I will expose a brief introduction to Athenian Democracy, and in a second part, two examples of today's use of the word Democracy. Since the rediscovery of the Ancient World during the Renaissance, a cult glorifying anything done in classical times has pervaded our occidental (western) societies. After all the Ancients invented everything didn't they? Mathematics, Philosophy, Democracy...
But what was the Democracy created in Athens? The sovereignty (kratos) of the people (dêmos); these people being the Athenians citizens, and that of course implies that not everybody had the right to participate in this first Democracy (women being excluded in the first place). To be Athenian, you had to be born of two Athenians parents, so the access to citizenship was more than limited, and the delegates of the Athenian citizens were chosen through drawing lots. Then we have to remember that Athens was a city-state that governed over a rural territory as well. So apart from the Athenians citizens there were farmers, slaves and foreigners (here I mean any other non-Athenian), and that meant quite a lot of "people" lived under the rules of Democracy but were excluded from it. That doesn't seem like a very just government to me but nevertheless it is the role model for us.
Yet alone the concept of a Democratic Republic seems an aberration, for here two different ways of choosing the delegates are apposed. For in the Roman Res Publicae (the affairs of the people) the delegates were elected. And even without considering these discrepancies, taking the example of the French Democratic Republic, the ideal of a government of, for and by the people remains a mere illusion. We vote for a couple of persons that then govern the country as they like, and that send the police and army against us if we dare show too much opposition. And again, the misuse of the word democratic is close to schizophrenia when seen in the context of Constitutional Monarchy, where the monarch is considered the guardian of the Constitution and of Democracy. Was he by any chance chosen through drawing lots for a specified amount of time?
In any case, the word Democracy, apart from losing its primal meaning, has never been more than an ideal, a wonderful ideal that unfortunately only served on innumerable occasions all sorts of governments to legitimate their oligarchies, monarchies or dictatorships.
But what was the Democracy created in Athens? The sovereignty (kratos) of the people (dêmos); these people being the Athenians citizens, and that of course implies that not everybody had the right to participate in this first Democracy (women being excluded in the first place). To be Athenian, you had to be born of two Athenians parents, so the access to citizenship was more than limited, and the delegates of the Athenian citizens were chosen through drawing lots. Then we have to remember that Athens was a city-state that governed over a rural territory as well. So apart from the Athenians citizens there were farmers, slaves and foreigners (here I mean any other non-Athenian), and that meant quite a lot of "people" lived under the rules of Democracy but were excluded from it. That doesn't seem like a very just government to me but nevertheless it is the role model for us.
Yet alone the concept of a Democratic Republic seems an aberration, for here two different ways of choosing the delegates are apposed. For in the Roman Res Publicae (the affairs of the people) the delegates were elected. And even without considering these discrepancies, taking the example of the French Democratic Republic, the ideal of a government of, for and by the people remains a mere illusion. We vote for a couple of persons that then govern the country as they like, and that send the police and army against us if we dare show too much opposition. And again, the misuse of the word democratic is close to schizophrenia when seen in the context of Constitutional Monarchy, where the monarch is considered the guardian of the Constitution and of Democracy. Was he by any chance chosen through drawing lots for a specified amount of time?
In any case, the word Democracy, apart from losing its primal meaning, has never been more than an ideal, a wonderful ideal that unfortunately only served on innumerable occasions all sorts of governments to legitimate their oligarchies, monarchies or dictatorships.
Alice S.Dransfield
The Philosophy Takeaway 'Democracy' Issue 41
The Philosophy Takeaway 'Democracy' Issue 41
