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Why History Matters for Democracy

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2026

John Keane
John Keane*
Affiliation:
University of Sydney
*
E-mail: john.keane@sydney.edu.au
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Abstract

In this critical commentary, John Keane defends, extends, and reasserts the role of history in democratic theory through an articulation of seven methodological rules: (1) treat the remembrance of things past as vital for democracy's present and future; (2) regard the languages, characters, events, institutions, and effects of democracy as a thoroughly historical way of life and handling of power; (3) pay close attention to the ways in which the narration of the past by historians, leaders, and others is unavoidably a time-bound, historical act; (4) see that the methods that are most suited to writing about the past, present, and future of democracy draw attention to the peculiarity of their own rules of interpretation; (5) acknowledge that, until quite recently, most details of the history of democracy have been recorded by its critics; (6) note that the negative tone of most previous histories of democracy confirms the rule that tales of its past told by historians often harbor the prejudices of the powerful; and (7) admit that the task of thinking about the past, present, and future of democracy is by definition an unending journey. There can be no Grand Theory of Democracy.

Keywords

democracydemocratic theoryfuturehistorymethods

Information

Type
Critical commentary
Information
Democratic Theory , Volume 6 , Issue 2 , December 2019 , pp. 96 - 110
Copyright
Copyright © Berghahn Books 2019

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