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Greek Democracy

            The Influence of the Greeks on American Democracy "Tyranny is the rule of one man to the advantage of the ruler, oligarchy to the advantage of the rich, democracy to the advantage of the poor." -Aristotle Democracy: a form of government that makes political decisions directly exercised by the whole body of citizens, under procedures of majority rule. This type of democracy is know as a direct democracy, however the form of government that citizens exercise the same right not in person but through elected representatives is known as a representative democracy. Today in the United States of America we have a representative democracy in which we appoint "representatives" through election. The founders of democracy in Athens exercised decisions through a direct democracy in which all male citizens were allowed to have direct influence on the decisions. Although in the United States today we accept democracy as a form of life it had its early beginnings in the city-states of Ancient Greece. The form of government known as democracy had its early roots in Ancient Greece but its influence has a direct connection with the type of government we have today in the United States. The Greek city-states of antiquity did not always live a lifestyle with the cooperation of democracy. The civilizations of Greece passed through many stages of government. In the 8th and 7th centuries the government was known as an oligarchy. An oligarchy is the rule of the city-state by a selected few usually consisting of wealthy landowners. These representatives made decisions based on their own ideals without the consideration of the people. Decisions were made not with the interest of the majority but with the interests of the few. Since the oligarchy was primarily run by wealthy landowners, the interests of the poor were often ignored. However, tensions began to arise between these wealthy landowners which left the majority of the public in a state of discontent and fury.


Essays Related to Greek Democracy

1. Greek Parliament Approves Austerity Plan

The Greek Parliament finally consented to Prime Minister George Papandreou's package of austerity measures - the only factor standing in the way of ... Europe knows that your party is responsible for the current situation," Papandreou told Samaras, alluding to the debt that accumulated exponentially in 2009 while the New Democracy held power. Papandreou, who made several failed overtures to the opposition for political consensus on the austerity measures, addressed the conservatives in hopes of gaining ... . He said that Greece was lucky that their foreign creditors, the European Union and th...

  • Word Count: 1157
  • Approx Pages: 5
  • Has Bibliography
  • Grade Level: Undergraduate

2. Greek civilization paper

... . For example, the Greeks were the first to experiment successfully with the idea that citizens could govern themselves which was known as being a Democracy. This was an idea that the United States and many other countries have adopted and refined. Greece kept themselves organized by forming settlements which ... be that the types of governments differed depending on where you lived in Greece. If you happened to live in Athens, you might have a Direct Democracy. If you lived in Sparta however, your government would be a Dual Monarchy. This would be run by two kings and a council of elders...

  • Word Count: 2856
  • Approx Pages: 11
  • Grade Level: High School

3. Ancient Greek Democracy

... Aristotle offer conflicting viewpoints concerning the merits and possibilities of ancient Greek democracy. Aristotle's political theory attempts to justify his city-state's political structure by providing a model of the common good, or Chief Aim, his end goal for Athenian democracy. He believed Athenians could reach the Chief Aim as a society by individually learning to be virtuous and then instilling ... Ancients Compared with that of the Moderns, Constant highlights that the individual liberties protected in a modern representative democracy are much more important than the political ...

  • Word Count: 888
  • Approx Pages: 4
  • Has Bibliography
  • Grade Level: Undergraduate

4. Overall Changes In Democracy

... : demos, meaning "the people," and kratein, meaning "to rule." These two words are joined together to form democracy, literally meaning, "rule by the people" (Pious). The Greek system of government was perhaps closer to a true democracy or rule by the people than any other in history. Democracy nowadays is a word much used and even more misused. It has many meanings and has turned up ... 10,000 citizens), and all the men voted on all issues of government. There were no representatives in the Greek system of government. Instead, they ruled themselves directly; each man was a life long mem...

  • Word Count: 3560
  • Approx Pages: 14
  • Grade Level: Undergraduate

5. Plato Critique of Democracy

... objectionable one must first understand the definition of what democracy means. Plato's discord with democracy does not concern the democracy we know today nor does it directly concern Athenian democracy. Rather, it is the Form of democracy in which he criticizes. For a Greek (man), democracy, meant the rule of the people? in ... a much more literal sense than it does for the citizens of most of the modern states which claim to be democracies.? Plato's charge against democracy ... is simply that it violates the proper order of society by creating an artificial equality. His fundamental ...

  • Word Count: 1296
  • Approx Pages: 5
  • Has Bibliography
  • Grade Level: High School

6. Communism And Democracy

... American experience, we limit our understanding of the growth of a variety of democratic societies around the world (Editors Of Scholastic Magizine 23). The word "democracy- comes from the Greek word demokratia. This, in turn, was derived from two other Greek words: demos, meaning "people,"" and krator, meaning -rule- or "authority-. The people of ancient Greece used the word demokratia to describe a government ... where every citizen took part in making the laws and administrating justice. Over the past 2,500 years, the concept of democracy has undergone many changes. But the word "dem...

  • Word Count: 2983
  • Approx Pages: 12
  • Grade Level: Undergraduate

7. Rousseau and an Alternative to Democracy

... of this word. Thucydides in "The Peloponnesian war " perfectly shows the importance of Athens' democracy and its primary role among Greeks pòleis. The Greek ekklÃsia which represent the model of direct democracy was no more possible during the modern age. It is important to make a distinction: the term democracy should be used only in relation of the kind of government used by ancient ... to avoid an "excessively interventionist state " (Held: 2006, 84), he viewed in a strong democracy the solution to this issue. He distinguished the direct and the representative democracy. According ...

  • Word Count: 2282
  • Approx Pages: 9
  • Has Bibliography
  • Grade Level: Undergraduate

8. Ghan and the Athenian Democracy

... in Africa; Army Generals traded their military fatigues for suits to contest elections as politicians in an unprecedented era of democracy. The word democracy was coined from the Greek words demos, "the people," and kratia, "to rule." In theory, this was rule ... by the people for the people as opposed to rule by one (autocracy) or a few (oligarchy), a form of direct democracy in which all citizens could speak and vote in assembly. However, since Roman times, the meaning of democracy ... in the general interest. Rein and Brodie in 2009 observed that the Athenian democracy, which was dev...

  • Word Count: 2047
  • Approx Pages: 8
  • Has Bibliography
  • Grade Level: Graduate

9. "Greek Drama"

... kills his new wife and his children, ending his hopes for a shining future. The evolving theme of an individual's weakness and subsequent downfall supports the Greek's democratic system, where no individual becomes too powerful. Agamemnon is a great warrior, but not a great family man. On his way to the ... in a negative way, and this could only happen in a system when a king is allowed to make a decision which sickens his people. In a democracy this never would have happened. At the beginning of the Sophocles's book, Oedipus is presented to us as being extremely arrogant. His city is in...

  • Word Count: 1999
  • Approx Pages: 8
  • Grade Level: High School

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