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The USA is the oldest democracy in the world, and only has been that way for ~250 years (And even then, having survived one of the worst Civil Wars in history).

The USA is the oldest democracy in the world, and only has been that way for ~250 years (And even then, having survived one of the worst Civil Wars in history). Most European democracies have only been so for a few decades. I think some of the bias comes from the fact that people have a a short-term memory. We've had it so good in the last century that we forget that we are the exception, not the rule.

lentil_soup 5y ago
according to the posted website Australia is the oldest, not the USA. Edit: Actually Switzerland seems to be older in their data
- vinay427 5y ago
  I'm curious what the article's source is for this claim. Naturally, democracy can be defined differently, but there are reputable sources that disagree with this [1], and even if considering limited suffrage to preclude democracy, Australia and particularly Switzerland perform poorly as well. https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2019/08/countries-are-the-worlds-oldest-democracies https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2019/08/countries-are-the-wor...
  - ska 5y ago
    The article discusses it's sources, and also the inherent difficulty in defining "democracy".
  - lentil_soup 5y ago
    They seem to take their definition from here: "The identification of electoral democracies is based on the Regimes of the World classification by Lührmann et al. (2018). In electoral democracies, citizens have the right to participate in meaningful, free and fair, and multi-party elections."
ekianjo 5y ago
> ). Most European democracies have only been so for a few decades. you might want to revise this claim
retrac 5y ago
The English can make an equally strong claim there and it's older. Parliamentary supremacy was quite established by the 1700s. While Parliament had a restricted franchise (as did the USA until the 20th century) it was an elected body with full powers. Indeed, one of the major points of discontent was lack of parliamentary representation for the Americans despite nominally being equals -- kind of like the situation of Puerto Rico today.
- TheCoelacanth 5y ago
  Only the House of Commons is democratic, and it didn't become the more powerful house of Parliament until late 19th or early 20th centuries.
- brimble 5y ago
  > While Parliament had a restricted franchise (as did the USA until the 20th century) it was an elected body with full powers. Indeed—one of the key factors for the US war for independence was that rich Americans wanted to expand the franchise to all rich men, not just rich men who happened to be born to the correct parents. They wanted to do this only in the colonies, but that likely would have emboldened reformers in Britain proper, too ("why should those colonists get more of a say in government than we do?"). This would have threatened the power of the British nobility, so of course war and (ultimately) losing the 13 colonies was chosen instead.
xeromal 5y ago
According to the study we're talking about, America became a real democracy in the early 1900s once it let women vote. Before that, only a minority was allowed to vote so was it actually a representative democracy?

lentil_soup 5y ago

according to the posted website Australia is the oldest, not the USA. Edit: Actually Switzerland seems to be older in their data

vinay427 5y ago
I'm curious what the article's source is for this claim. Naturally, democracy can be defined differently, but there are reputable sources that disagree with this [1], and even if considering limited suffrage to preclude democracy, Australia and particularly Switzerland perform poorly as well. https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2019/08/countries-are-the-worlds-oldest-democracies https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2019/08/countries-are-the-wor...
- ska 5y ago
  The article discusses it's sources, and also the inherent difficulty in defining "democracy".
- lentil_soup 5y ago
  They seem to take their definition from here: "The identification of electoral democracies is based on the Regimes of the World classification by Lührmann et al. (2018). In electoral democracies, citizens have the right to participate in meaningful, free and fair, and multi-party elections."

ekianjo 5y ago

> ). Most European democracies have only been so for a few decades. you might want to revise this claim

retrac 5y ago

The English can make an equally strong claim there and it's older. Parliamentary supremacy was quite established by the 1700s. While Parliament had a restricted franchise (as did the USA until the 20th century) it was an elected body with full powers. Indeed, one of the major points of discontent was lack of parliamentary representation for the Americans despite nominally being equals -- kind of like the situation of Puerto Rico today.

TheCoelacanth 5y ago
Only the House of Commons is democratic, and it didn't become the more powerful house of Parliament until late 19th or early 20th centuries.
brimble 5y ago
> While Parliament had a restricted franchise (as did the USA until the 20th century) it was an elected body with full powers. Indeed—one of the key factors for the US war for independence was that rich Americans wanted to expand the franchise to all rich men, not just rich men who happened to be born to the correct parents. They wanted to do this only in the colonies, but that likely would have emboldened reformers in Britain proper, too ("why should those colonists get more of a say in government than we do?"). This would have threatened the power of the British nobility, so of course war and (ultimately) losing the 13 colonies was chosen instead.

xeromal 5y ago

According to the study we're talking about, America became a real democracy in the early 1900s once it let women vote. Before that, only a minority was allowed to vote so was it actually a representative democracy?