convinced that the main trouble lies in the replacement of democracy by autocracy. What I set out to do here is to augment the …

Over the last two centuries, many countries experienced regime transitions toward democracy. We document this … democratic transition over a long time horizon. We use historical time series of income, education and democracy levels from 1870 … to 2000 to explore the economic factors associated with rising levels of democracy. We find that primary schooling, and …

We provide evidence that a history of democracy at the local level is associated with contemporary democracy at the … national level. Auxiliary estimates show that a tradition of local democracy is also associated with attitudes that favor … democracy, with better quality institutions, and higher level of economic development. …

its hoplites, and the trieres at sea, its economic base, and the emergence of democracy in classical Greece. We propose … again were the necessary conditions for the emergence of democracy, then again, a unique phenomenon. We then turn to … seapower, which according to our analysis was a sufficient condition for the establishment and endurance of democracy, because …

establishment of democracy, the welfare burden, cultural factors and colonial history. …

We provide evidence that a history of democracy at the local level is associated with contemporary democracy at the … national level. Auxiliary estimates show that a tradition of local democracy is also associated with attitudes that favor … democracy, with better quality institutions, and higher level of economic development. …