Ancient Greece and You, Essay Example

“Democracy is a charming form of government, full of variety and disorder; and dispensing a sort of equality to equals and unequals alike.” Plato, The Republic

Democracy was first introduced in Athens in 505 BCE by Cleisthenes (Greenwald, 2000). Before this time, Athens was ruled by an Oligarchy where the power of the many was held by the hands of an elite few.  Oligarchy was a stringent form a government where change could only occur when the elite wished it. Change that benefited the masses, whom the elite deemed to be lower class citizens, rarely benefited the elite, so change rarely occurred. Democracy, as it was introduced into Athens, was a direct democracy, where “citizens would convince and openly discuss and vote for elections (Greenwald, 2000).” Plato’s quote reflects how this may have appeared disordered, compared to the former Oligarchy where ideas were never discussed. The elite laid down the law, making the law simple and direct. With Democracy, new ideas could be discussed and introduced. Since all white, male citizens had the right to vote, there was no longer an elite class, much to the dismay of the former ruling class. Democracy made all men equal.

Poland entered the modern age of democracy in the late 19^th century. Workers and peasant, the common folk, were given an equal voice in the government. Before this democratic revolution, membership in the politics of Poland has been in the hands of the ruling elite. After the revolution, the government was in the hands of the equals and unequals alike.  “The modern [democratic] Polish nation was a body embracing all strata of the Polish-speaking population (Porter, 3).” Common Polish citizens, who before had not really felt themselves a part of the Polish nation, suddenly found themselves as Polish nationals and as such were eager to be a part of the political agenda.

When democracy was introduced into both Athens and later Poland, it changed the idea of nation. Before, citizens were not really a part of the nation, since they had no voice in how the nation was run. After the implementation of democracy, all citizens had a say in how the government was run, from taxes that should be levied to when to go to war. The idea of nation in a democratic government is that the citizens of that nation are the nation, whereas in the oligarchy the idea of nation is that the ruling elite are the nation and the citizens are unequal, lower class members of that nation and should not have a voice in how the nation is run.  Both Athens and Poland became entirely new nations when democracy was introduced, with millions of new voices ready to have their say in how the government should be run to benefit a larger majority of citizens instead of just a handful of elite rulers.

References

Greenwald, Joe “Ancient Greece and You” Classics Technology Center. 2000. 13 November 2010 from http://ablemedia.com/ctcweb/showcase/greenwaldgreece10.html

Porter, Brian When Nationalism Began to Hate: Imagining Modern Politics in Nineteenth Century Poland New York: Oxford University Press, 2000

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