HISB10H3 History and Culture of the Greek World Final Blog Post Zeming Ben Zhu November 30th, 2020
Democracy, Athenians, and the Modern World
Democracy is a form of government where citizens and individuals have the right to choose the appropriate authority figures to lead the people. Originating from ancient Athens, Greece, the word ‘democracy’ is composed of the Greek words’ ‘demos’ and ‘kratos’ forming ‘demokratia’. ¹
In practice, in both modern and ancient society, there stems two different types of democracy known as direct and indirect democracy. In a direct democracy, used in ancient Athenian society, the citizens of the state vote themselves and decide on legislation. In the modern world, western society uses the indirect democratic system or also referred to as a representative democracy. In this system, citizens and people elect officials to a senate or parliament to ‘represent’ the collective mass. ¹
The ideology and term of ‘democracy’ first appeared in the 5th century in the ‘polis’ or Greek city-state of Athens. This early form of governance was created upon critical reforms of existing aristocracies and oligarchies. This new ‘rule of the people’ was a shift from the rule of the wealthy and elite nobles to better solve issues in Athenian society. This new form of democracy allowed male citizens to participate in politics but excluded women of all statue as well as slaves and foreigners. Democracy was later adopted by other city-states across the ancient Greek world, but as Aristotle notes, no other polis refined the system like Athens did. ³
Athenian democracy akin to its name, originated in Athens in a time where archons or aristocrats primarily dictated policy and institution. Over fears and issues regarding tyranny, and moral decline, a lawmaker and poet named Solon suggested reforms towards legislation by granting Athenian citizens the right to vote and participate in the new construct of political assemblies and self governance around affairs concerning the city state. ³ Solon undertook it himself to relieve the pressing economic burdens concerning Athenian society and Cleisthenes followed soon after reorganising Athenian society by placing people in ‘tribes’ with notation of location rather than wealth. In addition to the redistribution of the population, Solon set up a council of 400 members containing 100 members from each tribe known as a ‘boule’ as a new form of political assembly. ⁵ In a form of poetical propaganda, Solons reforms addressed the public and each individual citizen of Athens regardless of statue or nobility in relationship to morality, and the political economic foundation of the state.
“My laws have armed the crowd with useful might, Have banished honors and unequal right, Have taught the proud in wealth, and high in place, To reverence justice, an abhor disgrace And given to hold a shield, their guardian tower Against ambitious aims and lawless power.”
Solons poetic reforms prevented the division of the elite and poor by appeasing both sides, and his policies can still be found today and were recorded in Plutarch, Solon. After the departure of Solon, Athens was further developed as citizens were given equal political rights and became a community governing each other towards a common goal of prosperity. This is where the new constitution and set of policies was named the demokratia and the voice of the people would be the new sovereign. This advancement in structure allowed Athens to flourish in its remaining years establishing itself as a leader throughout the Aegean and helped pioneer many architecture, literature, and philosophical works that would eventually be incorporated into western civilization.
The origins of western democracy or liberal democracy on the other hand can be attributed to European monarchies in the 1800s. At the time, political power fell under the jurisdiction of a monarch or various aristocratic families and the societal norm was that power was inherited and noble families were the only individuals who could become strong leaders to restrain and lead the general population. ² These ideals and perspectives of rule were similar to pre archaic societies of the past before their innate transition to democracies. It was only later through time where this monarchical governance would be refuted by individuals who believed that that political authority could not be justified in the sense of bloodline and that every human was born and created equal. The concept of the government serving the people also emerged in this time.
The modern democratic ideal that we know today gradually took hold in the nineteenth into the early twentieth century. The leaders of this time reflected upon archaic Greece and Rome as a precedent for new governmental systems. ⁵ Direct democracy, however, would be impractical on a larger scale and would not be feasible and therefore indirect representative democracy emerged. The basic fundamental elements were first adopted by Britain and its colonies then into the rest of Europe after the first world war.
