ABSTRACT
This conclusion presents some closing thoughts on key concepts covered in the preceding chapters of this book. The book shows that democracy may look for its models to the Iroquois Confederacy or the Karen, to runaway slave and Canudos settlements, to rural village structures, or to many other democracies missing from the Greco-European lineage. The historical record shows that participatory assemblies and other mechanisms can produce equality in self-governance. When horizontal organizations are confronted with leadership that attempts to put unequal practices in place, their members fight back to reclaim the organization. Countermeasures require flexible structures, and a willingness to change practices in response to appropriation attempts. Supporters of equality in practice must fight against changes to egalitarian structures that promote unequal power relations. These reductions in equality derive from different sources. At times, they come from weaknesses or loopholes in particular practices. Other times, they come from hybrids and compromises due to particular pressures in concrete historical circumstances.
