from our own time, that provide a glimpse into what may have been the early decision making process. There tends to be greater democracy – group decision making or consensus – among smaller groups, with larger groups requiring greater specialization, particularly in choosing leaders.10 Large societies had a greater division of tasks – including hunters and gatherers, makers of baskets, pottery, clothing and jewelry, healers, rule makers and enforcers. Trade began as goods were exchanged between societies that could not find or produce what they wanted.11
People in primitive societies in Africa and South America still travel and hunt in tribes, but all societies have moral codes that help them supersede their individual aggressions.12 This makes it likely that rules for behavior were present in the earliest human societies to provide guidance to live together successfully. Being able to follow rules and rituals that govern encounters with each other and the outside world – at first oral, then written – would likely have increased their chances of survival. Rules enabled them to move beyond conflicts and work more effectively toward common goals. Rituals provided spiritual inspiration and practice in encounters with enemies – both human and animal. What remains uncertain is to what extent freedom and choice were considered important to early humans – including those who lived far before the dawn of civilization – or if these ideas are of more modern origin.13
An assumption of ethologists (scientists who study animal behavior) is that observing animals sheds light on the origins of human interaction. This is based on the belief that we share common ancestors. An established “pecking order” – with leaders and followers assuming a hierarchy of roles – can avoid conflict while increasing efficiency for activities done by the group.14 We know that primates often search for food in small groups, for example some chimps hunt together.15 Many animals also communicate to warn others of their species about potential danger. Thus it seems likely that the species from which we evolved were able to cooperate toward common goals – an ability essential to the advent of democracy.
Studies of young children provide insights into early human behavior because they have had relatively little indoctrination into the ways of society. We often portray childhood as a time of freedom and innocence in our discussions and literature. Yet children are not really free because they depend on those around them for what they need to survive.
We are born into a family and society that hold expectations for us about how to act and what to believe, and most of us learn to live up to those expectations as we mature.16 We imitate models that we see around us such as how to act as male or female members of society. We begin to identify with a particular race, nationality, religion, or economic group. We come to believe that those who belong to groups different from our own are separate from us by their nature, and we assume communication with them will be more difficult than with those who look and think like us.17
Although our personalities take years to develop, the expectations placed on us by our families and societies begin at conception. As we move toward adulthood these expectations become a part of us. But as we go about our daily lives and interact with others and our world, we rarely give much thought to what has gone into shaping the person we have become.18
As every parent knows, each child is an individual with distinct talents, tastes, and personalities – even within the same family. Thus it seems that our behaviors and the choices we make are determined at least to some extent by our internal makeup as well as external influences.
Young children are infinitely creative. They continually come up with new and original ideas in their play and interactions but lose much of that creativity as they age. When they start school they may discover that they are talented at writing or math, athletics, or that they have natural mechanical skills. They begin to think of themselves as either leaders or followers. They believe themselves proficient in some areas and not others. The preferences and tastes they develop ultimately shape the direction of their lives and determine who they are seen to be by others and themselves.19
With the advent of adolescence, many children make choices that are different from the lessons they have been taught or the lifestyles they see around them. Although this might seem negative to parents, it may be a healthy trend that leads them to making original choices and moving their lives in a new – and possibly more viable – direction. But at what point do we at last choose a clear direction for ourselves and become adults who take responsibility for our own lives? When do we really make our own decisions, or are our actions as adults always determined by our backgrounds? And even if we live in a democracy, is it really possible to forge an independent path?
Regardless of whether we really are born “free,” the person we become desires the freedom to make choices and determine her or his destiny. We want opportunities to develop and express our talents in a way that maximizes our control over our future. If not allowed to make these choices we are likely to believe ourselves oppressed.
To maximize our chance of being able to make the major choices that affect our lives we must live under a form of government that supports our right to make them, or at least one that does not interfere with that right. For thousands of years – going back at least to the ancient Greeks – politicians, philosophers, historians, and ordinary citizens have debated how best to create a government that protects the ability of individuals to determine their own direction.20
If we believe democracy worth preserving, we must understand its origins to determine in what ways it has succeeded or failed to meet its lofty aspirations of greater freedom and choice for all. Once we compare what it has achieved with the ideals that we hold for it we hopefully can learn the lessons – and make the required adjustments – to keep it viable for ourselves and future generations.
Understanding why democracy is appealing to so many is essential to preserving it. Is the desire for freedom – and the ability to make choices that come with it – a part of human nature that goes back to our origins, or is it a relatively recent innovation in human thought? For those who value democracy, when and why did we decide that choice was important, and how did we begin to think it essential to participate in determining our own fate rather than simply submitting and allowing others – or our circumstances – to choose a direction for us? In this chapter I present an historical and geographical overview of societies through time, focusing on how elements of democracy have woven their way in and out of the structures of our civilizations.
From Prehistory to History
As our ancestors began their migration from the south through the north of Africa and beyond, they brought with them an ability to work together with others that allowed their primitive societies to progress. As societies developed around the world there were common patterns. There was a progression from more democratic governance in small groups to more specialization as societies grew larger and more authority was concentrated in the hands of rulers. Those who were ruled gradually had less contact with their rulers, who often gained god-like status. This usually was seen as the structure needed for survival of growing city-states and eventual countries. Rulers occasionally were overthrown, usually by those who already were in powerful positions. At this point the possibility of democratic government no longer was considered an option.
The first settlers of Egypt made the transition from the hunter-gatherer stage to agricultural civilization as early as 6000 BCE, aided by the fertile crescent of land provided by the annual flooding of the Nile. Beginning in what is known as the Predynastic Period, about 4000 BCE, archeologists have been able to determine that there was a fairly egalitarian civilization in Egypt because there is little difference in the grave goods found in burial sites. This changed as an elite group developed about five hundred years later, as evidenced by more elaborate tombs. Communities
