... democracy has had a global impact. European practices were exported, imported, and imposed. This is not to say that Europeans invented the very practice of democracy. Likewise, as democracy has spread to the non-European world, it has taken on local inflections that often hail back to practices and terms...

... Inequality will temporarily increase, though, until the jobs doing new tasks open up. That is the model, but in reality the outcome will depend on politics. As in medieval Europe, it will depend on political power, and in a democracy it will also hinge on the ability to influence political leaders...

... the extension of the franchise (i.e., democracy), was not needed. This framework can help understand institutional persistence after the breakdown of colonial rule. In 1812, the Cadiz Constitution redefined political rules and actors throughout the Spanish Kingdom. This constitution brought drastic changes...