Democracy is thought to have originated in Greece during the first half of the 5th century BC. This revolutionary concept replaced aristocrats, oligarchs, monarchs, and tyrants and allowed a substantial amount of people to directly participate in the political process. Although the basic ideals of our modern system of government are derived from this original form of democracy, there is actually very little in common between the two. Differences can be found in representation, the limitations, and the basic structure of the governments.
The first dissimilarity between Greek democracy and the democracy the United States adopted is the way its citizens are represented. In Athenian democracy, the people were represented directly; this meant that the people of a given city-state would each participate directly in the political process. This was made possible largely in part by the average size of a Greek city-state; a much smaller population allowed for a direct democracy. This was also due to the Athenian belief that citizens must be able to assemble to directly vote on laws and policies and actively contribute to the management of the city; the Greeks rejected the idea that a large geopolitical body could be governed democratically. The American democracy, however, is based on representation; where officials are elected to represent the citizens of the nation-state. The leading factor in this representative democracy is the population. With such a large population, it was simply impossible to represent each and every citizen individually, hence elected officials are sent to represent groups of citizens with hopes of serving the common good. .
In addition to representation, differences can be found in the limitations of each government. The Athenian form of democracy had many limitations such as isolationism: the Athenians wanted to keep democracy to themselves believing that they were the only people who could make democracy work.
The establishment of the New Democracy Party was no easy task for Greece. ... The elections of 2002 gave the New Democracy quite a scare. ... New Democracy aims for the expansion of democratic practices. ... The New Democracy party needs to maintain its younger voter demographics and at the same time, it needs to try to and obtain some "older generation voters." ... The stances that the New Democracy has taken...
Since the beginning of Democracy, the United States have had normal occurrences with problems as like many other countries, but the problem is that the United States is unjustly spreading this so-called perfect government, and forcing others countries that we have "freed" to adopt Democracy. ... One part of the conference that I found interesting was when all of the Allies agreed on the new governments that should be put into place over the old Dictatorships "The establishment of order in Europe and the rebuilding of national economic life must be achieved by processes which will enable the li...
Athenian democracy was a direct democracy while today we have a representative democracy. ... About 508 BC, Cleisthenes invented a new constitution which made the state a democracy. ... All men of 18 years of age and older were registered as members of the deme. He divided the demes into 30 groups, which in turn were divided into 10 new tribes. ... The new political system provided every qualified citizen of Athens with a chance to help run the city government. ...
To wish them away would not only be fallacious but also detrimental to the health of democracy itself. ... Ultimately the point is the people and Democracy. ... But parties should continue to be the major instrument of democracy. ... It needs to make use of new technology and it should democratize the access to information. ... It said, "What would democracy look like if there were no political parties? ...
Although participatory democracy is the most efficient and democratic older theory, representative democracy is the theory prevalent in today's society. ... Participatory democracy is the older theory that dates back in time before the Constitution. ... Even so, we are now privileged to have a relatively new highway redone. ... There's the old saying that power corrupts. ... Representative democracy fails to uphold the meaning of pure democracy in the way participatory democracy does. ...
An interactive process was triggered in which the old regime was increasingly delegitimized and new structures emerged instead. ... The direct involvement in the building of democracy through mass activism had immediate effects on the balance of power and shaped a new political culture. Participation in mass protests proved effective in delegitimization of the old regime and the strengthened the identity of Latvia as a nation (Shafir, 391). ... RISKING DEMOCRACY Latvia is in line with the majority of the world's democracies in not enforcing mandatory voting. ... State University of New ...
Republicans and business owners contended that the New Deal was too radical, undermining private property, economic stability, and democracy. ... Group leaders preached the end of Democracy and the birth of communist, portraying Roosevelt and the New Deal as Hitler and the Nazi's. This proved fatal for the party, as overthrowing Democracy was too extreme an agenda for everyday working Americans (Roark, 802). ... He proposed the establishment of the Old Age Revolving Pension after becoming angry that many of his retired patience were living in perpetual misery. ... Republicans contended t...
The United States is representative democracy. ... The people can then create a new government that will perform its proper functions of protecting the people. ... These basic freedoms come to mind usually when people link democracy and liberty. ... Over our history the right to vote has been granted to an increasing amount of people, from only white males who owned property, to white males who did not own property, then to blacks, to women, and then to 18-year olds. ... These functions are basic to a representative democracy. ...
In Athens new democratic state there was cooperation between individual freedom and authority of the state unseen in the past forms of government. The new freedoms extended to include all parts of society including social, economic, ethical, religious, judicial, and political freedoms. ... (Els, 7-8) As first an experiment in rule by and for the people, a democracy was something new in a culture full of traditions of absolutists, tyrannical, and oligarchic forms of government. ... With this new right, many citizens took an active part in their state affairs and ruled. ... Aristotle proves the ...
