When people talk about European democracy, they often focus on a specific revolution or declaration, as if democracy were an institutional innovation that suddenly appeared one day in modern times. But if we look back through history, we discover a more fundamental and often overlooked fact: Europe did not suddenly learn republicanism; it has long lived with the political experience that ‘a republic can exist.’ The republic in Europe was never a fleeting moment of inspiration, but an institutional tradition spanning over two millennia. ...