Collective Action, Good Government, and Democracy in Tlaxcallan, Mexico: An Analysis Based on Demokratia

For nearly 200 years, Western social science has argued that good government, embodied in democracy, originated exclusively Europe and was introduced to the rest of world. This Eurocentric vision profoundly shaped science's approach non-Western World (and pre-modern Europe). Importantly, distinct theories (e.g., Oriental Despotism, Substantivism, etc.) were developed address premodern state-building Asia, Near East, Africa, Americas because “normal approaches” could not be applied these areas. Regardless geographical area, inevitably appears at pinnacle evolutionary change. However, recently, have been subject reevaluation. In this paper, we pursue critical agenda through a comparative study demokratia's original formulation ask: would 5th century B.C.E. Athenian recognize democratic attributes 15th C.E. Tlaxcallan, Mexico? We answer question by first summarizing literature on Classical Athens, which concludes among key values demokratia isonomia isegoria then explore evidence for similar Tlaxcallan. Our response is an see strong parallels between his government