![]() That is citizens who are intelligent enough and motivated enough to analyze the issues before voting. How absurd! Democracies are defined by the ability of people to have a say in government, not whether one class or the other has equal rights.Ī political system will only be strong if informed citizens vote. In their view, only contemporary America would meet the true definition. If we agree that the definition of democracy is anything we want it to be, then I suppose America has a democracy, but it’s funny how the term has be used by feminist types to suggest the Greeks didn’t have a democracy because women couldn’t vote. The Athenians were defeated by Sparta and would never again experience the great democracy they had invented. This great Athenian democracy thrived through the time of Pericles 462-429 B.C, but was degraded during the Peloponnesian War, which ended in 404. Other changes included limiting the power of the Areopagas to appeal for murder trials, and transferring supervision of the conduct of government to the Council of 500. Any senior official deemed to be corrupt could be banished for ten years by a vote of the Assembly. A system of ostracism was introduced to prevent accumulation of power. Candidates for Archon were now chosen by lot from the Council of 500. The new laws sought to break the aristocratic hold on high office by removing their influence. Archons, themselves, were wealthy aristocrats, and the Areopagas was made up of former Archons. Aristocratic influence was seen in the Council of 500 which was heavily tilted toward the upper class. Lastly, there was an elected board of ten generals who were in charge of commanding the army and navy during time of war. When an Archon’s term of office ended he could become a member of the Areopagas, an aristocratic council of elders who acted as a court of appeal. Governmental administration was handled by ten senior magistrates, called Archons, who were elected by the people. Because of the unwieldy character of so large a group, a council of 500 was created to debate and consider new legislation before it was brought before the assembly. The principle legislative body was the Assembly (Ecclesia) which consisted of all citizens who came to the assembly meetings. The Athenian political system, before the reforms, had many elements of a democratic system, but was heavily influenced by the aristocratic class. This political change was accomplished through legislation, not violence. The first Athenian democracy was created by Cleisthenes in 507 B.C, when the people elected him along with others who were dedicated to replacing the aristocratic oligarchy. They would assert that there is very little democracy here because Americans are not able to participate directly in their government. What we call democracies in the western world, especially in the United States, would be seen as something less by the ancient Athenians. Modern scholars, on the other hand, tend to reject the study of classical Athenian democracy as relevant to our times because of its extreme participatory nature, its bellicosity, its countenance of slavery, and its oppressive treatment of women.Ĭopyright © 2013 - Hudson Reynolds, Ph.D.Īncient Democracy versus Modern Democracy It reached its fullest expression in ancient Athens where after an initial flourishing it followed an unsteady course for two hundred years, until Macedonian imperialism under Alexander the Great in 322, B.C., extinguished it.Ĭlassical Athenian democracy is known to us through four primary sources: Thucydides' investigation of Athens's loss to Sparta in the Second Peloponnesian War, Plato's disparagement of the democratic life-style in Book VIII of the Republic, Aristotle's judicious weighing of democracy as one of the varieties of regimes in his Politics, and a ramshackle history of the evolution of Athenian political institutions, known as the Constitution of Athens, also attributed to Aristotle.įor over two thousand years, orators, historians, and philosophers who favored self-government looked to classical Athens for guidance and inspiration, and have adapted its democratic ideology to suit their purposes. Democracy as a form of government was born in Greece towards the end of the Sixth Century, B.C.
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