Greek Democracy: Athenian Democracy

In the 4th and 5th century in Athens, Greece a new form of government arose. It was called a democracy. The word democracy derives from the words, demos meaning entire citizen body, and kratos which means rule. Compared to the other forms of government during this time it was very different. Instead of being ruled my emperors or the upper class, the democracy allowed all male citizens to have equal political rights, freedom of speech, and the opportunity to participate in their government. “The Athens’ political affairs were open to all citizens. Every citizen had the right and obligation to take part in state affairs and voice their opinions.” The changes that Athens put in place were so important that they impact us even until this day.

The issues that were discussed in the assembly included “deciding military and financial magistracies, organizing and maintaining food supplies, initiating legislation and political trials, deciding to send envoys, deciding whether or not to sign treaties, voting to raise or spend funds, and debating military matters.” The assembly met 40 times or more every year and every citizen was able to attend. This was also the place they held elections for generals and other elected offices. If there were any citizens that were beginning to become too powerful or dangerous to the polis they were able to vote to ostracize that person. The assembly also made sure that the decisions made were enforced and that the officials were carrying out their duties correctly. Because citizens had so much influence on how their lives were ran freedom of speech was their most valued

There is a difference though between Greek democracy and United States democracy. In Greece they ran a direct democracy where every citizen had the right to participate in deliberations, law making assembly, and other governing institutions. In the United States there is a representative democracy where citizens vote for representatives rather than participating directly. This is mainly because the changes of the way of life and the amount of people making it more difficult to ran the government the way Greece had. There have been recent political movements which have shown frustration with perceived failures of representative democracy, for example the Occupy movement was inspired by direct democracy. There are also many states that are adopting direct citizen initiatives that are loosely modeled on Athenian