More comprehensive understanding of giftedness and talent growth will be accessible once people explore the large-scale contexts that surround and shape the development of high ability individuals. Many analyses of close-proximity contexts, such as classrooms and schools, currently enrich the gifted education literature. More in-depth explorations of the larger political, economic, and cultural worlds that support or suppress the development of individual abilities will lead to more accurate definitions of giftedness and talent, more defensible identification and selection processes for programming, and more efficient educational practices. The nature of socioeconomic governance in a nation or region is a crucial target for contextual analyses because it strongly supports or constrains the development of individual aspirations and talents toward various forms of self-fulfillment. Socioeconomic contexts can provide enormous advantages for the talent development of some children and crushingly oppressive barriers hampering the development of others, depending on the ideological nature of the nations or regions in which they reside (Ambrose, 2002, 2003). This paper employs theory and research from the fields of political theory, history, economics, sociology, and ethical philosophy in the development of a model representing the large-scale sociopolitical contexts for talent development. The model integrates an ideological continuum with scholarly interpretations of political systems, economic forces, media influences, and the ethical dimensions of power in societies. It portrays optimal liberal democracy, which is a not-yet-attained ideal, as the best context for children's talent development, and totalitarian systems as the worst contexts. It also reveals the dangers of democratic erosion, which occurs when citizens and policymakers are insufficiently diligent about maintaining widespread, deliberative participation.