Our form of government is democracy; which comes from the Greek word demokratia (dem-oh-KRAY-te-uh), which means “the rule of the people”. Solon abolished the “Draconian Law”, cancelled all debt, freed landholder and merchants (who had to become slaves under the Draconian law so they could not pay their debt) and established a new code of law. Solon also formed the “Council of Four Hundred” who had to be elected by the citizens (only men were considered citizens). The Council could propose the laws but the citizens had to vote on them. The American Government has many resemblances; specially Congress.
● How could a political idea based on small communities be applied to a new country as large as the U.S.? ● Classical Republicanism conflicted with natural rights. James Madison refined the ideas of classical republicanism “Father of the Constitution” ● Democracy: people administer the gov’t themselves ● “direct democracies” confined to small communities ● Republic: People’s representatives administer the government, covering a larger area. Madison ….. ● America should have a republican form of government ○ Laws made by representatives, elected by the people ○ Members should be elected by a large number of the people ○ Representative Democracy. How did the founders adapt the ideal of civic virtue to the American republic?
In this way, Cleisthenes moved Athens from an oligarchy to a democracy. | |Athenian democracy was, by nature, a direct democracy, unlike the modern representative democracy of America. In most | |cases, Athenians did not vote for representatives – but voted directly on the decisions of Athens. Go to war with Sparta – | |they voted. Build a navy – they voted.
Key principles of democracy The term democracy indicates a form of government where all the state's decisions are exercised directly or indirectly by a majority of its citizenry through a fair elective process. When these factors are met a government can be classified as such. This can apply to a multitude of government systems as these concepts transcend and often occur concomitantly with other types. The word democracy originates from the Greek δημοκρατíα from δημος meaning "the people," plus κρατειν meaning "to rule," and the suffix íα; the term therefore means "rule by the people." The term 'democracy'—or more precisely, the original (ancient Greek) version of the word—was coined in ancient Athens in the 5th century BC.
In agreement, I believe all shall follow for strictly guidelines and restrictions, not to be precise within each Amendment, not one should uphold detail. The unwritten Constitution refers to traditions that have become part of our political system. Although George Washington warned us against Political Parties, they nominate candidates for office. Political Parties are not written into The Constitution, yet the people of the United States are left to vote and decide who the winner of the elections will be, and who will take the position as the next President of the United States. Yet, another reason why we, as a nation, alter the Constitution in our own ways, still allowing each part as an indication of mandate.
For the likes of Lincoln, Pericles and Thomas Paine it is a denial of the democratic ideal to assert that democracy should centre around the activity of political leaders and that, once elected, such leaders should be left alone to take the important decisions on our behalf. Proponents of this aggregative model of democracy, such as Max Weber, argue that, ‘Democracy means the people electing a leader and then that leader telling the people to shut up’. Aggregative democracy treats citizens largely as voters whose preferences are already given and merely need to be aggregated through the mechanisms of electoral representation. Indeed there are currently many citizens of the Banbridge District Council area who believe that their local Councillors have adopted Weber’s view to democracy as little or no public deliberation takes place on important Council issues in between elections. This essay argues that the decision by the Council to unilaterally reduce the collection of ‘Black bins’ from once a fortnight to once a month without any public deliberation is a very localised example of Weber’s view of democracy.
He then describes various forms of government, arguing that any form of government is vulnerable to corruption, which prevents the government from advancing the public good. Politics 3.5(Book 3, Chapter 5) ends Aristotle's discussion of the citizen. In this chapter, he addresses one of the last remaining questions on citizenship: Is he only truly a citizen to whom it is open to participate in offices, or are vulgar persons also to be regarded as citizens? For Aristotle, remember, politics is about developing the virtue of the citizens and making it possible for them to live a life of virtue. We have already seen that women and slaves are not capable of living this kind of life, although each of these groups has its own kind of virtue to pursue.
After all, if the people don’t like it, they can always vote them out of office! This dilemma has often been debated about a representative government: are the elected officials expected to vote the way the majority of his or her constituents would desire, as amplified by the famous observer of American democracy Alexis de Tocqueville? Or, are elected officials expected to
Presidential government is often associated with the theory of the separation of powers which was popular in the eighteenth century when the American constitution was framed. The American political system is therefore the model and prototype of presidential government The assembly remains an assembly only: parliamentary theory implies that the second phase of the constitutional develepmoent, in which the assembly and judiciary claim their own areas of jurisdiction alongside the executive, shall give way to a third in which assembly and government are fused into parliament. Presidential theory on the other hand requires the assembly to remain separate as in the second phase. some believe the rigid constitution has prevented the “natural” development of the American political system towards parliamentarism. congress remains an assembly only.
The Greeks were a democratic society, believing that the power should be given to a group of men instead of only a single leader. The Greek society was a city-state society, meaning that each city, like Athens and Sparta, would operate like an independent nation; each one of them having their own government. The Roman society was first established as a republican society and then later becoming an empire. The Roman republican “Entrusted executive responsibilities to two consuls who wielded civil and military power. Consuls were elected by an assembly dominated by the wealthy classes, known in Rome as the patricians” (Bentley, Ziegler & Streets, 2008, Traditions & Encounters: A Brief Global History, “The Roman Republic and its