Democratic regimes are rare, contingent, recent historical creations.

Evidence

Over the long run of human history, then, the vast majority of regimes have been nondemocratic; democratic regimes are rare, contingent, recent creations. Partial democracies have, it is true, formed intermittently at a local scale—for example, in villages ruled by councils incorporating most heads of household. — Charles Tilly, Regimes and Repertoires, 180

Categorization

• XREF: Directly relevant to the reader’s asymmetry test: if democracy and citizenship are historically exceptional, the framework itself may load heavy normative weight onto a thin empirical slice of regimes. — connects to: Full-scale low-capacity democratic regimes are historically rare and short-lived. — Charles Tilly, Regimes and Repertoires, 449; Many historical regimes were simultaneously partly democratic and partly monarchical. — Gary Goertz, Social Science Concepts and Measurement, 1212; Low-capacity democracies are rare and historically short-lived (+2 more)
• corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim — Charles Tilly, Regimes and Repertoires, 180

Broader Connections

• Social-democratic mass politics were a contingent product of specific social conditions. #corroborates (0.78) — Anton Jäger, Hyperpolitics, 253
• Many historical regimes were simultaneously partly democratic and partly monarchical. #qualifies (0.75) — Gary Goertz, Social Science Concepts and Measurement, 1212
• Democratic awakenings are fugitive but can permanently shift political direction #expands (0.74) — Eddie S. Glaude Jr., Democracy in Black, 604
• Low-capacity democracies are rare and historically short-lived #exemplifies (0.72)