Over the last two centuries, Europe has developed various forms of political representation from which democratic parliamentary systems gradually emerged. This book unravels the conditions, scale and impact under which political participation of common burghers and peasants emerged.

CONTENTSAcknowledgementsTable of ContentsList of Illustrations1. Historical roots of political voice - Voice and Representation 1 o A Unique Achievement 10o Continuity? 15- The State of Research 19o Terminology 23 o Theoretical Points of Departure 25o Political Participation Today 30o This book 332. The Playing Field Is Demarcated: Communities and Political Landscapes- Increasing differences in development 3- The geographic environment 6 - The formation of political units from a dominant core 13- The imperial obsession 16- Alliances of free communities 20- Coasts, Rivers, and Land masses 26 - The Political Geography 28- The Playing Field 383. The Players: the Formation of Political Communities - Estates and their Representation 3 o The First Estate: the Clergy 5 o The Estate of the Nobility 9o Peace Movements 12o Precedence 15- Concentration of Power 24 o Counsel and Aid 24o England: the Early Kingdom 26o Dynastic Wars, Bad Kings, and Rebellious Barons 29- Balances of Power: Catalonia and Aragon 38 - Dynastic Discontinuity 43 o Castile and León 45o Brabant and Castile 48- The Leading Actors 524. Game Changers: the Third Estate Makes Itself Heard - The Italian Polyarchy 2 o The Astonishing North 2 o The Social Composition of the Tuscan Population 13o The Papal States 16 o The South 17 o Balances of Power 22 - Popular Sovereignty in Flanders 23- Commercial Interests 33- Peasants’ Voice 38o The common concern for water managementin the Low Countries 47 - Core Concepts in the Political Debate 51 - The Triangular Relationship: Prince, Nobility, Cities 56 5. Within the Lines: Institutionalized Political Voice - The Vulnerability of Princes 2- The Iberian Cortes and Languedoc 5 - Abuse of Power and Tiranny in England 15 o Political Voice on War 22 o Representation of the Land? 27 - City Leagues in the German Realm 32 - The Microcosm of the Low Countries 39 o From the Meuse Region Urban League to theLand of Liège 39o The First Social and Political Revolution: Flanders 43o From City Leagues to the Brabant Constitutional Tradition 47 o Estates and Princely Ambitions 53 o Contrasts 57- Expansion and Emancipation 65 6. Spectators Invade the Pitch- The First Religiously Inspired Revolution: Bohemia 1 - The Bourgeois Revolution in the Low Countries 5o Church and Religion as Sources of Disruption 10oThe First Sovereign Popular Representation 13 - Religious Polarization in the German Realm 27 - Elective Kingship and Regional Power in Central Europe 41 oPoland 41 oHungary 45 o Swiss Confederation 46 - Seizure of Power by the Privileged in France 48 - Republics Among Monarchies 56- The Reformation as Catalyst 59 7. Distribution of Gain and Loss - Societies in Figures 2o Numbers of People and Concentrations 3o Composition of the Population 9- Forms of Aristocratic Rule in Central and Eastern Europe 16- Balances of Power in the Holy Roman Empire 31o A Dramatic Case: Saxony 42- Estates’ Members as Brokers in the French Periphery 45- The Subjugation of Catalonia and the ‘long sleep’ of Iberia 51- Conclusion 60 8. The Champions and the Excluded - Sovereign Republics 1- Revolution Turning into Oligarchy: the United Provinces 5 - England and the United Kingdom: the Monarchal Republic 16o The Bloody Road to a Constitutional Monarchy 17o The Consolidated Parliament 27- Sweden, a Separate Case 33o The Formative Period 33o Royal Voluntarism and Parliamentary Opposition 36o Political Parties 44- Colonies and the other Excluded 50o Ireland 51o North America 53- Ascending and Descending Power 609. Conclusions. Participation versus Effectivity - A Dash of Political Anthropology 1- Phases of Expansion and Contraction 4o Political Voice? The development phase, 1100-1350 5o Consolidation and trials of strength, 1350 -1600 9o Constitutional Representation or Fiscal-military Monarchy, 1600-1800 15 - The fundamental dynamics 19o Emancipation and Stiffening 19o Representation from below 23o State Power 25o Institutional Inertia 30o Continuity of Political Cultures 33 General Bibliography Index

'[...] he aims to find an explanation for the way in which political participation has or has not taken shape over the centuries and in different places [the liberal revolutions before and after 1800].'Lauren Lauret, the low countries, 2024 - https://www.the-low-countries.com/article/the-struggle-for-political-participation-is-never-over