THE FIRST DEMOCRATS
For a phenomenon as complex as democracy, its first appearance is remarkably easy to pinpoint: the city-state of Athens in the fifth century B.C. Periclean Athens, named for its most celebrated leader, inspired generations of later political theorists and statesmen. Yet many aspects of Athenian democracy appear strange and unfamiliar to modern eyes.
The central political institution in Athens of the sixth and fifth centuries B.C. was the Assembly, usually composed of 5,000 to 6,000 members and open to all adult male citizens. (Women, slaves, and foreigners were excluded.) By simple majority vote, the Assembly could decide virtually any domestic issue without any legal restrictions. Trials were conducted by juries of 501 citizens who also decided guilt or innocence by majority vote.
Perhaps most remarkably, the leaders of the Assembly were not elected, but chosen by lot, since Athenians believed that any citizen was capable of holding public office. Not that there were many such offices to fill: Generals were elected for one-year terms, but otherwise Periclean Athens lacked any recognizable executive institutions such as president, prime minister, cabinet, or permanent civil service. The weight of decision-making fell almost exclusively upon the citizen-members of the Assembly -- a burden of public service that most people today would find unacceptable.
Without constitutional limits, the Athens of Pericles was prone to factionalism and manipulation by shrewd or eloquent orators. It was democratic Athens, after all, that condemned to death the philosopher Socrates -- thereby earning the undying enmity of Socrates' most celebrated pupil and fervent anti-democrat, Plato.
Despite its enemies and weaknesses, Athenian democracy was no fragile flower. It endured for approximately 200 years -- surviving even defeat in the Peloponnesian War in 404 B.C. at the hands of its archrival, Sparta.
|
