Transcript Development of Democracy in Ancient Greece

The Origin & Development of
Democracy in Ancient Greece
Objectives
I.
II.
III.
IV.
V.
What is Democracy?
What are the main types of democracy?
What pushed Greeks towards democracy?
Who was Solon and what were his reforms?
Who was Cleisthenes and what were his
reforms?
VI. Who was Pericles and what were his reforms?
VII. What did Aristotle say about tyranny and
democracy?
Definition of Democracy
• Democracy:
– Word has Greek
language origin
• Demos: people
• Kratos: rule
• Rule by/of the people
Plato
• Greek philosopher Plato
distinguished democracy
from:
– Aristocracy or Oligarchy:
rule by a small elite or
wealthy class
– Monarchy: rule by one
individual, i.e. king or
emperor
Main Types of Democracy
1. Direct Democracy:
– System of government
where the power rests
with the citizens
– Citizens themselves are
the power (without
representatives)
– Power is exercised
through voting – each
citizen represents one
vote
Main Types of Democracy
. Representative
Democracy:
–
–
–
Citizens are elected
as representatives
Those elected
officials are to act in
the interest of the
citizens
Normally they serve
only for allotted
period of time
Origin and Causes of Democracy
• Began in Athens, Greece
• Approximately 508 B.C.
• Due to geography, isolated “city-states” began to
emerge
– City-states were given the name “polis”
• A polis (or city-state) is an area with its own
political system
– A polis was independent from other polis’ (poleis)
Evolution of Democracy
• Initially, a polis was styled after monarchies (circa
700 B.C.)
• Over time, this evolved into an aristocratic style of
rule
• Over time, there became an imbalance of power
– Wealthy: more power; the rest of the citizenry: less power
• This pushed Athens towards becoming a
democracy
Three Democratic Reformers
• SOLON
• Gap between wealthy & non-wealthy
considered a crisis
• Solon, a respected leader, elected to reform
Athens
• Reforms of Solon:
– Slavery outlawed
– The debts of farmers were abolished
– Established four classes of citizenship
• Based on wealth, not heredity
• Citizens of three highest classes could hold
office
– All adult male citizens were granted citizenship
• This dramatically increased citizen
participation in government
Three Democratic Reformers
• CLEISTHENES
• Reforms of Cleisthenes:
– Formed the Council of
500
• Members were chosen
randomly from the citizenry
• Council was made a
“legislature” (law-making
body)
Three Democratic Reformers
• PERICLES
• An instrumental figure in Athenian
democracy
• Reforms of Pericles:
– All citizens of Athens encouraged to take
part in government
– Council of 500 increased dramatically—at
times, it was made up of 6,000 members
– Number of paid government officials
increased
– Lower-class citizens were now permitted
to hold office
– Citizens who served as jurors were now
paid
• Overall, the reforms increased
participation among all the social
classes of Athens.
Read the two excerpts from Aristotle’s Politics below. Dissect and shrink
each excerpt to two sentences.
On the Nature of Tyranny:
“The Tyrant must ‘cut down to size’ those who raise their
heads too high, destroy men of Spirit, not allow common
meals, political clubs or education . . . and he must guard
against all things that might inspire courage and confidence
among the people. . . A tyrant must make every effort to
know what each of his subjects says and does . . . he must
employ spies . . . The tyrant must also encourage quarrels
among the people, pitting friend against friend, the common
people against the gentry and the wealthy against one
another. . . . The Tyrant must also be a warmonger so that
the people will be kept busy and will constantly feel the need
for a leader.”
On the Nature of Democracy:
“. . . rulers should be chosen by all citizens and from all
citizens . . . each citizen should be ruled by all
citizens and all citizens by each one of them; . . . the
tenure of all offices . . . should be short; . . . the jury
courts should be chosen from all citizens; . . . The
assembly should be sovereign over all things and no
official is supreme over anything accept quite
unimportant matters; . . . no official should serve for
life.Equality does not imply that the poor should
rule instead of the rich or that they alone should
hold power, but that all people should share power
equally , according to their numerical strength.