We have seen in this book that democratic great powers have done quite well historically, but they have fallen for three reasons. Athens was defeated primarily due to a rash decision permitted by its system of direct democracy. Rome and Venice lost their vitality when they closed the open political systems that had sustained their rise. Finally, the Dutch Republic and Great Britain were surpassed by other, even more competitive, democratic rivals; England overtook the Dutch Republic and Great Britain passed the baton of democratic global leadership to the United States.
