Is democracy the best form of government? It is mainly focused on the power of the people. A democracy is all about forming, managing, and collecting knowledge. If Athens becomes a democratic place, it will develop into a successful city-state because of it and the people, as they will be the ones ruling it. Democracy is successful since it organizes useful knowledge, making it both innovational and educational.
Absolutism and Democracy are just two of the many forms of government. Absolutism is also known as an absolute monarch, this is when a ruler has complete authority over the government and the lives of the people. Democracy is also known as a democratic government, this is a system of government in which the people hold ruling power. These forms of government are both very effective; however, I believe that a democracy was the most effective during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Voltaire, John Locke in Two Treatises on Government, and Montesquieu in The Spirit of the Laws are some of the supporters of a democratic government.
Without trade partners because of their currency, and by condemning new ideas that could advance them as a society, we can see a militarized camp with a sluggish and practically useless economy that is slowly digging its own grave. In Athens, the economic reforms brought on by Solon bolstered the economy, raising the purchasing power of money, encouraging sustainable economic growth. Going even further, he held the view that “if the freedom of each is the concern of all, then the polis must protect everyone against personal enslavement, even to the extent of ransoming (…) Athenians who had already spent many years as slaves in other lands” (Vlastos, 1946). Essentially he went so far as to find enslaved Athenians in faraway lands to bring them back from economical enslavement. The second of his reforms brought an early form of democracy, giving the power of juror to the common man.
The wealthy are again the most powerful, and finally the working class, not having much assets or money, the majority and vulnerable part of the state. The working-class live on the idea that all appetites are equal and should be respected and Plato would also argue they are paid enough money and taxed less enough so the government can now run their business side of the city. Considering the political aspect now, these people are still the majority, the voters to decide how the state is run and who is to protect them. Socrates explains after he mentions the difference between unnecessary and necessary appetites: “At all these assertions he shakes his head. He lives from day to day to the end in the gratification of the casual appetites—drinking himself drunk while listening to the flute and soon putting himself on a diet.” Plato describes this as the “manifold life,” living the “good life” some would say, he believes this is the life those envy and strive for, therefore the life the majority look up to and attempt to live toward.
Democracy- the best form of governance; is evidently disputed in modern day politics. The disagreement has been carried on for centuries, as seen in Plato 's Republic and Pericles Speeches. According to The Republic, democracy cannot be implemented as the common man lacks the in-depth knowledge of vital spheres of bureaucracy such as economics, military stratagem, international conditions, and the niceties of law. However, this form of governance is viewed in a much more favorable light by Pericles in Thucydides ' History of the Peloponnesian Wars. He believes democracy is all beneficial to every sector of society and should be run for the general well-being, serving the ultimate goal of equality in justice.
When talking about empires, a negative connotation of being oppressed is usually present. Living in the modern age, we tend to consider democracy as the “rightest form of government”. However, democracy is not simply “freedom for all” or “the will of the people” for ancient empires. It was a complex, delicate system that sometime people overlook its inherent fragility. Many democratic states, such as ancient Athens, the Roman Republic, failed to keep the promise of freedom for all and ended up in failure.
Liberal Democracy is a democratic system of government in which individual rights and freedoms are officially recognized and protected, and the exercise of political power is limited by the rule of law. The word democracy is greek, the word “demos” means people and “kratos” means power. The idea of liberalism first began in the 1600’s with John Locke as he believed that the people should be allowed to remove the government currently ruling when they have misused their power for ulterior motives. Although the seed was planted in the 1600’s, liberal democracy only properly took form in the 1840’s in Canada. Australia and New Zealand followed not long after as they began to use the secret ballot system to elect political leaders.
The name comes from demos-people and kratos-power, so literally power of the people. Apart from many smaller changes, it was mainly based on the opportunity for all citizens over 20 to take part in governing the country. One of the main advantages of Athenian democracy was that the archon and his eight assistants were elected annually. It was possible to prolong the rule for the next term but in case of any abnormalities a quick change of government took place. The biggest advantage of democracy in polis was the general possibility of taking part in public life for all free citizens.
Modern day democracy traces its origins to ancient Athens. The Athenians were the first people to come up with a democratic form of governance. Since the dawn of the modern democratic era in the early 20th century, democracy has expressed itself through national parliaments and nation-states. Today, almost three quarters of the world’s governments profess to be democratic and it has been touted as the most successful political idea of the 20th century. Despite the broad range of its acceptance as an ideal form of government, it still has its inherent flaws as a system of governance and critics have been quick to point out a myriad of factors that make it unsuitable as a governance system.
All citizens want equality, but if everyone is equal, no single person has the right to claim authority. As such, the only way to rule society is to listen to the majority. This is where the real danger is, it is easy to fall subject to the tyranny of the majority which can easily lead to despotism. The tyranny of the majority is when the majority places its own interests above those in the minority. Additionally, “as conditions are equalized in a people, individuals appear smaller and society seems greater”, this notion gives off the appearance that social power is greater than individual power, thus, people are more willing to give up individual thoughts in favor of the majority (Tocqueville, V2, P4, CH2, pg.641).