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Analysis essay of the greek political system
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Athenian democracy was interesting to talk about because you can’t really say it’s democracy or it’s not the democracy because it was both in some ways. Before we talk about their government let’s talk about what’s democracy and how it work. Democracy is the rule of the whole of the people, excluding minors and maniacs only. In democracy government to be able to vote you have to be 18 and up and citizen of that country; at least in the modern democracy government. So how come Athenian democracy was both and what makes it be able this? The Athenian government was a democracy because the people had a freedom to be able to do what they want as long as it’s under the law. And this freedom was for all people. In his article “Pericles' funeral oration” Thucydides states that Athenians gave equal justice to all. Advancement in public life falls to one’s reputation for good work. Social class is not allowed to interfere with someone's merit. This shows that it doesn’t matter if you are rich or poor, big or small, legend or beginner everybody gets the same equal rights as others. …show more content…
If we go back and look at the definition of democracy, democracy means a government that’s ruled by the people or people representative and clearly, Athens democracy was ruled by the people.in his article “was Athenian democracy?” Mogens Hansen says that Athenian democracy was more than democracy because it was government by the people instead of the government by those elected by the people. This indicates how the Athenian government was a democracy and how the relationship between the government and the people was
In comparing the Ancient Athenian system of government, and the Modern Day American political system, there are many similarities. In Ancient Athens, democracy was developed in response to a long history of oppressive rulers who used their position of power for their own benefit. Ancient Athenians sought a government where all citizens were considered equal under the eyes of the law, and all had a fair say in the running of their country. Following a series
One important contribution of Ancient Greek to the Western Culture is Democracy. The very term itself is of Greek derivation, meaning "People’s Rule". Unlike modern states which call themselves "Democratic". For example, Pericles Funeral Oration gave the greatest contribution to our today’s society. In .(Doc. 2) Pericles stated "Our plan of government favors the many instead of the few". Because of this quote it has contributed the society tremendously due to the fact that the democratic society is a direct democracy. Yet in a way, people have the power to overthrow other powerful representatives; Pericles Funeral Oration, gave us the idea of keeping the civilization as a democracy rather than Oligarchy, Monarchy, and many more. Moreover, Solon an Athenian tyrant discussed his thought about democracy. In .(doc. 4) Solon stated, "I drew up laws for bad and good alike, and set straight justice over each". Solon reveals that he has created laws for the good of others. He wanted every individual having the ...
During the age of Pericles, the ideal form of government was believed to be a government formed by all of the citizens regardless of wealth or social standing. This was known as democracy, literally meaning “ government of the people” [Document 3.] This government favored the many instead of the few. Athens was a direct democracy, meaning every citizen participated in debates. Western civilization used this philosophy of government by many, and created an indirect democracy where citizens elect officials to make and enforce laws.
The restoration of Athenian democracy around the fifth century BC in the city-states referred to as the polis evidence the value of political autonomy. An Athenian democracy that was entitled to the city f Athens as well as surrounding regions likes Attica was the foremost autonomy across the universe. It inspired other cities in Greece to foster democracies (Ober & Weingast, 2017). A significant number of Greek cities followed Athenian theory. However, none of the cities were documented like Athens. Athenian autonomy was a structure of direct democracy. Athens residents were permitted to directly select their legislations well as executive bills through direct votes. Nonetheless, all Athens residents were not allowed to participate in the voting exercise. Voting qualifications included being an adult and a male citizen of
Athenian democracy includes participation of all adult, free, male, citizen, made possible for all. If at the beginning and during the thriving period of the Athens democracy the occupations of a state position was considered to be an worthy duty for the citizens, the taking in of ...
The Athenian government was a democratic government, which means it was ruled by the people to vote and have a voice in society. The democracy was slowly formed by leaders Solon and Cleisthenes. Solon took over when Athens was in political turmoil. He introduced new reforms to forgive debts, outlaw new loans, free people that
On which they would scratch the name of the person that represented a threat.”(Doc E)This demonstrates why Athens was a democratic society since not only did civilians get to decide on who is in office and who is not. Furthermore, because democracy means rule by the people, and male citizens of ancient Athens voted laws and officials into place.(doc c) This exemplifies how salient the majority's opinion was instead of opinions of just a few rich men .In addition, Athens “....constitution favors many instead of few.”(doc a) Also Athenians had the freedom to do whatever they desire a long as they did not disrupt any other citizen or violate a law. “The freedom which we enjoy in our governments also to our ordinary life…...we do not feel called upon to be angry with our neighbor for doing what he likes. But all this ease in our private life does not make us lawless as citizens.”(doc A) Therefore, this exhibits that this is a democratic government because this is a characteristic that can be seen in democratic governments today. To summarize why Athens was a democracy.Citizens were free to do what makes them jubilant as long as it did not interfere with the laws or fellow citizens. Male citizens could vote and elect the rulers and vote laws into place. These aspects all demonstrate why Athens
Between the years of 508 BCE and 322 CE, Greece flourished under democracy. However, some question if the flourishing of Athens is due to the democracy that was in place as opposed to other factors relevant in building a successful community. This investigation will examine the effectiveness of Athenian democracy in Greek society. Relevance of Athenian democracy can be seen in foundation of many democracies found worldwide. In this investigation the right to vote, protection of minorities, use of social class, the structure of democracy and how Greek democracy has influenced the world will be addressed. The place investigated will be Greece, specifically the capitol Athens. The effectiveness of Athenian democracy can be seen in social structure, protection of minorities, and right to vote, as well as its structure and influence of other countries around the world.
