on: Lecture Downing, The Military Revolution and Political Change: Origins of Democracy and Autocracy in Early Modern Europe
I.
Why are we reading this book? A. First, to gain some general historical knowledge of European history; after all, Europe is the region where both modern democracy and modern capitalism first developed. Second, to build up some body of historical knowledge so that we might make evaluations of: 1. 2. 3. 4. Hypotheses that "capitalism leads to democracy", Hypotheses that "democracy leads to capitalism", Hypotheses that "Other factors led to both democracy and capitalism" This book actually seems to make what is, in effect, an argument that different countries came to the combination of democracy and capitalism by rather different routes. a) That is, there may well be no single "most characteristic" route to the simultaneous presence of democracy and capitalism.
B.
II.
Previous theories of the origins of democracy: from Downing's ch.1 A. Weber and Hintze (writing in the late 1800's and early 1900's): 1. What was unique about Europe? a) the rule of law -- this had complex origins, actually all the way back in Roman times, and involving the rediscovery of Roman law in the Middle Ages The Standestaat -- by which they mean the various kinds of "representative assemblies" which had gradually developed in medieval Europe autonomous towns -- were able to bargain with the nobility and the monarchs for various rights and freedoms decentralized military organization -- this put limits on what monarchs could expect from their societies; bargaining relationships rather than command relationships citizenship rights -- partly from wide variety of medieval institutions, partly from spread of large armies: if you need men to fight in your army, the cost may be to grant them political rights and freedoms
b)
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The problem, according to Downing: This is an important body of thought but it is not adequately systematized
B.
Modernization theory (developed by sociologists and political scientists in the 1950's) 1. This body of thought was developed to help understand modern political and economic development outside the US, Europe, and the Communist bloc (Russia, China)
2.
The central argument was that traditional society would break down in the course of social, political, and economic change brought on by contact with modern societies. Solving the various crises of democratic development which resulted from the breakdown of traditional society -- identity (who are we?), legitimacy (who has the right to do what?), penetration (how far do the government's powers reach?), participation (who can participate in the governmental process?), and distribution (who gets what material goods and how much?) -- involved several things: a) b) c) d) increased checks on arbitrary rule the growth of political and economic opportunity adoption of the right to vote (the "franchise") the spread of social and political equality
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democratic political systems alone could provide the adaptability essential to modern industrial societies modern societies would generate interest groups -- labor unions, a variety of voluntary civic organizations -- that would demand an increased voice in political matters. In effect, modernization theorists treated their own societies -- the U.S. and Western Europe -- as the endpoint toward which all societies were moving. The problems with this body of thought, according to Downing: a) b) This body of thought did not appreciate rich complexity of European history This body of thought did not appreciate the strength and tradition of authoritarian rule in these developing countries (an authoritarian rule which was fostered in at least some small part by the European colonial powers themselves) The existence of at most a weak bourgeoisie, that is, a commerce-based middle class. The possibility that there were seen to be tradeoffs between democratization and industrial development: (1) Democratization and industrialization were seen as, to some degree, incompatible.
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C.
The "Bourgeois Revolution" thesis 1. The "bourgeois" is a label, from the French, for the group of individuals who are property-owning businessmen (broadly defined) A wide range of thinkers have made this argument: classical political economists, Marx, Adam Smith, the contemporary German sociologist, Ralf Dahrendorf. Thesis: in the course of economic expansion a strong, independent middle class will engender interest groups, civil society, rational legal systems, checks on arbitrary rule, representative government, and an expanding franchise (right to vote).
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a)
This is an important body of thought underlying arguments that "capitalism leads to economic development, and that there is something about economic development which leads to democracy" (the Lipset argument, whose article we will lead).
4.
There are several problems with this body of thought, according to Downing: a) Aristocratic elites in many countries, even England and France, maintained political control well into the 1800's, long after the bourgeoisie revolution was well underway. (1) In other words, the existence of a bourgeois class does not guarantee democratization or the widespread development of capitalism.
b)
The bourgeoisie was rarely politically unified within any one country: (1) Collective action problems involving a "class"
c)
The bourgeoisie made all sorts of alliances with all sorts of other classes and groups and power centers in society: (1) Different kinds of alliances were made in different kinds of countries.
d)
Many of the political institutions which the "bourgeois revolution" created actually had much, much older roots: (1) Such as: (a) (b) (c) (d) (e) (2) rule of law representative government property rights checks and balances legal immunities
Many of these developed in the medieval era, and in the case of property rights and civil law, they stem ultimately from the Roman Empire and were revived by medieval civilization.
D.
The "Culturalist" or "idealist" view of democratic development 1. 2. From the Berkeley sociologist, Reinhard Bendix Changes in ideological approach to the legitimation of authority, conceptions of freedom and liberty, and other cultural patterns are central. a) 3. In effect, it is the role of ideas which is important.
The problems with this body of thought, according to Downing: a) Ideas cannot be separated from their social settings -- that is, from the institutions and social groups that keep systems of ideas in the socialization process
b)
Constitutional ideas can be found not only in 17th century England as well as in countries which ultimately became far more authoritarian (e.g., BrandenburgPrussia). Bendix does not develop a clear set of hypotheses about the relationship between values and the institutions of democracy (parliament, civil society, objectivity of law).
c)
E.
