Waves of Democracy

John Markoff is Professor of Sociology and History at the University of Pittsburgh. He has published extensively in sociological, historical and political science journals. His recent work includes The Great Wave of Democracy in Historical Perspective (Cornell University Western Societies Monograph 32), The Abolition of Feudalism: Peasants, Lords and Legislators in the French Revolution (The Pennsylvania State University Press and (with Gilbert Shapiro) Revolutionary Demands: A Content Analysis of the Cahiers de Dol‚ances (Stanford University Press).

This contains an interesting range of material in relation to democracy and social movements. I will recommend this as further reading.

• A Quick History of Modern DemocracyStates, Social Movement Challengers and Elite ReformersEighteenth-Century Revolution, Nineteenth-Century EddiesTwentieth-Century Pendulum SwingsSemidemocracy, Pseudodemocracy, DemocracyDemocracy′s Future