Athenian Democracy

Paper Summary:

This paper reviews the political system of Ancient Greece known as Athenian democracy. It looks at the functions of the two bodies that were assigned government functions - the Assembly and the Council. It compares these functions with those of contemporary functions - non-executive head of state; executive head of state, ministers and legislative body. The scope and development of the political system of democracy during this period is also analyzed.

From the Paper:

"Democracy comes from two Greek words, first a noun, demos; meaning ''people'' and second a verb, kratein, meaning ''to rule.'' However, the fundamental meaning of democracy is ''government by the people" or "rule by the ruled (Aristotle, 23).'' As a word it has its foundation from Greek, so one has to refer to ancient Greece in order to find its origin and basic meaning. The 5th century Athens of the city-state was the originator and leading practitioner of democracy. Hence for about 4,000 years men lived under the forms of government other than democratic. However, it all started in the mid of the 5th century before Christ in Athens. Therefore, democracy as a theory and actual system of government has existed for almost 2500 years, with changeable degrees of constancy between both theory and practice (Aristotle, 24)."

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