alternatehistory.com

Growing up, I took a dim view on the idea that the United States was such a bastion of democracy that we pretty much invented the thing after the rest of the world ignored it for 2000 years after the end of the Classical Era.

I have since taught myself to know better. But one of the things that has always fascinated/confused me is that, while democracy was not a real issue, representation in government was almost universal in Europe (sort of). It seems to me that almost every country in Europe had its own parliament/estates/states/whatever you want to call it consisting of representatives of the crown, the clergy, the nobility, and the burghers divided into one to four chambers. However outside out what became the Netherlands and what became Great Britain, these groups seemed to be little more than minor annoyances to any reasonably motivated king.

I think asking for more countries in Europe to reach the state where they all have a powerful and native congregation of the estates of the realm, is there any way to:

  • Limit or prevent absolutism AND
  • Create nation states in Europe (as opposed to collections of balkanized states based around free cities and feudal polities) AND
  • Have a large(r) number of European states where the parliament/estates/states-general has at least a functional share* of power?

*-By functional share I mean the king must consult them from time to time or risk losing his head. As an example, the relation between Charles I and Parliament where he feels he doesn't need them and they disagree with a fine enough point that the king can do little without them.
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