"Rural commercialization": Barrington Moore, Social Origins of Dictatorship and Democracy: Lord and Peasant in the Making of the Modern World (1966). 1. Moore hypothesized there that were three paths to the modern political world: a) a bourgeois-democratic revolution: (1) b) Examples: the democratic states
a "fascist" `revolution from above': Nazi Germany and Japan in the 1920s and 1930s: (1) fascism is an ideology glorifying the state over the individual. (a) As we will see in reading Downing's chapter on BrandenburgPrussia, the roots of this kind of ideology go far back in German history.
c) 2.
a communist peasant revolution: China
For Moore, where did the rise of liberal democracy come from?: a) He presents a model of modern political development which was based on rural commercialization. Stemmed from changes in rural agriculture, involving (1) (2) a strong commercial impulse in agriculture reliance on labor market forces rather than the overt political repression of rural labor the absence of a peasant revolution
b)
(3) c)
Other factors as well: (1) (2) (3) a rough balance between crown and nobility, and between town and country a benign international situation the absence of a town-country coalition aimed against peasants and workers.
3.
The problems with this body of thought, according to Downing: a) It does not address importance of constitutional issues and history; for example, it ignores medieval constitutionalism (1) p.242: "...[Downing's] argument, like those of the social historians upon whom he relied for historical evidence, remains at the level of social
relations, which are not adequately integrated with existing political institutions. This is unfortunate because, by restricting the analysis to social relations, one can miss the institutional arenas in which conflicts are fought and domestic political alliances made." b) Comments on "the bourgeois revolution" thesis (1) p.246: "This theory sees the forces of capitalism as undermining and overthrowing feudal or traditional authority, thereby bringing about a new form of government conducive to, if not culminating in, liberal democracy." England -- p.247: "If anything was overthrown in the English Civil War or the Glorious Revolution, it was not feudal authority; rather it was a modernizing central state, a creeping absolutism, that had endeavored to free itself of the reins of Parliament, the venerable Common Law, and the seemingly outmoded custom of respecting the views of local notables. In short, custom, tradition, and medieval institutions defeated Stuart efforts at innovation. Tradition triumphed over modernity." --"Class did not seem to have been a significant factor in determining loyalties during the war." France -- p.248: "it might be asked exactly what was overthrown in 1789?" it was not feudal authority, since most of that was abolished by the Bourbon state in the previous century. p.249: "It was military-bureaucratic absolutism that fell: the militarycentered state begun by Richelieu to fight the Thirty Years' War..." p.249: "My readings have suggested that the bourgeoisie got along with, indeed was fostered by, the absolutist state under Colbert. Eventual opposition from that quarter came only later, and stemmed not from any profound incompatibility between capitalism and absolutism, but simply from opposition to Bourbon war debt and remedial tax reforms." p.251: "Instead of locomotives of democratic development, the bourgeoisies encoupling onto a train of constitutional development originating in the late medieval period, but in other countries coupling onto absolutist trains built for military power and opposed to democracy. Bourgeoisies have traveled on and benefited from both, without trying to gain control."
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Moore's work does not address the role of the international system, and especially modern warfare.
III.
Downing's Own Thesis A. There are three main arguments: 1. Because of particular institutions and power relations that developed during the medieval period, much of Europe had a substantial predisposition toward democratic government. a) Russia, China, Japan, and elsewhere had no counterparts of this medieval constitutionalism.
b)
In this respect, it is important to avoid accounting for political outcomes in European history solely by reference to processes beginning with economic modernization. (1) As Downing puts it, "Parliament predates capitalism" -- p.239.
2.
Warfare in parts of early modern Europe led to military modernization, often using domestic resources. a) This was at least as important for authoritarian political outcomes as laborrepressive agricultural systems and a weak commercial impulse. (1) In Brandenburg-Prussia, it was war and not economic change that occasioned the destruction of the estates and the rise of autocracy.
3.
Warfare was critical in the formation of states in early modern Europe. a) It was war and not domestic pressures that led to the rise of autocratic states in Prussia and France. Countries faced with heavy protracted warfare that required substantial domestic resource mobilization suffered the destruction of medieval constitutionalism and the rise of a military-bureaucratic form of government. (1) (2) c) Brandenburg-Prussia. France (to a lesser degree)
b)
Where war was light, or where war needs could be met without mobilizing drastic proportions of national resources (through foreign resources, alliances, geographic advantages, or commercial wealth), conflict with the constitution was much lighter. (1) England, Sweden, Dutch Republic
d)
Where war was heavy and protracted, where domestic politics prevented military modernization and political centralization, and where the benefits of foreign resources, alliances, geography, or economic superiority were not available, the country lost its sovereignty to strong expansionist states. (1) Poland
IV.
Is the military the great evil in this story? A. Military service and citizenship have long been intertwined. 1. B. indeed, they were part of medieval constitutionalism.
The citizenship-creating aspect of warfare and military service declined during the era under study, with the rise of absolutism. But with the rise of the Swedish indelningsverk (an early representative assembly) and, somewhat later, the French revolution, the "national" army emerged 1. 2. It was a sense of patriotism that motivated the soldiers, not pay or booty. Military service became part of the process of liberalization and franchise extension. a) b) c) England and Sweden after WWII US during and after the Vietnam War. The military has provided an important means of upward social mobility for less privileged strata in society (1) d) US "GI Bill"
C.
In providing treatment for invalided (disabled) veterans, warfare may have provided the foundations of the welfare state.
V.
Unanswered questions: A. B. What was it about Europe that gave rise to medieval constitutionalism? What would we say that this book tells us about: 1. 2. 3. C. the origins of capitalism? the origins of democracy? the linkage between democracy and capitalism?
These are questions we'll be dealing with throughout this course. 1. Downing's book provides some important historical material to consider.