Athenian Demokratia

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Recommended: The features and the limitations of the Athenian democracy

In 508 B.C, a civil war in Athens ceased; giving rise to a new democratic constitution under the leadership of Cleisthenes. The changes made under his leadership and other subsequent reforms resulted in a relatively radical form of government for the time known as democracy (Hyland Lecture, 26/09/2013). Democracy is a system of collective decision-making in which the participants have equality at least at one essential point of the decision making process (Christiano, “Democracy”). Furthermore, the term ‘democracy’, which comes from the Greeks, literally means rule by the people. The system of government, created by the Greeks, known as Democracy possessed many unique characteristics such as judicial review that have come to influence modern governments. The principle of equality allowed all Athenian citizens to participate in government on an equal level, a practice that as Plato pointed out is no longer feasible. Ancient Athenian democracy also utilized direct representation and did not distinguish political rights from individual rights. In this way, while Athenian democracy has influenced modern democracies through ideas such as equality and checks and balances, it cannot be said to be democratic in the modern sense of the term due to its utilization of institutions and promotion of values that no longer are applicable or desired in the modern realm of politics. Since the time of Athenian democracy, the world has experienced many intellectual movements including the enlightenment, Protestant Reformation, and the industrial revolution to name a few that have forced governments to change in response to new popular opinion and technology.
The Athenian government structure consisted of an Assembly, the Council of 500, a system of...

... middle of paper ...

...stems to create new structures to serve the interests of society.

Works Cited

Birch, Anthony Harold. The Concepts and Theories of Modern Democracy. London: Routledge, 1993. Print.
Christiano, Tom. "Democracy." The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Stanford University, 27 July 2006. Web. 4 Nov. 2013.
Held, David. Models of Democracy. Stanford, CA: Stanford UP, 1987. Print.
Hyland, Eddie. “Class Notes.” History of Political Thought Lecture. 26 Sept. 2013.
Jones, A. H. M. "The Economic Basis of the Athenian Democracy." Past and Present 1.1 (1952): 13-31. JSTOR. Web. 4 Nov. 2013.
Jones, A.H M. "The Athenian Democracy and Its Critics." Cambridge Historical Journal 11.1 (1953): 1-26. JSTOR. Web. 4 Nov. 2013.
Pickles, Dorothy Maud. Democracy. New York: Basic, 1971. Print.
Sartori, Giovanni. The Theory of Democracy Revisited. Chatham, NJ: Chatham House, 1987. Print.

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