The Financial Roots of Democracy
Buch, Englisch, 576 Seiten, Format (B × H): 152 mm x 229 mm, Gewicht: 923 g
ISBN: 978-0-691-12632-6
Verlag: Princeton University Press
For the greater part of recorded history the most successful and powerful states were autocracies; yet now the world is increasingly dominated by democracies. In A Free Nation Deep in Debt, James Macdonald provides a novel answer for how and why this political transformation occurred. The pressures of war finance led ancient states to store up treasure; and treasure accumulation invariably favored autocratic states. But when the art of public borrowing was developed by the city-states of medieval Italy as a democratic alternative to the treasure chest, the balance of power tipped. From that point on, the pressures of war favored states with the greatest public creditworthiness; and the most creditworthy states were invariably those in which the people who provided the money also controlled the government. Democracy had found a secret weapon and the era of the citizen creditor was born. Macdonald unfolds this tale in a sweeping history that starts in biblical times, passes via medieval Italy to the wars and revolutions of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, and ends with the great bond drives that financed the two world wars.
Autoren/Hrsg.
Fachgebiete
- Wirtschaftswissenschaften Wirtschaftswissenschaften Wirtschaftsgeschichte
- Sozialwissenschaften Politikwissenschaft Politische Systeme Staats- und Regierungsformen, Staatslehre
- Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Geschichtliche Themen Wirtschaftsgeschichte
- Wirtschaftswissenschaften Volkswirtschaftslehre Volkswirtschaftslehre Allgemein Geschichte der VWL
- Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Weltgeschichte & Geschichte einzelner Länder und Gebietsräume Weltgeschichte
Weitere Infos & Material
Introduction: THE FINANCIAL ROOTS OF DEMOCRACY 3
CHAPTER 1. TRIBES AND EMPIRES 10
Rags to Riches 10
Barbarians at the Gate 18
The Free Men Fight Back 24
Greeks and Their "Gifts" 31
Civic Debt 36
Kings and Tyrants 42
The Carthaginian Wars 45
Imperium Romanum 51
Breakdown 56
CHAPTER 2. CITIZEN CREDITORS 67
The Return of the City-State 67
La Serenissima 72
La Superba 77
The Monte Comune 81
The Twilight of Repayable Taxes 84
San Giorgio 94
Selfish Citizens 100
CHAPTER 3. SOVEREIGN DEBT 105
Kings and Merchants 105
The Treasure of the Indies 115
Antwerp and Lyons 122
Serial Bankruptcy 128
Folie des Offices 138
CHAPTER 4. RESISTANCE TO THE HEGEMON 148
The League of Cities 148
Regicide 157
Glorious Revolution 166
CHAPTER 5. THE CHIMERA 179
Le Roi Soleil 179
Post-bellum Depression 185
The Chimera 190
The Bubble 205
CHAPTER 6. THE DILEMMA 220
Mopping Up 221
The Ruling Class 227
The Dilemma 239
The Limits of Absolutism 255
Aristocratic Revolution 266
CHAPTER 7. REVOLUTION 272
A New World 277
The First and Second American Revolutions 289
Enemies of the People 307
The Elephant and the Whale 334
CHAPTER 8. BOURGEOIS CENTURY 347
Pax Britannica 348
The Heyday of Bourgeois Finance 355
Ties of Identity 366
A Nation of Rentiers 377
Greenbacks and 5-20s 384
CHAPTER 9. NATIONS AT ARMS 400
Total War (Part I) 400
The Settlement of Accounts (Part I) 413
Total War (Part II) 435
Totalitarian War 445
The Settlement of Accounts (Part II) 456
Epilogue: THE END OF THE AFFAIR 465
A Note on Currencies 477
Glossary 483
Notes 487
Bibliography 523
Acknowledgments 545
Index 547
