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The political system of Republic Rome
Democracy in ancient rome
The political system of Republic Rome
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A democracy is a system in which the people have all the power who rule through freely elected representatives or directly. A community that was a great example of a democracy, was the Roman Republic. The Roman Republic had great qualities of government, elections, and legislation in their democracy. They did have the right layout and standards of a democracy, but it needed to improve in their voting structure.
Roman Republic's government consisted of three main elements that had independent powers; the consuls, senate, and assemblies. The consuls, or magistrates, lead the military and are the government’s supreme masters, and they brought situations that regarded debates to the senate. The senate, proposed laws and has full control over the
The roman republic constitution was a set of guidelines and principles passed down through precedent, the roman republic instead of creating a democracy such as that the Athenians created, a monarchy which was previously being used by previous roman rulers and an aristocracy which Sparta used, the Constitution combined elements of all three of these governments to create a combined government known as “Senatus populusque que romanus” (S.P.Q.R) this meant “the senate and the roman people”. The Roman magistrates were elected officials during the period of the Roman kingdom, the ‘king’ (although the Romans preferred not to be called a king and instead a rex) of Rome was the principal executive magistrate, his power was absolute similar to that of a tsar
The Romans have had almost every type of government there is. They've had a kingdom, a republic, a dictatorship, and an empire. Their democracy would be the basis for most modern democracies. The people have always been involved with and loved their government, no matter what kind it was. They loved being involved in the government, and making decisions concerning everyone. In general, the Romans were very power-hungry. This might be explained by the myth that they are descended from Romulus, who's father was Mars, the god of war. Their government loving tendencies have caused many, many civil wars. After type of government, the change has been made with a civil war. There have also been many civil wars between rulers. But it all boils
Upon reading the excerpt, it could be said that the power of the consul could have possibly been the mightiest of the three. There was the consul, the Senate and the People. Yet, how interesting it is that without the People, the consul and the senate would cease to exist. Just as a house finds it’s stabilization on a foundation build on rock, the consul and senate find their strength standing upon the power of the people of their nation living their ordinary everyday lives. However in the same regard, the Senate needed the People just as much as the People needed the senate. The relationships between these two were very much a give and take and communication was essential. Polybius stated that the People had what seemed like the most important role, for the reason that they themselves were the decision makers of those under the law. They were the jury, the ultimate say. Polybius wrote, “As a result of all of these factors, the Senate fears the masses and is ever mindful of the People.” (Porter, 1995) It is optimistic to say that this type of government, with this type of constitution in place was a rather successful one.
Over the span of five-hundred years, the Roman Republic grew to be the most dominant force in the early Western world. As the Republic continued to grow around the year 47 B.C it began to go through some changes with the rise of Julius Caesar and the degeneration of the first triumvirate. Caesar sought to bring Rome to an even greater glory but many in the Senate believed that he had abused his power, viewing his rule more as a dictatorship. The Senate desired that Rome continued to run as a republic. Though Rome continued to be glorified, the rule of Caesar Octavian Augustus finally converted Rome to an Empire after many years of civil war. Examining a few selections from a few ancient authors, insight is provided as to how the republic fell and what the result was because of this.
The Roman Republic was very well structured and much better than being ruled by kings. Instead of being ruled by one king, the senate led the Roman government. The Roman senate was divided into five classes: the consuls, the censors, praetors, queastors, and tribunes. The leaders of the senate were two consuls, and they held most of the power. They were elected together annually.
Democracy is the structure of government still used today in many countries.The definition of democracy is a system of government where people who rule directly are freely elected representatives.In addition, democracy comes from the Greek word demokratia. Demo meaning people and kratia meaning power of rule. For instance, here is an example, Great Britain has a democratic government since elected officials and laws are voted on by the people and also the representatives they elect. Therefore Athens exemplifies a democratic government. “Athenians would meet and vote on a simple question …. is anyone becoming a threat to democracy? If a simple majority voted yes,then they dispersed and reassembled two months later,
The Roman Republic had an upstanding infrastructure, a stable social system, and a balanced constitution that solidified Rome’s greatness. Regardless of its achievements, however, the Roman Republic owes much of its success to classical Greek cultures. These cultures, in conjunction with the fundamental values of Roman society, certified Rome as one of the most significant powers the world has ever seen.
