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Development of greek democracy
The influence of Athenian democracy
Development of greek democracy
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More handpicked essays just for you.
Development of greek democracy
The influence of Athenian democracy
Development of greek democracy
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
1. The most significant civil rights achievement of the Eisenhower administration was sponsoring and signing the Civil Rights Bill of 1957. This bill gave federal officials power to prosecute anyone who tried to interfere with anyones’ right to vote. However, Congress changed this bill, weakening its effectiveness. The most significant civil rights achievement of the Kennedy administration was giving his Civil Rights Address in 1963.
In a true democracy, nothing is random. Everyone should have a vote and the right to voice their thoughts. With this system they have put in place, people’s roles in the government are completely arbitrary. Thus proving, Athens was not a true democracy because government roles were picked at
The real question is were the Greeks very democratic? I really do not think the Greeks were democratic at all. They really didn’t exemplify true qualities of a Democratic City-State. The next few paragraphs will show the reason behind my answer, and how people were treated unfairly. My first reason behind this is the Athenian government only granted citizenship to men who parents were free-born Athenian parents.
Aristotle once said in his book Politics, “Democracy arises out of the notion that those who are equal in any respect are equal in all respects” (Aristotle). Ancient Greece was ahead of time, so that everyone felt included. Your gender, social position, and religion do not play a part in the amount of rights you have. Greece was split into many city-states, all with their own types of government and differences. Mainly, Athens and Sparta are most well known.
The most significant era on the road to democracy is the Greece and Rome time period. The Greeks were the first people to think about the nature of democracy. In around 600 BC, the leader Solon created four new kinds of citizenship, which enable all free adult males to vote in the assembly. In 507 BC, Cleithenes increased the power of the assembly, by allowing all citizens to submit laws for debate and passage. Later on, in 509 BC, Rome was a republic.
One trait that our democracy today has in common with ancient Greece democracy is the fact that both hold nationalism and patriotism very high ("Ancient Democracy vs. American Democracy -Democracy in Ancient Athens," n.d.). Another likeness was the demonstrations, people marching and speaking out for what they believe in and want heard ("Ancient Democracy vs. American Democracy -Democracy in Ancient Athens," n.d.). A huge difference with the two concerning democracy was the fact that Greeks only considered the rights of citizens and they were troubled with the many differences between groups of people where today Americans make sure disparities are a thing of the past ("Ancient Democracy vs. American Democracy -Democracy in Ancient Athens,"
The Romans had a system of indirect democracy where the people had the power to vote for representatives who would advocate for them on the state level. The Greeks had a government in which the people directly were involved in the governmental and legislative process. In addition, both systems were flawed in their representation of their people in their respective governments through neglecting a large portion of their population. Both societies did well to create term lengths to decrease the likelihood of corruption and abuse of power through creating accountability. However, the Greek democracy was a caliber above its counterpart.
Was ancient Athens truly democratic? Democracy is a system of government by the whole population or all the eligible members of a state. I do not believe that in the 4th to 5th century BCE ancient Athen were democratic for many reasons.
When you look at the literal definition of democracy in the Merriam-Webster dictionary, there is a decently large explanation. When looking at this definition and trying to decide whether the Athenian democratic system was truly democratic, one would have to go with the answer no. While it has been stated that Athens is the “cradle of democracy”, and that it was better than any of the other governments in the world, it was still a work in progress. The Athenian democracy, while it did give more power to the people, still left a lot of citizens out. The current American democracy may have steamed from Athens, but they do not really have that much in common.
The Athenian Democracy, created as a response to the period of tyranny in greek history by Cleisthenes was not was the dream that had been envisioned. The people of the era believed each and everyone one of them had a power to influence society in someway. Democracy was created to provide that opportunity and yet the people failed to rise to the occasion. Society remained governed by the elites even if the evidence of such behavior was hidden behind a screen of institutions. All who were men and citizens of Greece could potentially participate in the demos.
As various studies suggested, ancient Athens pursued permissiveness and democracy, which its form of government was the antecedent of nowadays 'rule by the people '. After toppling the dictator Hippias in 510 BC, Athenian demos not only took power, but also introduced electoral system that "with no single ruler. A public assembly of male citizens met 40 times a year to vote on state decisions. The agenda was set and decrees carried out by a 500 strong council, chosen by lot to serve one year each"(Finley, 1983). In my view, the authority was no longer centralized in the hands of one administrator, more ordinary people got a say in running the
Additionally, the reliability affected by the emotive language being employed in this article as the author utilises this language it demonstrates that bias is present. This article was useful to my essay as it provided detailed information on the gaps in Athenian democracy. Moreover, the article provided a perspective that highlighted the differences in Athenian democracy such as that Athens was a direct democracy and that only some of the population was eligible, it mainly created a feeling that Athens was advanced for its time however the system had discrepancies. This information provided significantly when comparing modern societies to ancient Greece and also in justify as to why democracy was significant to Greece. A source that shares this view is the Ted-Ed video this also similarly to historian Paul Cartledge states that Athens was a direct democracy and also that not all of the population had the right to
As far as democracy is concerned, critics of democracy, such as Thucydides and Aristophanes, both are pinpointing on that the demos in which that they thought that it could be too easily swayed by a good orator or popular leaders the firebrand and get carried away with their emotions. Democracy Democracy in Athens the government officials are chosen by sweepstakes and worked for 1 year for proposing and enforcing decrees but didn’t have much individual power. Democracy in Athenian government the way that the citizens pass a vote is getting done, in elected by the assembly annually for making decisions about military matters and by showing hands.
Democracy, a form of government, allows the people in their own nationality to vote for people in order for them to become representatives as a result to vote on new laws that would affect their own nationality. One of the many states of Greece, ancient Athens was indeed not truly democratic as a result of not inclusive, other than male citizens, to gain authority in ancient Athens, ¨Demokratia was ruled by male citizens only, excluding women, free foreigners(Metics) and slaves.¨(Document D), therefore ruling Athens was only accessible to male citizen since since women, free foreigners(Metics), and slaves were not allowed to rule as a result of not being male citizens. One of the many states of Greece, ancient Athens, was indeed not truly democratic as a result of not even using the essentials of democracy that is used today, “Thus, by our standards, it was oligarchy, not democracy.¨(Document D), therefore ancient Athens was not using democracy as their form of government, they were using oligarchy,another form of government in which a small group of people has power and control, as their form of government instead of democracy.
the idea of representative government began to take root in some city states, specifically Athens. Athenian reformers moved toward democracy, rule by the people. In Athens citizens participated directly in political decision making. However there were limitations on citizenship to ensure that only the most rational people were able to vote. Through the construction of democracy in Athens, equality of all citizens became greater, and the city would become the top democracy of all the democracies.