Western democracy or liberal democracy is an ideology constituting an indirect or representative democracy. Main features that we all experience today are elections between multiple parties or groups, as well as different branches and hierarchy in governance. ² This expansion on previous forms of ancient world democratic systems upheld various liberties and policies and referred to a constitution to protect the citizens from individuals in the government gaining too much power. Western democracies include a universal coverage where all adults regardless of gender, ethnicity or social statue and income can vote for a representative figure in power.
Many of the elements of American and western political systems are inherently derived from ancient Greek precedents. Thomas Paine, one of America’s founding fathers stated, “What Athens was in miniature, America will be in magnitude” 1792. ⁵ When we reflect and compare the similarities and differences of modern democracy various aspects arise. For instance, Athenian democracy occurred far more frequently than the American system. Every ten days eligible citizens would vote in the assembly at the ‘pnyx’ near the acropolis of Athens to dictate various militaristic, political, and economic issues. ⁵
The previous elections of 2015 and 2020 have shown the public that the future of democracy is less assured than we may have seen. The election of Donald Trump has exposed various flaws on our current democratic system with concerns of election fraud, two party dichotomies fighting over power[BZ1] with little regard to the people, as well as foreign election interference. The sway in belief over spread of misinformation of the general public puts in the concern of crowd pleasing with little to no backing of promises and false information the question of how effective a representative democracy is.
In the state of the decline of democracy, suggestions have been made to imitate previous customs of Greek democracy such as selection of the senate by lottery, with frequent cycling of members. These new referendums and reorganization of the government could lead to substantial progress towards world issues as well as domestic. In contrast, this switch would not come without flaws as historically, the Greek archaic democracy limited who could vote and excluded women and immigrants all together. ⁵
In addition, the withdrawal from the Paris Agreement regarding climate change activism by the Trump legislation as well as more recently Britain’s exit from the European union questions how far democracy of political parties who put power over people, will undermine and strip away decades of progress on a worldwide scale. ¹
When we reflect on the state of modern society, the threat to democracy as whole is already being experienced with extremists and patriots that could potentially cause catastrophic divisions in society. As we compare the eligibility to vote, Athenians were conscious to select intellectuals to participate in policy and determine the course of action for the city, whereas with the increase in population and lack of credible information today, allows for a collection of uneducated misinformed voters to sway potential government representations and progression. ¹
Notes
¹ Mitchell, Thomas N. "Democracy in Crisis." Studies: An Irish Quarterly Review 106, no. 423 (2017): 274-84. ² ASIRVATHAM, EDDY. "TRENDS IN MODERN DEMOCRACY." The Indian Journal of Political Science 15, no. 3 (1954): 213-24. ³ Cary, M. "ATHENIAN DEMOCRACY." History, NEW SERIES, 12, no. 47 (1927): 206-14. ⁴ McWhorter, Robert Ligon. "The Athenian Democracy." The Georgia Review 5, no. 3 (1951): 290-99. ⁵ Romeo, Nick “What Modern Democracies Didn’t Copy From Ancient Greece” National Geographic
Bibliography
Mitchell, Thomas N. "Democracy in Crisis." Studies: An Irish Quarterly Review 106, no. 423 (2017): 274-84. Accessed November 29, 2020. https://www.jstor.org/stable/90012575.
ASIRVATHAM, EDDY. "TRENDS IN MODERN DEMOCRACY." The Indian Journal of Political Science 15, no. 3 (1954): 213-24. Accessed November 29, 2020.
http://www.jstor.org/stable/41853802.
Cary, M. "ATHENIAN DEMOCRACY." History, NEW SERIES, 12, no. 47 (1927): 206-14. Accessed November 29, 2020. http://www.jstor.org/stable/24400152.
McWhorter, Robert Ligon. "The Athenian Democracy." The Georgia Review 5, no. 3 (1951): 290-99. Accessed November 29, 2020. http://www.jstor.org/stable/41396113.
Romeo, Nick “What Modern Democracies Didn’t Copy From Ancient Greece” National Geographic, (2016) Accessed November 29, 2020.
https://www.nationalgeographic.com/news/2016/11/greek-ancient-origins-modern-politics/#close
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