Democracy: from Ancient Greece to Modern Time - Essay Example

Democracy: from ancient Greece to modern time Democracy: In which you say what you like and do what you're told Dave Barry Democracy if the formof government by people and is exercised directly or through the elected representatives. The basic democratic principle is the social equality and respect for the individual within the community setting. Democracy was initiated in the ancient Greece as the idea to involve people in directing the activities of the state. Before this initiative, the government was controlled by the selected group of people, autocrats. Since that time, the definition of democracy has much extended but the basic philosophy remained the same - insisting on the rights and capacity of people to control their governments for the social wellbeing. The high value is placed on the equality of individuals and freedom of the people. Dictatorship is the opposite to democracy form of government when one person has the absolute power over the nation. Dictators use force to gain the power and keep it through terror and suppression of the civil liberties. Today, open dictatorship does not exist but the hidden forms are still found: when the power is maintained through the fraud or the control of the mass media. For example, Latin America has the long history of dictatorship when the leaders gained power through the military and provided the social privileges only to the elite class representatives. Citizenship is the relationship between the individual and the state when the individuals owe loyalty to the state and in return, they receive the protection, freedom and rights. For example, the political rights include the right to vote and the right to hold public office. Citizenship is about obligations (taxes, military service). Citizenship has been granted only to property owners in Greece and has been withheld from conquered peoples in Roman Empire. Today citizenship is granted by birth within the territory of the country, as the descent from a parent or by marriage to the citizen of the particular state. The state is the term used to indicate the nation or the country, as well as the legal government of a territory, people and culture. The state has several characteristics such as the independent government, legal system, constitution, national symbols, language and distinct culture. The state also possesses the specific territory of land and has clear borders. Each state has the freedom to develop their own political system and laws that do not contradict the international agreements and principles. Politics is the process of making the decision by the group of people; it is the behavior of the society representatives within the government. It is the right or the ability to perform the act and generate the change to the particular legal setting. Politics is often regarded as the art of governing nations, administering and controlling the internal and external relations. Politics is the activities of government and political parties, it is the tactics of managing the state and nations. Democracy Types There are two distinct types of democracy: classical (Pericles' perception) and liberal (Mill's perspective). At the time of Pericles the democracy was the new concept in government of people. He believed that the power should be given to every person equally because everyone is equal before the law. The was the first one to suppose that the society representatives need to be selected only on the basis of their capability to govern the nation lawfully. He lived in the fifth century and as all societies of that time, the citizens of Athens were in the period of transition. The assembly has become the first and the primary political authority in the history of democracy. Pericles believed that not a single citizen of the nation should have been the subject to official oppression - in other words, not a single citizen is inferior to others by law. This is the classical form of democracy - equality of all citizens and it was new to the governmental system at the time of Pericles. However, it is necessary to note that the concept of citizenship was very different from the definition people have developed today. Ancient Greece citizenship was very restricted and excluded females, children and slaves (Dunn, p. 51). For this reason, a lot of criticism is directed at Pericles and the logic of his sayings. After the introduction of equality principles into the society, the four property classes were created and only two of the above level class representatives were eligible to hold the government positions. In modern society, the right to vote, possibility to be elected to the office and other rights are granted to people on the same principle it was done at the time of Pericles - citizenship. The wealth has determined the level of power the individual had over the society. Pericles in his writings does not address the issue of wealth being central to the political system in fifth century (Dunn, p. 52). Classic democracy denied the formal oppression but the informal oppression was still practiced: to those who had neither time nor training to be politically involved into the social life of their state. Mill, the founder of the liberal democracy concept, believed that the government has the power to deal with the society when there is no physical force in the form of legal penalties or moral coercion of public opinion is not applied. The only situation when the power can be applied to the member of the society against his will is to prevent the possible harm. The basic principle of liberal government is right of individual to make the decision he wants to because it will make him happier (Mill, p. 13). Mill has a very interesting note about tyranny (or dictatorship) - "society is the tyranny because there is the minority group of people who have authority and decision making power over the majority" (Mill, p. 7). Mill supported the progress in equality but also realized the potential development of the majority tyranny in the societies. He believed that the majority mass culture was suppressing the freedom of thought and that the majority was oppressing the minority. Through his writings he tried to combine democracy and liberalism into one method of governing people - liberal democracy. Mill saw the emergence of the large democratic nations and believed that there was the need to limit the power of people over themselves. Liberal democracy is the attempt to set this limitation when the citizens are still able to pursue what they see as their own good and in their own ways. Mill listed several liberties as the most important and needing the protection. These include the freedom of conscience, thought and feeling, holding and expressing opinion, and pursuing the life plans (Urbinati, p. 5). These freedoms seem to be logical and granted to everybody, but unfortunately, governments do not pay much attention to them. In addition, these civil liberties typically and