Which European representative democracies are older than Americas?

Factual Questions
1

In several threads over time I’ve seen some euro-dopers have the attitude that we’re a “young” country politically, and are not as wise, mature, etc. as European countries in our governmental policies or attitudes because of this callowness.

Let step back for a minute and take a look at that supposition. I was under the impression we have one of the oldest democracies in the world and that the representative democracies of many European governments are babies by comparison.

Which representative European democracies are older than ours?

2

Would a kindly mod please move this to GQ?

3

Let’s first define what we understand by “representative democracy”. After all, remember that when the Constitution of the US was first created, slaves were 3/5 of a person and only men who had certain amount of property could vote (full national suffrage for women in the US didn’t arrive until 1920, although a few territories allowed it earlier; amendments to eliminate property requirements were introduced during the 19th century).

With that in mind, then, and if we consider that parliaments are the essential feature of anything that might approach a representative democracy…

It can be argued that The Old Swiss Confederacy might perhaps qualify, and it was founded in 1291. It was dissolved by Napoleon but, after him, Switzerland was reborn as a Federal state that purported to continue the tradition.

Then you have the old Icelandic Althing (Alþingi in Icelandic), which was a parliament that lasted from 930 till 1799, when it was suspended, to be re-instated in 1844AD. It still exists as the Icelandic parliament.

And of course, the House of Commons has existed since the 14th century, with elections taking place to send representatives to it documented from the 18th century onwards for sure (concomitant with the development of the figure of the Prime Minister from 1721 onwards).

Interestingly enough, there was a short-lived Republic of Corsica that existed between 1755 and 1769, and which extended universal suffrage to all males older than 25, without any property restrictions. It was the first place to implement universal suffrage in any form. Women also could traditionally vote on certain local issues.

These are the first examples that come to my mind. There will surely be more. I think that the Kingdom of Poland, prior to its dissolution at the hands of Prussia and Russia in the 18th century, had a very interesting system, with an elective monarchy.

Just my 2 eurocent!

4

OK.

Moved from IMHO to GQ.

5

America is a very young political system, there’s no arguing then that. As to wisdom and maturity, I have not seen that suggestion being made. I would say that systems cannot be wise or mature, only people can.

As far as democracy is concerned, a commonly used yardstick is the introduction of universal suffrage. Wikipedia says :

So 1920 it is. That’s later than some and earlier than most. But actually, rereading the OP, I think what is being looked for is not such procedural things as who can or cannot vote but the longevity of the regime and the system as a whole. When that is taken into account, the US is one of the most stable, long-standing and continuous systems that are still around. But I’m not sure if that makes ‘governmental policies or attitudes’ any more or less ‘wise or mature’.

6

San Marino was officially founded as a republic in 301 AD. I doubt women were allowed to vote back then (but calling “full sufferage” the main criteria for a democracy is a bit 22st-century-centric), but it was representative in the terms of its time. Their written constitution (still in force) dates to 1600.

7

Ancient Athens wasn’t a representative democracy due to the size of the population and there wasn’t universal sufferage but it still was a democracy and republican Rome had a form of democracy based on voting “tribes”(Not tribes in the sense of clans)
I think that Venice as a republic had some sort of limited electoral system.
The Things and Althings reffered to in a previous post were also found in Britain which is pretty much a Norse country and there is still one operating in the Isle of Man.

8

England was a democracy in 1776. The Americans recognized this and said that they were asserting established rights held by Englishmen in the revolution.

9

Not answering your question, I know, but if democracy is defined as all adults being able to vote then I believe my home country of New Zealand was the world’s first democracy.

10

The way I’m reading the question is, for representative democracies, when did the country’s political system arise as a representative democracy in substantially the same manner we know it to be today.

For the U.S., the answer is pretty clear. The overall U.S. political system has changed very little in its overall organization from the adoption and effectiveness of the U.S. Constitution in 1789 to the present.

The U.K.'s Parliamentary system is significantly older, though the balance of power between the crown and Parliament has shifted significantly over the centuries. I’d accept JoseB’s suggestion that the 1700s were when governance shifted to being mostly Parliament-based.

Other than that, I don’t know of any major world country that has had a continuous representative democracy for as long.