Introduction People do not have the same opportunities when they are born. They differ by wealth, family income, status in the society, degree of education. Therefore they need a government that is able to reduce the inequality in the society by redistributing wealth. First elections started in Greece. In the “Introduction to the Athenian democracy of the fifth and fourth centuries BCE” it is written that in ancient Greece only around fifth part of population was able to vote. The men from middle class and upper class could participate in voting and be elected, while freed slaves, women and foreign citizens did not possess such rights. These two voting classes were wealthy, owned land, got large profits from it, their basic needs were satisfied therefore they had time to form a government. As the time passed the things changed …show more content…
It is viewed as the combination of majoritarian (first-past-the-post) and party list electoral representation. Electors need to vote twice: for the single member candidate in constituency and party. The voting can be complex and confusing process. The votes can be wasted as the result of wrongly filling the ballot. The system is favorable for women and people from minority groups. The number of women in the government increases. McCaffrey and Egerton provide statistics for Scottish Parliament and Wales: In Scotland, the number of women elected in 2011 was 45, resulting in the second lowest number of women MSPs in four Scottish Parliament elections at 35%. The 2007 election produced the lowest number at 33%. The 2011 election led to only a slight improvement in the number of black and minority ethnic members (BME) of the National Assembly for Wales and Scottish Parliament: in both places they doubled, to
Athenians elected government officials through lot (Document B). True democrats would elect all officials through voting by the people. This is one reason Ancient Athens was not a democracy. Not everyone could vote in Ancient Athens. Men consisted of 12% of the population and were the only authorized voters (Document
Was ancient Athens truly democratic? Democracy is a system of government by the whole population or all the eligible members of a state. I do not believe that in the 4th to 5th century BCE ancient Athen were democratic for many reasons.
Athenians Democracy Ancient Athens has two documents that discuss democracy. The first one is “Document A: Pericles” and the other one is “Document B: The The Athenian Constitution”. In document A, I found that is truly democratic because your social class is not allowed the interfere with someone 's merit. For example, if you’re poor you’re still able to serve the state or be part of the government. In document A it also states that “you get equal justice.”
Emulating their British cousins, in the early years of the nation the US government was quite aristocratic. Most government officials came from wealthy families and were educated in elite private institutions and looked down on the unprivileged. Even voting was limited to white landowning businessmen. Quarter way through the 19th century the number of middle class americans began to grow due to westward expansion. People who were once ridiculed for their poverty were now fairly prosperous owning their own land but still found themselves inactive members of politics.
The Jacksonian Democracy and the Age of Jackson equaled to suffrage for all white males, equality for all white males, and land for white males. During this time period, there is a rise of interest group politics and sectional differences. The political scene becomes vile by having a rise of tension between the north and the south. A changing style of campaigning develops with Andrew Jackson winning because a lot of the lower-class people liked him. There were more poor people than rich people, having more people voting, leading politicians to start an appeal.
African Americans were allowed to vote however they were intimidated fear their lives to both so it was useless. Newly freed slaves were aided through the usage of federal laws and constitutional amendments. Former slaves were enabled to vote, own property, legally marriage, receive and education and file lawsuits. This extended the power of the newly freedmen. Women were jealous because they still weren't allowed to vote or have a say in
Additionally, the reliability affected by the emotive language being employed in this article as the author utilises this language it demonstrates that bias is present. This article was useful to my essay as it provided detailed information on the gaps in Athenian democracy. Moreover, the article provided a perspective that highlighted the differences in Athenian democracy such as that Athens was a direct democracy and that only some of the population was eligible, it mainly created a feeling that Athens was advanced for its time however the system had discrepancies. This information provided significantly when comparing modern societies to ancient Greece and also in justify as to why democracy was significant to Greece. A source that shares this view is the Ted-Ed video this also similarly to historian Paul Cartledge states that Athens was a direct democracy and also that not all of the population had the right to
In a true democracy, nothing is random. Everyone should have a vote and the right to voice their thoughts. With this system they have put in place, people’s roles in the government are completely arbitrary. Thus proving, Athens was not a true democracy because government roles were picked at
When you look at the literal definition of democracy in the Merriam-Webster dictionary, there is a decently large explanation. When looking at this definition and trying to decide whether the Athenian democratic system was truly democratic, one would have to go with the answer no. While it has been stated that Athens is the “cradle of democracy”, and that it was better than any of the other governments in the world, it was still a work in progress. The Athenian democracy, while it did give more power to the people, still left a lot of citizens out. The current American democracy may have steamed from Athens, but they do not really have that much in common.
Democracy, a form of government, allows the people in their own nationality to vote for people in order for them to become representatives as a result to vote on new laws that would affect their own nationality. One of the many states of Greece, ancient Athens was indeed not truly democratic as a result of not inclusive, other than male citizens, to gain authority in ancient Athens, ¨Demokratia was ruled by male citizens only, excluding women, free foreigners(Metics) and slaves.¨(Document D), therefore ruling Athens was only accessible to male citizen since since women, free foreigners(Metics), and slaves were not allowed to rule as a result of not being male citizens. One of the many states of Greece, ancient Athens, was indeed not truly democratic as a result of not even using the essentials of democracy that is used today, “Thus, by our standards, it was oligarchy, not democracy.¨(Document D), therefore ancient Athens was not using democracy as their form of government, they were using oligarchy,another form of government in which a small group of people has power and control, as their form of government instead of democracy.
Introduction Monarchy, aristocracy, tyranny, oligarchy and democracy were all forms of government found at different times and in different city-states in Ancient Greece. Elements of more than one of these forms also co-existed, however, and the modern connotations of labels such as these are not necessarily the same as those that prevailed in Ancient Greece. In this paper I firstly describe these various forms of government and provide examples of their use in Ancient Greece. I then compare and contrast the models.
Election by lottery allowed everyone to voice their differences and come to an agreement, and it made Athenians stronger. All citizens play a role in the city that they
The Romans had a system of indirect democracy where the people had the power to vote for representatives who would advocate for them on the state level. The Greeks had a government in which the people directly were involved in the governmental and legislative process. In addition, both systems were flawed in their representation of their people in their respective governments through neglecting a large portion of their population. Both societies did well to create term lengths to decrease the likelihood of corruption and abuse of power through creating accountability. However, the Greek democracy was a caliber above its counterpart.
The concept of leadership was prevalent in the ancient world. It had a place in the way the people of ancient times governed their lives. Greece, and especially Athens, is the cradle of democracy in the western civilization. Athens owes the first penal and civil law code to Draco. An outstanding statesman and poet called Solon acted in Athens at the same time as Draco.
According to Socrates perspective, the democracy of Athens was corrupt and even though they courts were made in such a way that everyone was judged fairly, it wasn’t such because there were no rules or principles set forth. When a person was brought to court in the Athenian court and the person spoke against the jurors or offended them, he or she could be prosecuted based on that. In summary, judgment was passed based on emotion rather than on justice. In the Apology, Socrates stated, “my present request seems a just one, for you to pay no attention to my manner of speech-