7/9/2020
HISTORY OF
DEMOCRACY
Greece
Rival systems
Athenian democracy
The people's army
The mechanics of democracy
Generals and treasurers
The Athenian administration
Ostracism
The end of the experiment
Medieval democracy
Modern democracy
To be completed
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HISTORY OF DEMOCRACY
Rival systems
How many people hold power in a society, and how they
exercise it, are eternal themes of political debate.
At one extreme a single person rules. Such a system is usually
called a monarchy (Greek for 'rule by one') when the position
can be inherited within a family. It is likely to be given such
names as tyranny (from examples in Greek history)
or dictatorship (from Rome) when power is seized by or
granted to an individual member of society.
The other extreme is democracy (Greek for 'power of the
people'), in which theoretically every adult can influence group
decisions. Such an egalitarian approach is familiar to
anthropologists, studying the customs of small tribal groups,
but it has been a rarity in more developed societies.
Between the two extremes is oligarchy (Greek for 'rule by a
few'). In a sense all early clashes between oligarchy and
democracy are an argument over how many to include in the
few, with democrats pressing for a higher figure than oligarchs
can accept. Even in Athens, where sophisticated democracy
begins, only a small proportion of the community can vote.
Athenian democracy: 5th century BC
In the 5th century BC Athens pioneers an experiment in direct
democracy, as opposed to the representative democracy of
modern societies. It is copied by her Greek allies and colonies
at the time, but it has rarely been attempted anywhere else
since (Switzerland in the 13th century is one example).
Democracy of this kind has two preconditions. The community
must be small enough for citizens to be capable of attending
debates and voting on issues. And its economy must give
these citizens enough leisure to engage in politics; in the
ancient world this means that there must be slaves to do
most of the work. Both circumstances prevail in Athens.
The citizen democrats of Athens are those males, over the age
of eighteen, who are sons of an Athenian father (after 451 BC
the mother must be Athenian as well). They number no more
than 50,000 in the whole of Attica. In addition to these citizens
the population includes about 25,000 metics (metoikoi, or
foreigners trading in Athens, for this is a major commercial
centre), together with free women and children and perhaps
100,000 slaves. This gives a total of about 300,000 people. So
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Democracy is achieved in several stages, through reforms
linked with Solon in 594, with the Ten tribes of
Cleisthenesin 508, and with Pericles in 462.
The people's army: 6th - 5th century BC
The move towards democracy reflects other changes in society.
In the prehistoric period, throughout Greece, aristocratic
families have provided the main fighting force, as cavalry.
In the 7th century the Greek city-states develop the new
military concept of the heavily armed infantryman, the hoplite.
A remorseless phalanx of hoplites becomes
as effective on the battlefield as the tank in
modern times. These soldiers provide their
own weapons and armour, but this is
expensive. Several of the Greek oligarchies,
including that of Athens in the 6th century,
reflect the power of this middle class of
citizens.
The poorer citizens of a Greek state, unable to afford armour,
can only play their part in the army as light infantry - useful in
a skirmish, but relatively unimportant on the battlefields of the
day.
A strategic change of direction by Athens, early in the 5th
century, gives these poorer citizens a new power. The military
effort is diverted into building up an Athenian navy. Triremes,
the fast warships of the time, need men to row them.
Suddenly every citizen has a part to play, and the crews of a
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fleet of warships have a self-evident political strength. A more
radical democracy, introduced by Pericles in 462, is almost an
inevitable result.

The mechanics of Athenian democracy: 5th century BC

The system which emerges in the mid-5th century involves

citizens in government in a variety of ways.

Each has a voice in the highest forum of the nation,

the ecclesia or assembly, which meets four times a month on
the Pnyx, a flat-topped hill in Athens. On major occasions, with
important issues to be decided, as many as 5000 citizens
attend. It is not always easy to assemble a large crowd.
Scythian slaves (serving as state police) are much in evidence
at the start of each meeting, tightening a long red-dyed rope
to net any nearby loiterers. In about 400 BC pay is introduced
for attendance, to compensate for loss of working time.

Any citizen may answer the herald's question 'Who wishes to

speak?', but addressing such a large crowd in the open air is
difficult. Most of the debate is carried on by regular speakers -
in effect the leading politicians, who are known
as rhetores(orators).

The business of the day is fixed by another body of 500

members, called the boule or council. Here the principle of
amateurism is more firmly established, for the members are
chosen by drawing lots. Fifty are selected at village level by
each of the ten tribes which make up Athenian society
(the reforms of Cleisthenes, in 508, have imposed these
arbitrary tribal divisions in order to share out democratic
power).

The principle of selection by lot is carried even further in the

council of 500. Each member serves for a month as one of the
50 prutaneis, or presidents, who run the everyday
administration of the city (there are ten months in the
Athenian year, so every councillor has one monthly term of
office). Furthermore the chairman of the boule changes every
day, again selected by lot from the 50 prutaneis. So almost
every councillor is effectively head of state for one day of the
year.

Non-specialization can hardly be carried further. But the

Athenians do have the common sense to use election, without
any time limit, for the most important posts.

Generals and treasurers

The effective leaders of Athens, because of their responsibility

for war (an almost constant state of affairs), are the
ten strategoi or generals. There is one from each of the ten
tribes, elected each year by the ecclesia in which every citizen
has a vote (see the Ten tribes of Cleisthenes). The
dominant position of Pericles in mid-5th century Athens is
reflected in his election, year after year, as the
leading strategos.

The only other officials to be elected rather than chosen by lot

are the treasurers, with responsibility for the state's accounts -
evidence again that the Athenian citizens recognize the areas
where expertise rather than common sense is essential.

The Athenian administration

The functions associated with a modern civil service are carried

out in Athens by citizens chosen randomly by lot. Such tasks
range from supervising the markets and checking weights and
measures to keeping the minutes of the council or travelling
abroad on diplomatic business. All such offices are held for a
year.

Even in law, an important area of each citizen's responsibility,

there are no experts. Jurors are selected by lot and a second
lottery assigns each man to a particular case. Pericles
introduces payment for jury service so that no citizen is
excluded by poverty. Without professional judges or lawyers,
and with huge juries, an Athenian court of law is rough and
ready justice.

Ostracism

The most dramatic example of direct democracy in 5th-century

Athens is the system of ostracism, used from about 487 to
417. Anyone ostracized must go into exile for ten years but no
harm is done to his family, his property or his own subsequent
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rights. Intended as a way of ridding the city of a powerful but
unpopular figure, it can all too easily be used for political
vendetta. There is no charge to answer, and no redress.

At a mass meeting, summoned specifically to decide on

ostracism, each citizen writes one name on a broken shard of
pottery (an ostrakon). Anyone featuring on more than a given
number of shards (variously interpreted as 6000 or a majority
from 6000 voters) is removed from public life.

The end of the experiment: 322 BC

Democracy survives the defeat of Athens in the Peloponnesian

War, in 404 BC, only to come to an abrupt end a century later.
After the death of Alexander the Great, the Athenians join
other Greek states in an unsuccessful revolt against
Macedonian rule. The Macedonians retaliate in 322 by placing
a garrison in Attica. An oligarchy is imposed, with the franchise
restricted to the rich.

Among modern countries where democracy is the favoured

system, the Athenian experiment eventually acquires a
hallowed status. But more than 2000 years will pass, after the
heyday of Athens, before anyone again regards with approval
the dangerous idea of giving real power to the people.

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