age of empire

In this weeks readings for global society Hobsbawn dives into the theories of democracy and where it came form. Beginning with Aristotle in the Greek times, “mass of the people, who were, on whole, poor,” (85) stating that the wants of the rich and the poor differ, that getting the people to unified wants was hard, because much of what the rich already had was what the poor were trying to achieve. He event talks about the church, specifically the Protestant religious parties and how it set up its own “government.” Then Hobsbawn then talks about how factory workers were replacing craftsmen and other jobs. Now people on wages that worked manufacturing were making better money than that of farm hands. The world was beginning to industrialize and much of the rural areas around the world were beginning to dwindle. Countries began to provide more for their citizens, except suffrage was still a key issue. People began to move and ethnicity began worldwide. Mass propaganda began to run throughout the global society and people started to move to new areas, and specialized work or factory work was the main frame of industry.
The interesting theme in these chapters was the part of democracy in the world. Today this idea or theory of political science seems to be the accepted or most efficient way to run a government. I would have to agree, in discussion with classmates this week during our class time; I found many people think we do not have a real democracy. In this day and age we have the right to govern ourselves, and the United States gives us every opportunity to do this. Our representative democracy might not be completely “pure” but it is only the citizen’s fault what happens in the country they reside in. The participation is far too low and people need to understand that the voice of the people is the most important thing in government; it is the blood of America. “All tyranny needs to get a foothold, is all good men to remain silent.” – Thomas Jefferson
I want to know more about how the cities played apart of this global expansion. I know they had to have grown and became more inhabited, what were the living conditions like? Were the cities crowded? What was happening in these European cities.