The road to democracy…

athens1The word democracy derives from the Greek word „demos“ which means people and „kratos“  which means rule. So it means “rule of the people”. It is a political system with the right of co-determination. In ancient Greece, the folk was seen just to be adult, free men, which could participate at the people’s assembly, so this meant only about 40.000 people could take part. Nowadays people make profits from a variety of rights, for instance the right of

  • free elections,
  • secret election,
  • freedom of expression,
  • majority rule,
  • the respect of the political opposition,
  • constitutionality and
  • protection of the fundamental rights.

In most of the democratic countries democracy is part of the constitution.

Characteristics:

  1. equality (every vote has equal weight)
  2. freedom
  3. rule of law

These are important characteristics since ancient times, although the democracy itself, distinguishes dramatically from the ancient democracy.   Another points that are distinguishing features to recognize a democratic system are:

  • the folk is deciding political decisions (through elections)
  • the folk gives themselves the system (constitution)
  • the territory where the decisions are taken, is usually the home of the Demos, so colonies are not part of it.
  • political norms are directly (referendum) or indirectly (vote a parliament) decided.
  • the state has to be sovereign
  • the government can change without revolution
  • in special cases the folk can make a plebiscite
  • in representative democracies the represent is voted.

Comparison of Systems:

The monarchy (Greek monarkhia = autocracy from Monos and Archo = Rules Alone) is a form of government in which a single person (often awarded by God authority) that legitimized his rule over personal power beyond possession .

The aristocracy (aristos = best and kratos = rule, the rule of the best ” )  referred to political science is the rule of a small group of specially qualified individuals , the nature of competence is not determined.

The oligarchy (Greek oligarchia = Oligos and Archo rule of the few ) is in the classical constitutional theory the degeneracy of the aristocracy. It is ruled of a minority, who abuse the power more or less to their own advantage .

The dictatorship (Latin dictadura ) is a form of government , which is characterized by a single person ruling , the dictator , or a ruling group of people ( military junta or family) with unlimited power. As the founder of a dictator usually refers to a special risk or crisis of the state, he could turn away. A dictatorship partly abrogates the human rights. There is also no free choice (elections) and no separation of powers.

History of democracy:

Development of Attic democracy: Also Athens was ruled by kings, for example “Theseus”. From 800 B.C. it started slowly to change to nobles. At the beginning kings were only allowed anymore to reign for 10 years, then there were 3 Archonts (Άρχοντες ) (government official for 1 year), later there have been 9 Archonts.

700 B.C. -600 Tyranny took overhand in Greece. The first Tyranny was in Corinth, then in Sikyon, Samos and later in Athens. Initially Tyranny was not something bad, it just said, that only one person ruled. Usually it was a powerful aristocrat who started to rule one polis. His policy was saved from military and other Tyrants, not by law. In the 7th century B.C. in Athens were a lot of social conflicts. Two sections of the population formed: the financial aristocracy and the big landowners. So the small farmers got in economical troubles and made a lot of debts at the big landowners. A lot of them became serfdom or were sold as slaves.

594.BC the Archon Solon created a prorepresentative state. He imported the Isonomie, this means that everybody is equal. (Greek: ison =equal, nome – νομή, distribute). It meant that all people, apart from slaves and strangers, were politically equal. He forbid the serfdom (σεισάχθεια) and all sold slaves were brought back on cost of the state. Also debts on the lands were reduced. Solon made 4 classes of society according to their salary. He invented the people´s assembly and out of them “The Four Hundred” were elected. But only rich people could be a member. Also from the first class of society the Supreme Court was voted. But because this reform didn´t change the bad situation for the farmers, the noble Pisistratus made himself to an absolute ruler. In the period of the Tyranny of Pisistratus he banned all enemies and gave work to poor people. The work was for construction of streets, water pipes or temples, also he supported culture and art. He made new taxes. After 50 years the Tyranny was stopped from another noble. So the development of democracy could continue.

Kleisthenes (Κλεισθένης) (508 BC) made 10 Phylen (Φυλές) (constituency), before there were only 4. This meant that also farmers as well as nobles could be in the same Phyle and people without possession could be voted to join the government. Also the Stratege (Generals) were new. One General from each Phyle was elected to lead in the army. Also the Ostrakismos was invented to avoid future Tyranny. This judgment was a motion of no confidence. A person who was suspicious could be written down and if there were more people writing down this name, this mentioned person was banned from the city. After Kleisthenes followed his great grandchild Perikles.

