Tl;dr: With an POD or a few between 600 AD and 1300 AD Establish English style parliamentary democracy in one major Eastern European power by 1700 via a similar gradual process.
Looking back at the Middle Ages, the establishment of a nascent parliamentary democracy in Britain was an accident that required a lot of things to go right to establish a lasting and stable democratic tradition. This contrasts with democracies established in revolution, which have historically been less stable. This political cartoon from the late 18th century exemplifies this:
The challenge here is to establish a similar system in an Eastern European country that lasts to the present.
My favorite candidate is Poland, because I like Poland-wanks, and also because obviously it did have the Sejm, which was a form of very limited democracy among an elite class. The main difference is that the Sejm was dominated only by the nobles whereas the English parliament had input from the church and the burghers as well. This meant that the electorate could not gradually expand to the extent that Britain’s did as it was restricted to one class.
Another option is Novgorod, which looked like it had a good basis for this sort of government with a council that had members from multiple classes. Novgorod was later subsumed by Muscovy however.
One major obstacle to this challenge is serfdom which followed a different trajectory in Eastern Europe, arising around the time that it declined as an institution in Western Europe. I don’t know what it would take for serfdom to never arise in Eastern Europe or more realistically start around the same time as Western Europe.
What PODs would be necessary to achieve a mirror image of Britain in Eastern Europe at some point?
Looking back at the Middle Ages, the establishment of a nascent parliamentary democracy in Britain was an accident that required a lot of things to go right to establish a lasting and stable democratic tradition. This contrasts with democracies established in revolution, which have historically been less stable. This political cartoon from the late 18th century exemplifies this:
The challenge here is to establish a similar system in an Eastern European country that lasts to the present.
My favorite candidate is Poland, because I like Poland-wanks, and also because obviously it did have the Sejm, which was a form of very limited democracy among an elite class. The main difference is that the Sejm was dominated only by the nobles whereas the English parliament had input from the church and the burghers as well. This meant that the electorate could not gradually expand to the extent that Britain’s did as it was restricted to one class.
Another option is Novgorod, which looked like it had a good basis for this sort of government with a council that had members from multiple classes. Novgorod was later subsumed by Muscovy however.
One major obstacle to this challenge is serfdom which followed a different trajectory in Eastern Europe, arising around the time that it declined as an institution in Western Europe. I don’t know what it would take for serfdom to never arise in Eastern Europe or more realistically start around the same time as Western Europe.
What PODs would be necessary to achieve a mirror image of Britain in Eastern Europe at some point?
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