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Today’s Lecture:
Athens and Government
Topic
2
1. Press 1 if you are 0
here
Class Announcements
class participation
-- remember not to click unless called upon
-- once called upon, click 1
penalty
-- if you click before hand, points subtracted
Class Announcements
Reading for the first test
-- Gordon Wood’s book
-- Chapter 1 (pages 3-57)
Class Announcements
wiki
-- Try to get current today
Questions?
An institution in Roman governance that
was based upon the amount of wealth
that you had (not the amount of land):
1. Plebian Assembly 0
Only get 2. Tribal Assembly 0
credit if 3. Centuriate Assembly 0
correct! 4. Senate 0
5. Consul 0
Athens
Government in Athens
Intro
-- Date: 508 to 276 B.C.
-- Athens was a city not a country. Greeks never
attempted to unite all Greek speakers into one political
union.
Language: “polis” city-state
politics
politician
metropolis
1/25/2013 Copyright, Sean Wilson. 2007. 10
Government in Athens
“Direct Democracy”
-- What is different about Athens is that it attempted
“democracy” without intermediaries.
-- No politicians. No campaigns. No elections.
Question:
How can you have democracy
without campaigns, elections
or politicians
1/25/2013 Copyright, Sean Wilson. 2007. 11
Democracy without
campaigns, 0
elections or 0
politicians? 0
Government in Athens
“Direct Democracy”
-- What is different about Athens is that it attempted
“democracy” without intermediaries.
-- No politicians. No campaigns. No elections.
Question:
Answer:
How can you have democracy
The people do it
without campaigns, elections
directly.
or politicians
1/25/2013 Copyright, Sean Wilson. 2007. 13
Government in Athens
“Direct Democracy”
-- What is different about Athens is that it attempted
“democracy” without intermediaries.
-- No politicians. No campaigns. No elections.
Question:
Answer:
Question:
How can you have democracy
The people do it
How do they do it directly?
without campaigns, elections
directly.
Describe how it works?
or politicians
1/25/2013 Copyright, Sean Wilson. 2007. 14
How does this idea
work? 0
0
0
Government in Athens
“Direct Democracy”
The Assembly
-- If you lived in the country you had to get up at the crack of
dawn in order to get to the meeting place, called the
Assembly, which was a rocky hillside within the city gates.
-- 10,000 men could be accommodated comfortably; 15,000
uncomfortably
– wooden benches; most just stood
– met 40 times a year, each meeting lasted a couple of
hours
1/25/2013 Copyright, Sean Wilson. 2007. 16
Government in Athens
“Direct Democracy”
The Assembly
– 6,000 citizens constituted a quorum
(imagine 20-50 % of your fellow citizens, squeezing into an
open-air stadium, voting on proposals, electing magistrates,
empanelling jurors).
1/25/2013 Copyright, Sean Wilson. 2007. 17
Government in Athens
“Direct Democracy”
Participation
-- any male citizens over 18 years of age and willing to
attend the sessions (held about every 10 days).
-- eligible to attend: about 45,000 male citizens
1/25/2013 Copyright, Sean Wilson. 2007. 18
Government in Athens
“Direct Democracy”
Drawing Lots for Service
-- almost all the administrative officials were chosen by lot
for one year
-- Usually they were selected in groups of 10 to carry out
one specific function, such as policing the markets or caring
for the streets.
1/25/2013 Copyright, Sean Wilson. 2007. 19
Government in Athens
“Direct Democracy”
Ostracism
-- once a year they decided whether to have an ostracism.
-- if yes, each wrote down the name of the person to leave.
-- whoever received the most votes “won” (actually, lost).
-- They would be banished for 10 years.
Question:
Why would they do this?
1/25/2013 Copyright, Sean Wilson. 2007. 20
Why have an
ostracism? 0
0
0
Government in Athens
“Direct Democracy”
Ostracism
-- once a year they decided whether to have an ostracism.
-- if yes, each wrote down the name of the person to leave.
-- whoever received the most votes “won” (actually, lost).
-- They would be banished for 10 years.
Answer:
Question:
Eliminated would-be
Why would they do this?
tyrants and nuisances
1/25/2013 Copyright, Sean Wilson. 2007. 22
Government in Athens
“Direct Democracy”
Courts
–- 201-501 citizens served as jurors and judges.
–- The courts of law were really committees of the people.
-- Each year a panel of 6000 jurors over 30 years of age
was drawn up from those who volunteered to serve.
-- For each trial a jury of 201 or more was drawn by a very
complicated system of lots so that bribery and influence
could be limited.
1/25/2013 Copyright, Sean Wilson. 2007. 23
Government in Athens
“Direct Democracy”
Courts
-- Each of the two parties in a lawsuit had to speak and act
for himself, though he could hire a professional speech
writer to compose his speech.
-- Undoubtedly one had to be very careful as to how one
appealed to the elders of the community who sat on the jury
and determined by majority vote their verdict. (Socrates).
1/25/2013 Copyright, Sean Wilson. 2007. 24
Government in Athens
“Direct Democracy”
Courts
-- There could be no appeal from this committee of the
people in its judicial capacity.
