Greek Democratic Tradition Analysis

1. What are the central elements of the Greek democratic tradition and the Roman republican tradition, and how are these reflected in modern conceptions of democracy, such as Dahl’s polyarchy (MS, 32-33) and MS’s typology (MS, 42-45)?

Though Greek democracy is different in many ways than what we would call democracy today, it held some of the same qualifications that are still valued in democracy today. The central elements of Greek democratic tradition were based off of Liberty, equality and the rule of law(MS, Loc 380-485 of 6694). For the Greeks, Liberty was a term used somewhat vaguely to mean freedom of being a slave, but also meaning to have the right to participate in politics as well as to not be repressed by politics (MS,

These ideals were meant to provide every one who is entitled to vote, the proper time, amount of information and opportunity to cast a meaningful vote. As a true democracy is very difficult to achieve, Dahl presents the idea of a polyarchy consisting of 7 criteria which are more obtainable. These include elected officials, free and fair elections, inclusive suffrage, the right to run for office, the freedom of expression, alternative information sources, and associational autonomy to include political parties or groups. MS states that polyarchy is a second standard of democracy for Dahl, though easier to achieve (MS, Loc 904 of 6694).

Comparing the Greek and Roman democracies to MS’s typology, we see how they directly influence how democracy is characterized today. The central classifications still used in modern-day literature are that the democracy must have electoral rights, political liberties, and the rule of law (MS, Loc 1131 of 6694). These are foundational ideologies that have remained constant through the

Huntington is sited in MS’s writings for his ‘formula’ on the waves of democratization. He very well illustrates when the waves of democratization take place, who was impacted by them, and what caused the waves. It is not an exact formula he uses, but more of a theoretical rule for how to predict and understand the waves of democracy. The ‘waves’ as he calls them are characterized by in influx of democracies being established, then followed by an outflow of a number of countries as democracies break down. This may happen a number of times for some countries but overall, the trend is moving upward toward more democracies on the globe as shown in figure 5.1 (MS, Loc 1691 of 6694). Some countries of note that experienced the democratic waves were Europe (in phases for Western, Eastern, and Southern Europe), North America, parts of Latin America, Southeast Asia, and Africa. The waves generally were centered around historical events that were felt by the world such as the first and second World Wars. The wave from 1943 to 1962 brought democracy back to the countries in what was occupied Europe that were then freed by the allies. The wave from 1958-1975 introduced democracy to Southern Europe, Latin America and Southeast Asia and eventually made its way to Africa after the end of the Cold War (MS, Loc 1604 of 6694). With each wave of democracy, it is followed by a reverse surge where the democracies disintegrate. When looking at the post communist countries, they did