Our Athenian American democracy

 

merica may be still a constitutional republic in name, but recently it has operated more as an unchecked Athenian-style democracy. Americans may appreciate the rich culture and the brilliant minds of classical Athens. But rarely do they learn that much of the money fueling the fifth-century-B.C. Athenian renaissance derived from tribute coerced from imperial subject states, and that Athenian democracy was inherently unstable and often quite self-destructive.

Democracy—the word itself means “people (demos) power (kratos)”—originated in late sixth-century Athens through the reforms of Cleisthenes. The Athenian popular leader transferred political power from the traditional tribal clans to the general Assembly of citizens. What followed, however, was a historic but insidious growth in power of the new citizen Assembly, which made, interpreted, and enforced laws—usually without many executive or judicial checks and balances.