This text presents a detailed history of democracy, while also considering the modern methodological tools of economic history, institutional economics, and political, social and behavioural sciences, to explain why and how democracy was created, how it evolved and how it progresses. The book provides answers to a number of questions, such as what form of government democracy is, why it was first developed in ancient Greece, why it is that democracy—in order to flourish—requires strong and stable economic structures, and what role political and military organizations play in the shape of these elements. The volume analyses various cases studies drawn from Ancient Greece, Switzerland, England, the United Provinces, France, the USA, Germany and the EU.
Based on recently declassified World Bank documents, this study examines the post-war intervention in Southern Italy. This international effort created the only period of convergence between Italy’s North and South, providing crucial insights into today’s “Southern Question.”