The tradition of isocracy is history, the practise is contemporary. Isocracy is born from the desire of people to have control over themselves - and an equal right to contribute to their community.
As with so many other terms to represent a form of government, isocracy derives from the ancient Greek, meaning "equal rule" (isos, equal - kracy, rule). It is during this time we encounter the first use of the word in the name of one of the ten famous Attic orators, Isokrates, the most influential rhetorician in his time. Like many people of that period we have an incomplete collection of his works, but we do know that he argued against the sophists in favour of teachings that provided practical application in context, or "kairos" ('the supreme moment'). His school was the first liberal arts institution, teaching oratory, composition, history, citizenship, culture, and moral reasoning. Most remarkably for the time, he expressed a desire for an educated multicultural polis, "Athens ... has caused the name of Hellene to be regarded as no longer a mark of racial origin but of intelligence, so that men are called Hellenes because they have shared our common education rather than that they share in our common ethnic origin."
Following Isokrates there are but a few references to the word in the subsequent two thousand years. In 1796 Robert Southey's Life and Correspondence speaks of "a seditious Spaniard .. preaching Atheism and Isocracy". In 1844 the Anglican Reverand Sydney Smith questioned democrats and asked whether they were really isocrats, who would be prepared to argue that women too would be accorded the right to vote. The next major appearance of the word is by the popular and sometime scandalous author Grant Allen in the founding documents of the Independent Labor Party in 1893, a radical and co-operative socialist British political party which was represented in the Commons until 1947 and still exists today within the British Labour Party as Independent Labour Publications. Allen wanted the ILP to be called the "the Isocratic Party". From there there is but a handful of academic references, most importantly by the reputable Italian political scientist Giovanni Sartori in 1957 in his "Democrazia e Definizioni".
An isocracy avoids the common criticisms of democracy (e.g., tyranny of the majority) and demagogy by limiting public governance to the public sphere and private governance to the private sphere. An isocracy is a secular system of governance; there is no endorsement or interference in religious matters. An isocracy is republican; there is no hereditary provision of power. By extension, an isocracy does not engage in moral distinctions in law on the grounds of race, sex etc. All these principles are seen as universal rights, beyond temporal and spatial contexts, and to be established in as a constitutio libertatis.
An isocracy tends towards a federal network with a high degree of regional autonomy and in productive activity towards mutualism. From the free association of individuals and communities, common and particular interests can be distinguished.
The political and economic theories of an isocracy are fundamentally distinct from property and power relations enforced by the State as in institution of class rule, an isocracy advocates the general abolition of such armed forces (army, police) in favour of an inclusive civilian militia for public peace, defense and emergency services.
Three modern traditions that contribute; liberalism, socialism, and anarchism
"The Isocracy Network" is a group of like-minded individuals who support the core principles. It is not a political party and does not seek political office under its name. It does not have a centralised method of organisation, nor does it determine what particular policies are best suited for specific circumstances. Individuals themselves participate in the network to design practical public policy. Rather than an organisation, it is perhaps best considered a movement.