Size and Democracy (The Politics of the Smaller European Democracies)

In 1971 the least populous country with a democratic government was San Marino. Another “small” country, Norway, had 200 times as many people as San Marino; Sweden was more than 400 times larger, the Netherlands 650. Other countries with democratic governments are, of course, much larger than these “small” countries: the United Kingdom has almost 3,000 times as many people as San Marino, the United States about 10,000 times—and India almost 25,000 times! Yet to an Athenian democrat at the time of Pericles, the Netherlands—a “small country”—would seem a gigantic empire, fit only for despotic emperors and slavish citizens. Geneva, during Rousseau’s life, had a population of about 22,000. Are these differences in population or in any other dimension of size—area for example—of any importance? More specifically, is “democracy” related in any way to “size”? How large should a political system be in order to facilitate rational control by its citizens? What are the comparative advantages and disadvantages enjoyed by political systems of different sizes? [by] Robert A. Dahl And Edward R. Tufte. Errata Slip Inserted. Includes Bibliographical References. Book by Dahl, Robert Alan, Tufte, Edward R.