Political Science 1020E Lecture Notes - Lecture 7: Athenian Democracy

• School: Western University
• Department: Political Science
• Course: Political Science 1020E
• Professor: Nigmendra Narain

Document Summary

Every citizen should have the right to an equal say. What is democracy: rule (kratos) by the many (demos, collective self-rule, government of, by, and for the people, historically unpopular view. Degrees of democracy: directness of decisions, accountability of representatives, equality of opportunity for influence, scope of authority of democratic will. Directness or indirectness of decisions: direct: everyone votes on each issue, more direct is more democratic but not necessarily better. Indirect: voters choose representatives who then make decisions. Accountability of representatives: extreme accountability: immediate recall, extreme lack of accountability representatives elected for life, ou(cid:396) syste(cid:373): (cid:858)(cid:396)et(cid:396)ospecti(cid:448)e (cid:396)ecall(cid:859, division of labour. Equality of opportunity for influence: democracy aims for equal capacity of citizens to process information relevant decision- making, watch fo(cid:396) the i(cid:373)pact of eco(cid:374)o(cid:373)ic i(cid:374)e(cid:395)uality o(cid:374) citize(cid:374)s(cid:859) oppo(cid:396)tu(cid:374)ity to pa(cid:396)ticipate i(cid:374) politics. Origins of democracy: ancient athens 508-322 bc, decisions made by majority vote in an assembly of all citizens, open debate, subsidized participation, and public-spirted citizens (polities)