Towards a Global History of Voting: Sovereignty, the Diffusion of Ideas, and the Enchanted Individual

This article suggests a framework for moving toward a global history of voting and democracy that focuses less on the diffusion of European ideas (however important those ideas were) than on embedding the history of voting within a worldwide history of ideas on sovereignty. The article posits a gene...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Gilmartin, David 1949- (Author)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
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Published: MDPI [2012]
In: Religions
Year: 2012, Volume: 3, Issue: 2, Pages: 407-423
Further subjects:B Elections
B Sovereignty
B enchanted individual
B Voting
B Europeanization
B Democracy
B People
B Influence
B secular theology
B conundrum
B India
B secret ballot
Online Access: Presumably Free Access
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Summary:This article suggests a framework for moving toward a global history of voting and democracy that focuses less on the diffusion of European ideas (however important those ideas were) than on embedding the history of voting within a worldwide history of ideas on sovereignty. The article posits a general framework for such a history focusing on a “conundrum of sovereignty” grounding legitimate rule in a space imagined as simultaneously within and outside worldly society. Rooted in a “secular theology” such ideas shaped in the 19th and 20th centuries the establishment of systems of mass voting (including the secret ballot), and the sovereignty of the “people” both in Europe and other parts of the world alike, in the process producing an image of the individual voter as an “enchanted individual.” The article looks at developments within Europe and in India in these terms.1
ISSN:2077-1444
Contains:Enthalten in: Religions
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.3390/rel3020407