been possible a few years ago.

Andrew Yang of Chinese descent was one of the Democrats vying for the Democratic nomination for president. Either democracy or one party dictatorship can arise in any culture. It depends on the historical circumstances.

david f,

I asked if you are aware of any societies that were making a distinction between divine rule and rule by the people (demos) prior to the Greeks.

Do you?

I then asked if you knew what Keane's thesis in his book is.

Do you?

Dear Mr Opinion,

I pointed out in a previous post that people in ancient Israel rejected theocracy in favour of a democratic assembly according to the Bible. Keane's thesis is that democracy is not a static fixed form of government but is evolving through time.

Read http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Life_and_Death_of_Democracy for a more complete account of Keane's thesis. Read his book.

Go and learn.