We know the word "democracy" was born in Greece, specifically in the city-state of Athens, in the classical period, being composed by the radicals “demos" and "Kratos”, which mean, respectively: “people” and “government”. In general terms, democracy is defined, since ancient Greece, as “governmentofpeople”, or “governmentpopular”, in contrast to other forms of government, which also date back to the Ancient Age, such as aristocracy, monarchy, diarchy, tyranny, oligarchy, among others. However, when we think about democracy in the contemporary world, some nuances must be made.
modern democracy
Modern democracy, as we conceive it today, that is, based on solid legal systems and political institutions, which represent the three powers (Executive, judiciary and Legislative), it only became possible after the downfall of theFormer Absolutist Regime, in the transition from the 18th to the 19th century. With the RevolutionFrench and then the WasNapoleonic, emerged in Europe some of the foundations of what would become our model of democratic regime: the formation of
large population centers, by virtue of RevolutionIndustrial; the notion of people associated with a nation; The sovereignty politics of the nation became linked to this people, and no longer to the king; and the institution of vote, or suffrageuniversal, as part of the direct representative system.Differences between Athenian Democracy and Modern Democracy
THE democracy developed in Athens was not considered the best of possible governments (as our model of democracy is today), and that for a reasonably simple reason: only a tiny fraction of the “free men” were part of the political life of Athens. Women, slaves, foreigners and other social categories had no right to participate in the deliberations of the Assembly (Ekklesia). The experience of Athenian democracy was fundamentally concerned, above all, with avoiding tyranny – the worst form of government at the time. Likewise, the aristocratic form of government also fulfilled this role.
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Another important difference between Greek democracy and ours is highlighted by researcher Robert A. Dahl. Let's see:
We also added a political institution that the Greeks not only considered unnecessary for their democracies, but perfectly undesirable: the election of representatives with authority to legislate. We could say that the political system invented by the Greeks was a primary democracy, an assembly democracy or a council democracy. They definitely did not create representative democracy as we understand it today. [1]
The Ekklesia, the Greek assembly, was a very restricted model of political institution. As Dahl points out, it was a kind of primary democracy, in terms of representativeness, an “embryo” of what would become representative democracy in mass society.
GRADES
[1] DAHL, Robert A. about democracy. Trans. Beatriz Sidou. Brasília: Editora Universidade de Brasília, 2001. P. 117.
By Me. Cláudio Fernandes
Would you like to reference this text in a school or academic work? Look:
FERNANDES, Claudio. "What is democracy?"; Brazil School. Available in: https://brasilescola.uol.com.br/o-que-e/historia/o-que-e-democracia.htm. Accessed on June 27, 2021.
