‘Democracy Provides the Most Just and Efficiant Form of Political Rule’ Assess Whether Plato Has Shown This Claim to Be False. (45)

“Democracy provides the most just and efficient form of political rule”
Assess whether Plato has shown this claim to be false. (45 marks)
5TH Century Athens held a direct democracy where people decided on policy initiatives directly, often by gathering together and casting a vote. The policy or law which yielded the most votes would become law and practiced. In Athens, 80 days per year, citizens would gather in a large Assembly. Here, legal cases would be proposed, social and political issues would be discussed, and the public would vote on decisions (such as policies and laws) that would inevitably affect the state. However, Plato dismissed this form of rule, regarding it as replete with corruption, thus an inferior form of rule, void of justice and efficiency. He cites reasons for such a view. He references the trial and death of Socrates, who was sentenced to death, charged with the crime of corrupting the youth of Athens through encouraging them to think about previously unexplored ideas. Plato regarded this conviction as unjust, and as this conviction was made under a democratic government, democracy was also unjust. Furthermore, Plato regarded the democratic state as inefficient, most due to the democratic state being unrepresentative. For instance, although people would be able to vote on the decisions that affected the state, this principle did not apply to women or slaves as they were prohibited to vote. Also, only young rich males would be able to vote as they were the only criteria of people who were eligible by gender and could take the time off to vote. The very definition of democracy is “rule of the people”, not “rule of a specific criteria of people”, thus democracy was not properly enforced, thus not efficient. Furthermore, in terms of political corruption, Plato referred to the sophists, which he described as the “slandered individuals”, trained