Ancient Greece was a unique state and was a collection of city-states. And the ancient democracy created here also carries the features inherent only to it. Democracy has a long history and is largely characterized by the development of Western civilization, being the heir to the Roman, Greek and Judeo-Christian traditions.
The emergence of democracy in ancient Greece
At the stage of its heyday, Greek history was faced with the struggle between democratic and oligarchic states, this was manifested in the rivalry between Athens and Sparta. Democracy was then a system of direct rule in which a free people became a collective legislator without a system of government as such. This is due to the small size of the ancient Greek state, which was a city and a rural area, the number of inhabitants was no more than 10 thousand. A special difference between ancient democracy is expressed in the attitude towards slavery, it is a necessary condition for the freedom of citizens from hard physical labor. Today this state of affairs is not recognized by democrats.
The ancient polis was formed on the principles of single civil, political and religious communities. Collective ownership of land, to which only full citizens had access, was at the center of community life. Warriors from the city militia had political and economic rights. The unity of the rights and obligations of the warriors-landowners led to the absence of a struggle for political representation, therefore, democracy was only direct. At the same time, the circle of full-fledged citizens practically did not expand, in Athens civil rights were not granted to the allies, and Rome began to introduce such a practice only during the existence of the empire.
National Assembly and People's Court as Institutions of Democracy in Greece
In Athens, where the National Assemblies were a model of polis democracy, full citizens gathered every 10 days. The list of issues to be resolved at the meeting included the election of senior officials, the procedure for spending funds from the city treasury, the declaration of war and the conclusion of peace. Administrative activity, or by today's standards - the executive power in Athens belonged to the Council of 500, and in Rome, in conditions of external danger or civil war, power was transferred to the dictator, but he owned it for no more than six months.
An equally important institution of ancient Greek democracy was the People's Court, which, according to Aristotle, having strengthened, helped Athens to create democracy. During the time of Pericles, which is considered the "golden age" of Athenian democracy, 6 thousand judges were elected to the People's Court every year.
Direct Democracy in Ancient Greece
Direct democracy existed in embryo in primitive societies of the tribal period. It is the most obvious form of organization of political society. Plato and Aristotle, in their writings on the theory of politics, ranked democracy as one of the main places among the five or six types of government.
Every citizen of the city-state could participate in making decisions important for the whole society. Quite a few citizens could occupy one of the many elected posts in their lives. Therefore, the high activity of the population is one of the advantages of ancient democracy. Many are involved in political life, and they are also involved in the management processes. Direct democracy of this kind was defined by modern thinkers as an ideal form of government.