He made Athens to a welfare state. The third class was allowed to join the Archonts, the members got a daily money so that first time also poor people could join in political positions, also the citizens got money for cereals, celebration days and theater. In the fleet people could work as rowers. Perikles himself was not a archont but he was reelected 15 times as a stratege. The people´s assembly was called Ekklesia. All free male citizens over 20 years could participate. Women, slaves and Metöks (Μέτοικοι) (people who lived permanently in the city but were not born there), where not allowed to vote. Decisions in the people´s assembly were about the laws, war and peace, interstate treaty, public order, election of the generals, the treasurer, public officials).

Also “The Five Hundred” were chosen by lottery, 50 from each tribe (Φυλή). Another new thing was the judge system. The heliaia was the court. at least 201 members of the jury had to participate and maximum it was 6000. The areopag was the court house which decided of death sentence.

Types of democracy today:

First of all all forms of democracies try to make the politics connected to the will of the folk. theoretically spoken this can happen through “direct” say of each citizen. (direct democracy). Or it can happen through a voted representation (representative democracy). Here the the emphasis can be a  president (as the head of the government) (presidential democracy) or it can be a parliament (parliamentary democracy).

1. Direct democracy

Direct democracy only exists in Switzerland in a few Cantons. All citizens take actively part at the decisions of the state. According to Wikipedia it says: “Direct democracy is a political system where the citizens participate in the decision-making personally, contrary to relying on intermediaries or representatives. The supporters of direct democracy argue that democracy is more than merely a procedural issue. A direct democracy gives the voting population the power to:

  1. Change constitutional laws,
  2. Put forth initiatives, referendums and suggestions for laws,
  3. Give binding orders to elective officials, such as revoking them before the end of their elected term, or initiating a lawsuit for breaking a campaign promise. “

2. Representative democracy: (indirect democracy)

The decisions are made from representatives. These are elected and decide with their own authority (responsibility). It can be a parliament or a president. At the election the person or party is voted for one period. Through the system of the proportional representation the voter has the chance to name this party which comes closest to his/her opinion. The separation of power (legislative, judicature, executive) is made to avoid concentration of power. It should separate legislative and government. Because usually the party who wins an election also names the government, it is sometimes interrupted.

  • Parliamentary democracy: the government is responsible to the parliament. the parliament is ruling together with the government. mostly the government is elected from the parliament and can be taken off.
  • Presidential System: the head of the government has a strong position towards the parliament. Mostly he is elected from the folk.
  • Semi- presidential System: The president and the head of the government are equal in their power. the government is also responsible towards the parliament. the president is extensively  independent in his area of responsibilities.

Problems:

  • A pure direct democracy is maybe possible in a small village with a few hundred inhabitants, but it is quite impossible that millions of inhabitants are discussing about a new law.
  • In a presidential democracy without the control of a parliament, it is very possible that he will give in to temptation of using the force for himself alone. (dictator)
  • A parliament without government, where everybody can discuss every detail, will not be able to put their laws in practice.

In the end there are some nice Quotes which everybody can think about by him or herself.

  • Democracy is a device that insures we shall be governed no better than we deserve. (George Bernard Shaw)
  • Democracy is a device that allows people to freely decide who should be blamed for everything. (anonymous)
  • Democracy is the need occasionally to bow to the views of other people.
  • “Democracy is the worst form of government, except for all those other forms that have been tried from time to time.” (Winston Churchill) (Original engl.: “[No one pretends that democracy is perfect or all-wise. Indeed, it has been said that] democracy is the worst form of government except all those other forms that have been tried from time to time.”  11. November 1947
  • Democracy cannot succeed unless those who express their choice are prepared to choose wisely. The real safeguard of democracy, therefore, is education. (Franklin D. Roosevelt)

Also ask yourself:

  1. How should people live together in a society?
  2. Is it possible to learn democracy?
  3. When is a democracy a democracy?
  4. What problems of democracy exist in modern states?
  5. Where is the difference between the attic democracy and democracy nowadays?

Elisabeth Weissitsch.