Most notable, however, was the democracy of Athens and the oligarchy of Sparta. The driving force behind all of Greek life and politics was this concept of arete. While arete differed between Athens and Sparta, this lust for excellence became the driving force behind their democracy and oligarchy. The geography of Greece did not allow for a strictly central government, and so, the Greeks adapted.
Some might object that because Athens is ruled by a majority, it would be illogical to follow their laws. Perhaps because the majority are seldom the experts and, as Socrates indicates,it is far more logical to listen to the experts. In this situation, however the majority are the experts. They are the citizens of Athens, the people who chose the manner of government, and to be governed by it. The citizens rule themselves and are the creators, enforcers, and interpreters of
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.
The city councils held a lot of power in the Aztec government. Each council would have a kind of leadership group within it. 4 members would be chosen who would lead, and out of those there would be the leader of the city. This leader would not only control the city but the surrounding area to. Although the nobility provided leadership, they weren 't automatically put in government
Democracy, a noun that means the society is governed by the people, a system of voting, and majority rules. In ancient Greece, demokratia, otherwise known as democracy can be battered down into demo, and kratia. Demo, meaning the people, and kratia meaning the power or rule. Together it means rule by the people. The purpose of this essay is to prove that ancient Greece wasn’t truly democratic.
Ancient Greece is associated as the birthplace of democracy but it is fair to say that Greece was home to various forms of governments. Government is Greece took extraordinary diverse forms across different city-States for centuries, political power could rest in the hand of one single individual which will be referred to as Monarchies or Tyranny, rule by small group of people referred to oligarchy or aristocracy. Rule by all the male citizens referred to as democracy, which is regarded as Greeks greatest contribution to modern day civilization (Democracy). (Brand, P.J. (n.d)).
In Sparta on the other hand political rights was somewhat opposite. Firstly, only Spartan warriors were allowed political rights. The majority of them made up the general assembly which was relatively weak in political power. Although they could vote on matters such as going to war, it was in actuality down to the will of the elder council which makes up the Gerousia. The Ephors that were selected by the popular
Eastern and Western European countries had many differences on economics and political structures. Both the East and the West tried to achieve an absolute monarchy, which can be described as a type of government where the monarch has complete rule over everything. Although both had an absolute monarchy at some point, they were structured differently and one much more successful than the other. In Eastern Europe the members of nobility had almost all of the control over the poor peasants who lived in their community.
Ancient Greek religion was heavily established in the social and political institutions of their world (Larson 4). Religion for the ancient Greeks was very individualistic, and as a group, society held no doubt that the gods existed and exercised control over life and death. The roles of the gods in Greek religion were influenced by the Greeks’ own belief, ensuring that their gods’ roles were “to guarantee and enforce moral conduct rather than define it.” (5). For each Greek polis, there was a “local pantheon” they uniquely worshipped, but as a collective group, there was a core group of 12-13 gods that mostly all poleis worshipped.
However when analyzing the etymology of the word democracy we come to find out that demos means the people and kratia means rule or power in greek. As stated in the article “The Problem with Democracy Today,” contrary to other political institutions who holds the power is not clearly stated “if the regime is a
I answered it by saying that them making people slaves and treating people differently because of their class resulted in them not being very democratic. I strongly believe with the evidence I have that the Greek city-states were not really democratic at
The stability of the Roman Republic and the Athenian Democracy is similar because they both had internal problems based on low income, yet the systems are different because participation in Rome was related to wealth, while participation in Athens wasn’t. To start, the stability of the Roman Republic and the Athenian Democracy was similar because they both had internal fights and reforms due to wealth. Specifically, the Gracchi brothers were a large part of the populares political group in Rome because of their efforts to redistribute land, set limits to the amount of land one can own, and make the state pay for military equipment, instead of the soldiers themselves. This represents how the Roman Republic had several problems regarding an unbalance in wealth. These were recognized by the Gracchi brothers, which led to such reforms.
ellow women, Good morning. I, on behalf of National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA), please vote for Woodrow Wilson as the president of US. I assure he will do everything in his power to make equal pay and opportunity for women. I stand for you today, not only as a member of NAWSA, but as a women, and for every women that feel mistreated and violet. Once for all, women’s right is human rights.
Something that is interesting are monarchy governments. Monarchies are a type of government where there is a single person dictating what happens, either a queen or a king. Modern day monarchies are vastly different from the monarchies of earlier times. Modern monarchies have become more democratic and the power that the king or queen would have is now divided up between other people and organizations. For example the Queen of England would have ruled over everything from agriculture, to foreign affairs, to warfare, but now the workload and her power is split up between her, the prime minister, ambassadors, and many others making the Queen more ceremonial figure than a figurehead with power.
In Ancient Greece, Sparta, had laws that when you were born you were to be examined for any defects. If you had any you were to be thrown down in a valley to die, and if you were the first born male of your family you were put in a military camp to be trained for further uses. This took away their human rights on living free if you are a man, and if you are a woman you were to stay in the town and be a “house-wife.” The Spartan government wanted to make the city a stronger unit by taking away job choices. The Spartan government was a great government because, they trained young boys to be warriors, their population couldn’t have any flaws, and the people didn’t have a choice in job.