Athenian Democracy

Discuss the Athenian definition of country. Is the city state the just kind of state in which true res publica trick exist? What happens to democracy when it is applied to a society with a large dispersed population? What are other examples of egalitarian societies besides Athens? Compare and contrast Athenian democracy with American democracy. Is the United States a democracy in the untarnished sense of the word? The ancient Greek word demokratia was ambiguous. It met literally people power. But who were the people to whom the power of the foresighted? Was it all the people -all duly qualified citizens? Or altogether some of the people -- the masses? The Greek word demos could mean either. There is a theory that the word demokratia was claimed by democracys enemies, members of the rich and aristocratic elite who did non like existence outvoted by the common herd, their social and economic inferiors. If this theory is right, democracy must parentageally have meant something like mob see or dictatorship of the proletariat. By the fourth light speed B.C.E. there were hundreds of Greek democracies. Greece was not a single governmental entity it was a collection of about 1500 separate poleis or cities disordered around the Mediterranean and black sea shores.

The cities that were not democracies were either oligarchies or monarchies (often times called tyrannies). Of the democracies, the oldest, the most stable, the most long-lived, and the most radical, was Athens. The origin of the Athenian democracy of the fifth and for centuries can be traced lynchpin to Solon. Solon was a poet and a wise statesmen but not a Democrat. His constitutional reform package laid the creation on which an aristocrat called Cleisthenes could pioneer democracy. Cleisthenes championed a radical semipolitical reform movement which in 508 -507 ushered in the Athenian classless constitution. Under this political system Athens successfully resisted the Iranian onslaughts that victory in turn encourage... If you want to get a full essay, order it on our website: Orderessay

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