In ancient Greece, where there were many city-states with different forms of government, democracy was contrasted with governance by elites (aristocracy), by one person (monarchy), by tyrants (tyranny), etc. The concepts (and name) of democracy and constitution as a form of government originated in ancient Athens circa 508 BCE. All other forms of rule – including monarchy, tyranny, aristocracy, and oligarchy – have flourished in more urban centers, often those with concentrated populations. This becomes more complex on a larger scale, such as when the village and city are examined more broadly as political communities. In this sense, a primitive democracy usually takes shape in small communities or villages when there are face-to-face discussions in a village, council or with a leader who has the backing of village elders or other cooperative forms of government. These types of democracy are commonly identified as tribalism, or primitive democracy. In these groups of generally 50-100 individuals, often tied closely by familial bonds, decisions are reached by consensus or majority and many times without the designation of any specific chief. Antiquity Prehistoric origins Īnthropologists have identified forms of proto-democracy that date back to small bands of hunter-gatherers that predate the establishment of agrarian, sedentary societies and still exist virtually unchanged in isolated indigenous groups today. Modern representative democracies attempt to bridge the gap between Rousseau's depiction of the state of nature and Hobbes's depiction of society as inevitably authoritarian through 'social contracts' that enshrine the rights of the citizens, curtail the power of the state, and grant agency through the right to vote. Nevertheless, the critical historical juncture catalyzed by the resurrection of democratic ideals and institutions fundamentally transformed the ensuing centuries and has dominated the international landscape since the dismantling of the final vestige of the empire following the end of the Second World War. The extent to which these 18th-century democratic revivalists succeeded in turning the democratic ideals of the ancient Greeks into the dominant political institution of the next 300 years is hardly debatable, even if the moral justifications they often employed might be. These individuals attempted to leverage these early democratic experiments into a new template for post-monarchical political organization. Democratic government is commonly juxtaposed with oligarchic and monarchic systems, which are ruled by a minority and a sole monarch respectively.ĭemocracy is generally associated with the efforts of the ancient Greeks, whom 18th-century intellectuals considered the founders of Western civilization. Modern democracies are characterized by two capabilities of their citizens that differentiate them fundamentally from earlier forms of government: to intervene in society and have their sovereign (e.g., their representatives) held accountable to the international laws of other governments of their kind. What Is to Be Done? The Reality of Public Production.A democracy is a political system, or a system of decision-making within an institution, organization, or state, in which all members have an equal share of power. Freedom for Revolutionaries (and Others)?. Who Judges? Conservative Judicial Activism. Monopoly Regulation Versus Public-Service Regulation.ġ8. Secrecy and Deception, Waste and Corruption. Special-Interests, Secrecy, and Manipulation. Democrats and Republicans: Any Differences? The Two-Party Monopoly. How Globalization Undermines Democracy.ġ3. Who Governs? Elites, Labor, and Globalization. CIA: Capitalism's International Army or Cocaine Import Agency? Watergate and Iran-Contra. POLITICAL REPRESSION AND NATIONAL INSECURITY The Repression of Dissent. Social Insecurity: Privatizing Everything. HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES: SACRIFICIAL LAMBS. Taxes: Helping the Rich in Their Time of Greed. Federal Bailouts, State and Local Handouts. POLITICS: WHO GETS WHAT? Welfare for the Rich. The New Deal: Hard Times and Tough Reforms.Ħ. Containing the Spread of Democracy Plotters or Patriots? Democratic Concessions.ĥ. Public Opinion: Which Direction? Democracy: Form and Content.Ĥ. THE PLUTOCRATIC CULTURE: INSTITUTIONS AND IDEOLOGIES Corporate Plutocracy and Ideological Orthodoxy Left, Right, and Center. Capital Concentration: Who Owns America? Downsizing and Price Gouging.
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