Democracy's Double Helix

Where does our modern democracy come from? It is a composite of two very different things: a medieval tradition of political participation, pluralistic but highly elitist; and the notion of individual equality, emerging during the early modern period. These two things first converged in the American and French revolutions - a convergence that was not only unexpected and unplanned but has remained fragile to this day. Democracy's Double Helix does not simply project and trace our modern democracy back into history, assuming that it was bound to come about. It looks instead at the political practices and attitudes prevailing before its emergence. From this perspective, it becomes clear that there was little to predict the coming of democracy. It also becomes clear that the two historical trajectories that formed it obey very different logics and always remain in tension. From this genuinely historical vantage point, we can therefore better understand the nature of our democracy and its current crisis.

Lars Behrisch teaches early modern political history at Utrecht University. His research focuses on comparative European history, exploring early modern politics in its variegated societal, religious and cultural settings. He has authored two monographs in German, including Die Berechnung der Glückseligkeit. Statistik und Politik in Deutschland und Frankreich im späten Ancien Régime [The Calculation of Public Happiness: Statistics and Politics in Germany and France in the late Ancien Régime] (2016), awarded the prestigious Carl Erdmann Prize by the German Historical Association.