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Hello, in the Gettysburg address, Abraham Lincoln called it government of the people, by the people, for the people.

But the word democracy appears nowhere in the American Constitution.

The French Revolution was fought for liberty, egalitarianity,

and the most the Churchill claim for democracy

was that it was, quote, the worst form of a government

except for all those other forms that have been tried

from time to time.

The Athenian city state famously practiced

a limited form of participatory democracy,

but neither Plato nor Socrates approved.

The Romans turned their back on the idea of mob rule and it's not until the 19th century that it becomes

even moderately respectable to call oneself a Democrat. So how did democracy rise to become arguably the most

cherished form of government in the world today? In this program we hope to trace the history

of an idea across the cultures and centuries of Europe and America and the Middle East

and at a time when ideals of democracy are being thrown into relief by world events we hope to gain a greater

understanding of where democratic ideals have come from.

With me to discuss the origins of democracy is Melissa Lane, author of Plato's Projony, and

University Lecture in the History of Political Thought.

David Wooten, Professor of Intellectual History at

Queen Mary, University of London. Also with us is Tim Winter, assistant Muslim

...