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Strength Of Athenian Democracy

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The Weakness and Strength of Athenian Democracy
Ancient Greek culture has left a permanent mark on the function of society and politics. One of the lasting impacts still seen in the current day politics is democracy. After the Persian war, Athens established changes in their political function. This led to the birth of a democratic system. Giving a voice to the people had strengths and weaknesses; this change to society brought forth many strong opinions in favor of and against the system. Some said that it gave power to fools to decide what wise men debate. Plato was among the men who disagreed with Athenian democracy. On the other side, Pericles and others in favor of Athenian democracy claimed that the changed system made Athens great. After …show more content…

Athens entered into its Golden Age; the city functioned with excellence in economics, military strength, and political development. Traditionally, the only ones with a chance at holding any political influence were well-born men from wealthy families. The 7th century led to law-codes in Athens to limit the power of individuals and wealthy families. The 6th century almost led to a Civil War from the class conflicts. Reformers recognized the flaw in society and started the attempt to break oligarchy. Solon was one of these reformers who began his work in 594 B.C.; through his influence, debt slavery was abolished, and more opportunities were opened to regular citizens. Later on, in the same century, another aristocrat reformer named Cleisthenes continued the reformation work in Athens. Political positions were chosen by lottery rather than heredity or family ties. By the time that democracy was officially established in Athens, there was an Athenian Assembly for voting; the assembly included all citizens (women, slaves, and foreigners did not have citizenship) and the majority vote decided. The inclusion of citizens helped citizens gain a greater understanding of political function and political …show more content…

It is highly unlikely for a citizen to be aware enough to make a proper political assessment. However, that is exactly the point that the democrats wanted to make. Pericles, a respected man in Athens, was a public supporter of democracy. Under his leadership, Athens was able to achieve economic, political, and military success. Through democracy, every citizen was important and valued by Athenian leadership. Democracy showed civilians that they mattered, and their experiences were worth a vote in political affairs. While this system invited uneducated and ignorant voices, they were able to share their voice in a period of enlightenment. Plato and other critics of Athenian democracy had a valid point: democracy will invite the wrong voices into important political decisions. What they did not acknowledge is that democracy would also invite citizens to study politics and governmental practice. The transitional stage was challenging for Athens; however, the overall effect of democracy built a society of well-educated citizens in the way of political

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“In 508 BCE, the Athenian aristocrat Cleisthenes instituted the first Athenian political democracy.” As the Greek playwright, Euripides wrote in his play that,“ Nothing is worse for a city than a tyrant.” (Section 2.2The Rise of Democracy and the Threat of Persia) Cleisthenes knew that, so he gave every

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In mid-6th c. BCE Athens, just five years after the government of Solon (594), the Athenians found themselves encompassed by dissension and internal disorder. Athens created the first democracy-based government, although their government became more of a republic with democratic attributes. They, the electors, were unable to elect an Archon for five years due to their dissent with the former principles ran by the State. All people within Athens viewed these principles with contempt, those in the elite[upper] class were ‘estranged because of the abolition of debts,’ while the poor people wanted the distribution of all land and property. Both parties were unhappy with the changes made by Solon’s reforms and so many refused to vote for any new

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The Athenians had a direct democracy which allowed the citizens to directly decide and vote for who they wanted to rule their country. In Athens there were three bodies of the government. The Assembly is the first branch which included all citizens that showed up to cast their vote. The Assembly decided what new laws would be and they made important decisions regarding war, laws, etc.

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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

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Simply the foundation of democracy in Athens is incredibly important to the governmental system of the current United States. Of course there are the obvious differences between the two systems, such as different ages of voting eligibility, and the fact that gender does not decide someone’s ability and right to make important political decisions. Athens utilized the votes from the people a bit differently as well, with a small 40,000 Athenian men voting on whatever issues simply rose to attention. Elections were also determined through a lottery system, whereas officials in the United States are completely decided by its citizens. There are an abundance of differences between the two governmental system, with the most important policy used by both the Athenians and the United states being the decision to allow the majority, the citizens from any social class, to vote and be a part of a

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First, Pericles strongly promoted the benefits of an organized democracy at a funeral orientation for fallen Roman soldiers. He cried, “While every citizen has an equal opportunity to serve the public, we rewarded our most distinguished citizens by asking them to make our political decisions” (2). This encouraged citizens to work hard. They elected people to office similarly to how Americans elect people for office today. The Greek democracy heavily impacted the modern day American democracy because every citizen has an equal opportunity to serve the public and make important political decisions.

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The officials were elected from citizens of their social and economic class, this was decided so that the government would consist of officials from every part of society. The ultimate goal was to maintain organization in society. The political innovation of democracy in Athens arose out of the vast amount of intellect and knowledge that thrived in the city. In Athens, many ways of using human thought thrived, some examples include: philosophy, medicine, theater, and discourse.

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Unlike the Romans, Athenians had a strict but fair schedule that allowed them to enjoy citizenship equally. Equally, hard workers have brought Athens power just as much as hereditary leaders. According to Document B all citizens should be allowed to speak their opinion and have a share in election because of the hard work they do to make the city powerful. Athenians allowed poor and common men to win a position in government which was a transition from the wealthy having power to everyone having power.

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Firstly, only male citizens had equal rights to vote, freedom of speech, and opportunities to participate directly in political arenas, which is only 12% of the population. For example Citizen women, Children of citizens, Metics, and Slaves did not have the right to vote which is the other 68%. This shows the Athenians were not democratic because not the whole population wasn 't a system of government, when not even half of them were. Also in Athen nobody had the freedom of thought and or speech. If someone

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Athens organized a group of Greek city states into the Delian League and eventually lead and dominated all of the city states in the League. Athens’s military prowess allowed them to look down on the other members of the League and treat them as members of an empire instead of equals. This caused some to view them with hostility which sparked the conflicts between Athens and Sparta that lead to the Peloponnesian War. The direct democracy of Athens wasn’t actually as inclusive and steady as the statement at Pericles 's funeral state, “Our Constitution is called a democracy because power is in the hands not of a minority but of the whole people (Doc C).” In fact, of the 450,000 citizens of Athens in 430 BC, only about 40,000 people had the power to vote.

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Significant social, cultural, and political upheavals occurred in the 1950s. Economic prosperity is one of the distinctive features of the 1950s. Following World War II, the 1950s saw a post-war economic boom marked by high employment, consumer expenditure, and economic growth. The Cold War, McCarthyism, and the golden era of capitalism are all terms frequently used to describe this time period. The Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union, which sparked anti-communist sentiment and the McCarthyite wave of political repression, was another aspect of the 1950s.

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While some, like Plato in his The Republic, thought it weak to give government into the hands of the common people, Pericles countered this argument with a compelling argument of greatness. By putting government into the hands of the people, the people are united and more devoted to their country. Democracy bonds the people together in a way that no other government can understand. Pericles confidently states, “Athenians advance unsupported into the territory of a neighbor, and fighting upon a foreign soil usually vanquish with ease men who are defending their homes.”

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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.

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The name comes from demos-people and kratos-power, so literally power of the people. Apart from many smaller changes, it was mainly based on the opportunity for all citizens over 20 to take part in governing the country. One of the main advantages of Athenian democracy was that the archon and his eight assistants were elected annually. It was possible to prolong the rule for the next term but in case of any abnormalities a quick change of government took place. The biggest advantage of democracy in polis was the general possibility of taking part in public life for all free citizens.

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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.

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