What is democracy? Democracy is a form of government in which the power is vested in the people. What exactly does that mean? It means that the people have the power to vote government officials into office; it means that the majority rules; it means that everyone is entitled to freedom and equality. Although many people would agree that democracy is the greatest concept man ever created, the sad truth is that democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government because of the inevitable cycle that, for the most part, always results in tyranny.
This new Republican government, which was administered by the consuls, was not the easiest to transform. Because of the expansion in Italy, the government began to initiate political institutions. These institutions enforced laws and provided authority which were very similar to imperium. “The Romans had a clear concept of executive authority, embodied in their word imperium, or “the right to command” (Spielvogel 117). Since the Romans were very sensible in their actions, they made and implemented them only as needed. The most essential positions held were the few elected magistrates and the two consuls who were “chosen annually, administered the government and led the Roman army into battle” (Spielvogel 117). If the consul was otherwise occupied, either a dictator or praetor would assume responsibility for the time being.
According to Polybius, who wrote a description of the Roman constitution, the Assemblies, which consisted of male plebeians and patricians, voted or repealed laws proposed by the Senate. This obviously gave a large portion of the government power to the people, and the Assemblies decided what was legal and what was not Besides lawmaking, citizens had one of the greatest and most important powers, and that was to decide whether to have peace or
In fact, the Romans created a form of government called a Republic, upon which the U.S. government is structured. In this republic government that the Romans created, the people elected officials to represent their interests and make decisions on their behalf. This government was divided into three branches: a legislative branch, an executive branch, and a judicial branch. The legislative branch was the Roman Senate which was made up of members of the wealthy patrician class. The executive branch consisted of two magistrates (consuls), both of whom had equivalent powers and could veto the other’s rulings or decisions.
Democracy is defined as a government system where the power and authority is vested in the eligible members of a state. Citizens meet to discuss policies and they make their final decisions by the majority rule. It is said to practice social equality and it focuses on the decisions made by the majority of the citizens in a certain country/city. In this specific system of government, all the citizens participate actively in the process of governing. The first form of democracy occurred in Athens — a city state located in Ancient Greece.
There are different interpretations of democracy, but the following describe four basic elements that should be present in the practice of democracy. Democracy is “a political system for choosing and replacing the government through free and fair elections. The active participation of the people, as citizens, in politics and civic life. Protection of the human rights of all citizens. A rule of law, in which the laws and procedures apply equally to all citizens.”
A memorable expression said by President Abraham Lincoln reads, “Democracy is government of the people, by the people, and for the people”. Democracy, is a derived from the Greek term "demos" which means people. It is a successful, system of government that vests power to the public or majority. Adopted by the United States in 1776, a democratic government has six basic characteristics: (i) established/elected sovereignty (where power and civic responsibility are exercised either directly by the public or their freely agreed elected representative(s)), (ii) majority rule(vs minority), (iii) (protects one’s own and reside with) human rights, (iv) regular free and fair elections to citizens (upon a certain age), (v) responsibility of
What is democracy? Democracy a form of government in which the people freely elect representatives to govern them in a country, democracy guarantees free and fair elections, basic personal and political rights and independent court of law. There are two types of democracy, direct and indirect democracy. Direct democracy or pure democracy is where there is direct participate of the people; people make decisions for them instead of letting them representative make decision for them. Indirect democracy the decisions are made by the representative on behalf of the people that voted for them. All over the world people are having different views with regard to democracy and how it operates. “It has been said that democracy is the worst form of government except all the others that have been tried” ~ Winston Churchill, some have said democracy is the worst government form of government which I also think it’s! Due to the how it operates.