directly affect those who enjoy them, and people should be exempt for the interference by other, especially the state, even democratic state. He thought there should be certain areas in citizens' lives, which are free of state regulation and legal limits. Thus, he favored the preservation of the distinction between the public and the private realm and rule of law. Mill encouraged direct citizen participation for its functions of engendering confidence in the people about their ability to govern themselves, developing intellectual talents, and communal and moral values. He understood that the direct participation was inapplicable for the large societies, and the representative government was the perfect government type in his perception. Liberal Democracy vs. Classical Democracy Liberal and classical democracies are very similar in their basic principles. Both Mill and Pericles were struggling to introduce the concept of equality into the governmental systems of their time. Classic democracy probably has the stronger argumentation beneath its principles; while the liberal democracy is rather the philosophy of government, it lacks the theoretical foundation. At the time of Pericles, the new democratic regime has been much supported by people and it quickly demonstrated the power unleashed by the new democratic constitution. Both Mill and Pericles raise the question of tyranny and its negative impact in the societies in general. Pericles believed that "as long as Athenians were ruled by tyrants they were no better warriors than their neighbors, but once they got rid of the tyranny they became the best of all by a long shot. While they were oppressed they were willing cowards, like slaves working for the master, but when they became free each man was eager to achieve honor for himself" (Kagan, p. 16). Even though the above quote refers to soldiers and their desire to fight for their rulers, there is another meaning between the lines - the same principle applies to the common people who need to have freedom in their actions. Once this freedom is granted to them, people are more willing to cooperate for the national good. Pericles grew up in the critical period of the Greek world. When he was only four, the tyranny was very widespread in the nation and the Persian king Darius tried to make Athens a province of his empire. However, for Pericles, the power gained through terror was perceived as the failure of government to rule the nation. For a long time, Athens were in the political vacuum and only aristocrats have been granted the right to participate in political life. With the introduction of democratic reforms, all adult male citizens were eligible to vote for the city heads and for the members of the Council which prepared the legislation (Kagan, p. 15). This reform was new not only for the Greek world but for the whole world. The citizens of Athens have enjoyed the rights that were fought for by African American fifteen hundred of years later. The understanding of the time Pericles lived in is vital for making the comparison with Mill's perception of democracy. By the time Mill has developed his theory about democratic liberties, democracy has already been considered the most effective governmental system; while Athenians had to try this system without knowing the potential negative effects. Mill has taken what was already known about democracy, examples of how it worked, analyzed the strong and weak sides and offered the amendment which can make the system even more effective. Comparing the classic and liberal democracies is similar to comparing of radio invention with television invention (Rhodes, p. 34-36). In addition to discussion of tyranny, Mill and Pericles both talk about the representation in government and propose the similar ways it should operate. Mill is often criticized for viewing the representative government as the set of institutions devised to limit the democratic element. According to Urbinati, Mills focused on "the role, composition, and discursive style of the deliberative setting and its relation to the citizenry, and exalted the learning function of discussion in public and reiterated debating" (p. 3). Mill's and Pericles' perception of democracy are not different, these philosophers just talk about democracy from different perceptions. Liberal democracy would not survive at the time of Pericles because the core democratic principles were not implemented yet. Pericles has focused on such issues as rights of people to be equal, while Mill has shifted the emphasis on the analysis of how democracy can grant and at the same time limit the freedoms of citizens. Neither Mill nor Pericles had philosophical or academic education, however, both of them have been very interested in political life of their nations. Mill is justly classified as an egalitarian. In fact he was one of the few males of his time to advocate the extension of franchise to women and also his views on the distribution of wealth placed him on the socialist end of a spectrum, of how far should a liberal democrat insist on politics favoring economic and social equality. His view was that political equality was a central value and interpreted as equality in the polling booths. However, this is where Mill differed for he did not carry political equality to the vote. Though for Mill the pure idea of democracy is government of the whole people by the whole people, equally represented, which requires proportional representation, to ensure that a minority is not denied representation. He believed that by granting the educated and the uneducated equal votes, a democracy declared ignorance to be entitled to as much political power as knowledge. Classic democracy does not go as deep and focuses on the need for voting rights given to all citizens. Mill has taken the democratic principles, outlined the weak points of democracy and has proposed his vision how the people's liberties should be protected as well as limited. Pericles, on the contrary, was in more difficult position because he offered to change one political system (tyranny) to completely different (democracy) which was a new concept for his time. Both of them tried to develop the system of governance that is more effective and operates for the wellbeing of the whole nation, but not for the benefit of the selected social groups. The differences between liberal democracy and classical democracy are caused by the time span - Pericles lived hundreds of years before Mill's expression of ideas regarding liberty. Word Count: 2184 Works Cited Dunn, John. Democracy: A History. Atlantic Monthly Press, 2006. Kagan, Donald. Pericles Of Athens And The Birth Of Democracy. Free Press, 1998. Mill, John Stuart. On Liberty and Other Essays. Oxford University Press, 1998. Rhodes, P. Ancient Democracy and Modern Ideology (Duckworth Classical Essays). Duckworth Publishing, 2003. Urbinati, Nadia. Mill on Democracy: From the Athenian Polis to Representative Government. University Of Chicago Press, 2002. Read More