The Military Revolution and Political Change : Origins of Democracy and Autocracy in Early Modern Europe

To examine the long-run origins of democracy and dictatorship, Brian Downing focuses on the importance of medieval political configurations and of military modernization in the early modern period. He maintains that in late medieval times an array of constitutional arrangements distinguished Western Europe from other parts of the world and predisposed it toward liberal democracy. He then looks at how medieval constitutionalism was affected by the "military revolution" of the early modern era—the shift from small, decentralized feudal levies to large standing armies. Downing won the American Political Science Association's Gabriel Almond Award for the dissertation on which this book was based. Focuses on the importance of medieval political configurations and of military modernization in the early modern period. This title maintains that in late medieval times an array of constitutional arrangements distinguished Western Europe from other parts of the world and predisposed it toward liberal democracy. Contents 9 Tables 11 Preface 13 1 Introduction 17 2 Medieval Origins of Constitutional Government 32 3 The Military Revolution 70 4 Brandenburg-Prussia 98 5 France 127 6 Poland 154 7 England 171 8 Sweden 201 9 The Dutch Republic 226 10 Conclusions 253 Selected Bibliography 269 Index 315 THE DEMISE of unilinear, evolutionary models of political change triggered a great deal of interest in the rise of the state, particularly in Western Europe.