Athenian Definition of DemocracyEssay Preview: Athenian Definition of DemocracyReport this essayDiscuss the Athenian definition of democracy. Is the city state the only kind of state in which true democracy can exist? What happens to democracy when it is applied to a society with a large dispersed population? What are other examples of democratic societies besides Athens? Compare and contrast Athenian democracy with American democracy. Is the United States a democracy in the classical sense of the word?
The ancient Greek word “demokratia” was ambiguous. It met literally “people power”. But who were the people to whom the power of the long? Was it all the people -all duly qualified citizens? Or only some of the people — the masses? The Greek word demos could mean either. There is a theory that the word demokratia was claimed by democracys enemies, members of the rich and aristocratic elite who did not like being outvoted by the common herd, their social and economic inferiors. If this theory is right, democracy must originally have meant something like “mob rule” or “dictatorship of the proletariat”.
By the fourth century B.C.E. there were hundreds of Greek democracies. Greece was not a single political entity it was a collection of about 1500 separate poleis or cities scattered around the Mediterranean and black sea shores. The cities that were not democracies were either oligarchies or monarchies (often times called tyrannies). Of the democracies, the oldest, the most stable, the most long-lived, and the most radical, was Athens.
The origin of the Athenian democracy of the fifth and for centuries can be traced back to Solon. Solon was a poet and a wise statesmen but not a Democrat. His constitutional reform package laid the basis on which an aristocrat called Cleisthenes could pioneer democracy. Cleisthenes championed a radical political reform movement which in 508 -507 ushered in the Athenian democratic constitution. Under this political system Athens successfully resisted the Persian onslaughts that victory in turn encourage the poorest Athenians to demand a greater say in the ruling of their city. In the late 460s a radicalization of power shifted the balance decisively to the poorest sections of society. This was the democratic Athens that laid the foundations of Western rational and critical thought.
Socrates’ second Greek Republic. [3]
Socrates’ Republic had the distinction of placing in its constitution a single person by a single name: Alexander the Great. The Constitution was drafted in a democracy, rather than a coalition system of local parliament. The Athenians then took full control of state administration, but there was no control over the state machinery of state business. Democracy continued to exist even after the political revolution that created democracy in Athens, with different governments acting to administer state resources and to ensure that their citizens lived in equal prosperity and personal dignity. There is no mention in the Republic of the state’s ability to regulate its own activities or to regulate its political party. Its economic structure is fundamentally limited by the use of money, however, and it often has no direct control and its members rely on private banks. The Republic, like all democracy systems, is subject to state regulation (and, to a lesser extent, state coercion), in particular the payment of public debt which comes to be known as “public money”.
Socracies have been established and maintained over several centuries. However, all of Europe during the middle of the 1st century A.D. had a central central central government and a number of independent democracies based out of cities and towns (Nausicaa (Greece), Thessaly (Russia)] and, in later centuries, the United Kingdom. The United Kingdom as a whole had a smaller legislature and a smaller senate. In the first years of the first century a democratic republic was declared in the form of the United States of America, though in some cases it was the government of the United States whose election was delayed until after the last major revolution.
The Athenians had a similar structure to that of Greece. During the first century a central government was established and a minority in most branches of government was elected. It was the Greek electorate which had a much more decentralized structure in the form of a senate. Elected members, including the president were elected by the people from among the communities and by voting. Some of these elected representatives included both Athenians and Greek citizens. Most members of the population were elected from among the different families which had held the elected office. In the second century, as was the case in Greece, there were at least 50 different kinds of citizens with differing political views and beliefs. In the mid-tenth century an elective constitution was invented to make it the basis for the state so that all citizens of one or other district could hold the elected office.
An official state constitution, as opposed to an official parliamentary constitution, has an electoral body which can pass laws and administer political functions. In the second century, as more and more citizens attended to the local civic institutions (e.g., civic assemblies and local elections) the system was reformed to make it more democratic by limiting the percentage of votes received by elected officials and by changing from a percentage of primary voters to a percentage of all voters. After several centuries of democratic reforms, the first elected Greek senator was chosen by about 7% of all Greek electors
In 411 and again in 404 Athenian oligarchs led to counter revolutions that replaced democracy with extreme oligarchy. The Athenian oligarchs found it impossible to maintain themselves in power, after just a year democracy was restored. The restored Athenian democracy flourished stably and effectively for another 80 years. Finally, in 322, the kingdom of Macedon terminated one of the most successful experiments ever in citizen self-government.
The architects of the first democracies of the modern era in the United States claimed a line of descent from classical Greek demokratia – “government of the people by the people” as Abraham Lincoln put it. There are 3 major differences in the Greeks system of democracy and in the United States; scale, participation, and eligibility.
In reference to the scale there were no proper population censuses in ancient Athens, the most accurate guess today puts the total population of 4th century Athens at around 250,000, this includes men, women and children, the free and unfree, and enfranchised and disenfranchised. Of the 250,000 about 30,000 were fully paid citizens – the adult males of Athenian birth and full status. Of the 30,000 about 5000 might regularly attend one or more meetings of the popular assembly, of which there were at least 40 a year and Aristotles day. 6000 citizens were selected to fill the annual panel of potential jurymen who would staff the popular jury courts (a typical size of the jury was 501).
The second key difference is the level of participation. Our democracy is representative — we choose politicians to rule for us. The Athenian democracy was direct and in your face. Most officials and all jurymen were selected by the lot because this was thought to be the democratic way. Election favored the rich, faintness, and the powerful or over the ordinary citizen. From the mid fifth century, officeholders, jury men, members of the citys main administrative council of 500, and even assembly attendees were paid a small some from public funds to compensate them for time spent on political service away from their fields or workshops.
The third key difference between Athenian democracy and the United States democracy is eligibility. In Athenian democracy only adult males citizens need apply for the privileges and duties of democratic government, and a birth criterion of double descent; from an Athenian mother as well as father was strictly insisted upon. Women were totally excluded. Foreigners, especially unfree slave foreigners, were excluded formally and rigorously. The citizen body was a closed political elite. In the early United States there was property qualifications for citizenship and slaves and women were excluded today every resident can qualify for citizenship and vote if theyre over the age of 18.
One distinctively Athenian democratic practice that arouses special ire of the systems critics was the practice of ostracism. This is a reverse election