-- In verdicts of capital punishment one was sometimes
allowed to commit suicide by drinking poison, except those
who were found guilty of murder (and the like). These
unfortunate culprits were attached to a vertical plank on
which they hung until they died.
1/25/2013 Copyright, Sean Wilson. 2007. 25
Government in Athens
“Direct Democracy”
The Big Picture
Question:
Question:
Is Athens good or bad?
That is, what is better: a What might be the flaw
republic or direct in the Athenian model?
democracy?
1/25/2013 Copyright, Sean Wilson. 2007. 26
Everyone
Votes!
1. Direct Democracy 0
(Athens)
2. A Republic, with 0
representatives
(politicians)
What is the flaw, if
any, in the Athenian 0
Model? 0
0
Government in Athens
“Direct Democracy”
The Big Picture
-- mob rule? Mob “justice.”
1/25/2013 Copyright, Sean Wilson. 2007. 29
Government in Athens
“Direct Democracy”
The Big Picture
-- mob rule? Mob “justice.”
Question:
Might it be good to have some
aristocratic (elitist) element to
government?
1/25/2013 Copyright, Sean Wilson. 2007. 30
Is it good for
government to have 0
some non-elected 0
elites that have 0
power in the
system?
Everyone
Votes!
1. True 0
2. False 0
Vocabulary
Forms of Government
Intro
-- vocabulary words for different kinds of government
and political arrangement
1/25/2013 Copyright, Sean Wilson. 2007. 34
extent of participation
autocracy
Rule by a single person
Example: monarchy or dictatorship
extent of participation
autocracy oligarchy
Rule by a few
example: senate in Rome for a while
extent of participation
autocracy oligarchy “democracy”
Rule by “the many”
• exactly “how many” is an issue that is
side-stepped (explain)
extent of participation
adjective uses seem
more helpful
autocracy oligarchy “democracy”
Autocratic
Ultimate authority tends to be concentrated in a single person
extent of participation
adjective uses seem
more helpful
autocracy oligarchy “democracy”
Autocratic Oligarchic
authority tends to be found in an elitist group
extent of participation
adjective uses seem
more helpful
autocracy oligarchy “democracy”
Autocratic Oligarchic Democratic
Enough “regular” people have a say
style of the rule
monarchy
Hereditary succession
style of the rule
monarchy
Hereditary succession
dictatorship
Rule by the strongest
(usually, military head)
style of the rule
monarchy republic
Hereditary succession
Democracy through
agents or representatives
dictatorship
“direct democracy”
Rule by the strongest
(usually, military head) No (political) intermediary
by constraint upon the rule
constitutional
The regime is limited by the “rule of law”
(e.g., constitution)
by constraint upon the rule
constitutional authoritarian
• The regime is not significantly limited
by limited by legality;
• but has competition by other
authoritarian (lawless?) forces that it
(imagine two tribes) cannot control, and hence, has to live
with and compromise.
• (example: an autonomous territory)
by constraint upon the rule
constitutional authoritarian totalitarian
• the regime is not significantly
limited by limited by legality;
• and conquers or is otherwise
unencumbered by competition
with other authoritarian forces
in the society
• dominates al spheres of
political, economic and social
life
Aristotle’s View
Views about government
1. No uni-dimensional government was
without critical flaws
• Monarchy looks out primarily for
the monarch
• Oligarchy looks out for the rich
• Democracy looks out for the
indignant (specious?) mob
Views about government
For tyranny is a kind of monarchy
which has in view the interest of the
monarch only; oligarchy has in view the
interest of the wealthy; democracy, of
the needy: none of them the common
good of all. Tyranny, as I was saying, is
monarchy exercising the rule of a
master over the political society;
oligarchy is when men of property have
the government in their hands;
democracy, the opposite, when the
indigent, and not the men of property,
are the rulers."
Mixed systems are the best
The best system of government is a
mix between oligarchy and democracy
A system that lets the middle class be
the most important.
the best constitution is one
controlled by a numerous middle
class which stands between the
rich and the poor.
What is Political
Science?
What is Political Science?
There Is No Such Thing
Method
There is no distinct method of inquiry or craft that “political
science” owns.
We are a concern, not a science.
Shared Conversation
There is no conversation distinct to political science.
Historians talk about (and analyze politics). So do
journalists, law professors, sociologists and lay people.
1/25/2013 Copyright, Sean Wilson. 2007. 52
What is Political Science?
There Is No Such Thing
A Reservoir
The taking of other inquiries (law, statistics, history,
philosophy, psychology) and applying it to analyze political
phenomena
“Political science,” in this sense, is a social club
You don’t need to be a “political scientist” to do “political
science” – just learn the requisite “input” sciences and start
your analysis
Discipline could be called: “educated political analysis”
1/25/2013 Copyright, Sean Wilson. 2007. 53
What is Political Science?
“politicology”
-- we need to re-name the discipline
-- Other names: “politics” or “politology”
(c.f. “anthropology”)
