Athens …Democracy Realized. . . Gregory R. Bowen. History

Athens †¦Democracy Realized? Gregory R. Bowen History 2321: World Civilizations II Feb 20, 2017 The Athenians’ of classical Greece are given credit for being the originators of the democratic model †¦giving inspiration to all future attempts at this system of government. While it was practiced as a direct democracy, with all eligible citizens having the right to vote, the question of just how democratic it really was, must be asked. Who was eligible to vote and participate in political life? What role did women, slaves, and foreigners play in Athens? How accessible was the ability to vote? The answers to these questions will show that while the Athenians practiced a government in which its citizens had more say in their†¦show more content†¦Women were looked upon as inferior to men, unable to add anything meaningful outside of the domestic duties of the household †¦cooking, cleaning, raising children †¦ Entire segments of the population were left with no say in the government, on any level †¦without any real rights that a citizen would enjoy. Out of an estimated 200,000 to 250,000 residents of Athens, only 30,000 to 40,000 were eligible to vote †¦this small size made it feasible to have a direct democracy, but hardly represented the people in total. The accessibility of the assembly also needs to questioned, while it was held on a regular basis and was posted for all to see, not everyone that would have wanted to could make it to Assembly. Members of the military, whether serving in the city or in outside regions, or on excursions in service of the city would not have had the ability to go †¦effectively negating their say in the government. This issue of accessibility also has another negative side †¦the purpose of the reforms of Cleisthenes was to lessen the influence and power of the individual and put it in the hands of the people, but the elite – the rich, were the ones most like to have the luxury of appearing before the assembly to make themselves and their proposals heard. Another segment that that had no say in the government would be the tribute states; while technically not a part of Athens, they were never the less under their rule. Athens would go onShow MoreRelatedProject Mgmt296381 Words   |  1186 PagesManagement, First Edition Fitzsimmons and Fitzsimmons, Service Management: Operations, Strategy, Information Technology, Seventh Edition Gehrlein, Operations Management Cases, First Edition Harrison and Samson, Technology Management, First Edition Hayen, SAP R/3 Enterprise Software: An Introduction, First Edition Hill, Manufacturing Strategy: Text Cases, Third Edition Hopp, Supply Chain Science, First Edition Hopp and Spearman, Factory Physics, Third Edition Jacobs, Berry, Whybark, and Vollmann Manufacturing