These governments came in different styles such as a monarchy which was led by a king. Another form of government that was seen among the Greeks was aristocracy in which the polis was ruled by a small group of noble, land owning families. One of the more notable polis of ancient Greek was that of Sparta in which they used the oligarchy as there form of government. This type of government is where the people are ruled by a few powerful people. Finally, there was democracy which means “rule of the people” (The Legacy of Ancient Greece and Rome 1-7). This was the government that Athens utilized and helped establish. These varying types of government can be seen throughout governments today, however, it is the government established by the Athenians and their political structure that had a greater impact on the west than that of its Greek polis counterparts.
Throughout this paper I plan to compare and contrast the ideas and philosophies of two of the greatest political thinkers of all time. Thucydides and Aristotle have separate opinions of the idea of democracy, originally created by Plato. However, these two have a positive assessment of this idea of majority rule of the people. My paper will provide each of their points of view. At the end I will determine, in my opinion, which of these two philosophers give a better case in favor of a democratic form of government, and give the reasons as to how I came to that conclusion.
However Athenian democracy formed the basic structure of many western societies today and has influenced them significantly. A continuity when comparing modern society’s and Ancient Greeks form of democracy is that the Ancient Greeks had a judicial system much like today people were chosen to sit on juries (What did democracy really mean?, 2015).However there wasn’t a cross examination and imprisonment was not used as a punishment, instead if someone was found guilty they either had to pay a fine or was put to death (ABC, 2003). A major difference is between Athenian democracy and modern day democracy is eligibility in Ancient Greece as only male adults were allowed to vote and had to adhere to strict birth criteria (Cartledge, 2011) this meant only 10-20% of the overall population were allowed to vote (What did democracy really mean?, 2015). Today the voting age varies however there is no discrimination between sexes in modern democratic governments. Another key difference is that Ancient Greece was a direct democracy whereas modern society is a representative democracy. This means that in Athens the whole citizen body would go to assembly and vote on every decision. Today we vote people to represent everyone and to make decisions on behalf of the whole body of
Before democracy, Athens was a city-state no different than any other. A few powerful, aristocratic families controlled all governing power. Most of the population held little or no role in the political life of the city. Athenians changed this, and created a system where participation was encouraged and opinions were valued. While some other Greek cities were also setting up democracies, none were as stable or well documented as that of Athens. The reason for why the Athenians moved toward a democratic society instead of an oligarchy or monarchy is still debated by historians. However, one common belief is that it rose due to a rapid population growth in their lower class, which may have caused them to have more power in the government compared to other Greek poleis during the Lyric Age. This time period took place between 800 and 500 B.C.; it represents a very vibrant, evolutionary stage in Greek history. The rise of the lower class in Athens probably did help spark ideas of democracy, yet the significant contributions of the political leadership of Solon, Cleisthenes, and Pericles can undisputedly be credited for the primary development of Athenian democracy. In 594 B.C., the first major political and economic reformer Solon came into power. The next reformer was Cleisthenes; he lived from 570 to 508 B.C. The final, and most revolutionary of the three was Pericles. Pericles is responsible for the last and most glorious stage of Athens. By expanding its power and building patriotic pride, he forever changed the system of 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 term democracy comes from the Greek language and means "rule by the people."(Democracy Building 2012) The democracy in Athens represents the events leading up to modern day democracies. Like our modern democracy, the Athenian democracy was created as a reaction to a concentration and abuse of power by the rulers. Philosophers defined the essential elements of democracy as a separation of powers, basic civil rights, human rights, religious liberty and separation of church and state. The most current definition of a democracy is defined as a “government by the people; a form of government in which the supreme power is vested in the people and exercised directly by them or by their elected agents under a free electoral system.”(Dictionary.com). The American democracy was greatly influenced by the Athenian democracy. The Founding Fathers of the American democracy borrowed ideas from the Athenian way of governing. Presently, Americans live in a democracy that is much different than that the Athenian democracy, and what the Founding Fathers of the American Democracy envisioned. Although there are some commonalities between Athens and what our Founding Fathers intended, there are major differences as well. Differences between the modern American democracy the Athenian democracy and what the Founding Fathers envisioned are size of the democracies, the eligibility of a citizen to participate in the democracy and how a citizen participated.
Ancient Greece was made up of individual city states, known as a Polis, which relied heavily on citizen participation in politics. The idea of self-rule was an entirely new way of governing. Citizenship was unheard of at the time. Although still considered citizens not everybody was allowed to participate. In Athens only adult males who had military training were allowed to vote. The majority of the population, namely slaves, children, metics (free noncitizens) and women were excluded from participation in politics. “[Metics] and women were not citizens and did not enjoy any of the privileges of citizenship.”(Sayre, 137) Athenian citizens had to be descended from citizens, excluding the children of Athenian men and foreign women. Individuals could be granted citizenship in to Athens by the assembly this was usually as a reward for some service to the state. Ancient Greece paved the way for the representative democratic style of government that is practiced by many countries today. Much like how voting rights started out in America, originally only the wealthy land owners were allowed to vote and call themselves citizens, but soon all men were allowed to have a vote and a voice in their states politics. Essentially the Greeks were the first to introduce citizen rights and freedom similar to what’s seen today.