There are varying definitions of what democracy is, but the general idea is that a democracy is a governmental system where there is high and active political participation from all people who live in that country, this political participation involves electing a government with fair elections. A democracy should also give equality and freedom to all of its citizens. In this essay, I will discuss how democracy has changed over time and how definitions differ, then, I will look at theories that explain why a democracy may be more peaceful. Following this, I will begin to examine what the title of this essay actually questions and give contextual examples to do so. I will finally conclude by giving my response to the question “Are democracies more peaceful?”.
The first democracy was seen in Athens, Ancient Greece in the year 507 B.C by the leader Cleisthenes with his system of reforms called “Demokratia” which translates to “rule of the people”. Although this system allowed more than just high society to vote, out of all the people in Athens, only 40,000 were allowed to vote, those being male citizens who were part of the “demos” and aged over 18 . This is evidently different to the democracy we see today, particularly in western nations, for example, the United Kingdom has been a democracy arguably since the introduction of the Representation of the Peoples Acts in 1918 which permitted women to vote, and then the modification in 1928 which allowed all men and women over
Democracy is a “system of government in which political authority vested in the people” (Ch. 1, Pg. 4). Democracy is by far the most challenging form of government, for perhaps both politicians and the people. The term democracy comes from a Greek term which in short means “rule by the people”. The antique democracies in ancient cities, such as Rome and Athens, represent precursors of modern democracies. Like modern democracy, the need for organized rule arose in the midst of power abuse. The democracy we abide by today was created in the 17th century during the Age of Enlightenment, by philosophers such as John Locke, Voltaire… These philosophers created the foundation for our modern democracy. These essential elements such as the separation
The society that we live in today was formed from of all of the good things from these various systems of government. Most scholars believe that democracy began an ancient Greece. Around 510 BCE the ancient Athenians invented democracy. In the Athenian democracy each year, 500 names were drawn from all the citizens of Athens. Those 500 citizens had to serve for one year as the law makers of ancient Athens. All citizens of Athens were required to vote on any new law that this body of 500 citizens created. One man, one vote, majority ruled. Women, children, and slaves were not citizens, and thus could not vote (Roots of Democracy). Greece was a collection of some 1500 separate communities scattered round the Mediterranean and Black Sea shores. At one point in ancient Greeks history there was almost 100 years serious civil unrest, but ostracisms fulfilled their functions of preventing a civil war (Democratic Experiment). Though the Greeks were recognized as being the inventors of democracy, they’re most recognized by the modern civilization for their artwork and architecture.
Pericles , a famous Greek statesman once wrote a document called the Funeral oration (document 3) in which he describes what a democracy. This is the form of government which was instated during the Ancient Greek civilizations and is instated in the (modern-day) the United States. Democracy is made for the majority and not the minority. It is not based on the few leading, rather everyone gets a voice in society. It gives
As we have learned that Democracy came from the word ‘demos’ which means people, that makes people the ruling party or majority rule. Ancient Greeks who were experimenting with different kinds of political system and were much interested in which system works best. By far the most radical kind of democracy is a direct democracy which lasted less than two centuries in a Greek city-state of Athens. Citizens of Athens were directly involved in the process and participated in decision making and they were proud of it, they deemed their system to be the best and superior to other systems in other Greek city-states. As Cartwright stated an excerpt from Pericles himself who was one of the greatest supporters of democracy in classic
One well-known real-life example of a Democracy is Athens, Greece. According to the “Ancient History Encyclopedia,” all male Athenian citizens had equal political rights and freedom of speech. Any male citizen was allowed to contribute to the main democratic body of Athens, the assembly. Anyone could speak to the assembly and vote. In the end, the opinion of the majority of the people won. They all took part in making decisions and being the government by voting. This structure of government was a democracy.
As he walked up to the voting booth, he was delighted, because there was a new government. A democracy. 6th century B.C.E. Athens the first democracy was born. That was in the 6th century, zooming to 2016 we have a variety of governments but Canada is the modern democracy. There have been many forms of democracy.
Democracy has been around for almost 2500 years since Athens, Greece became the first democracy. The Romans also experimented with democracy, however it was more a republic, and not a democracy. Around 1200 England laid the groundwork to become a republic. Later, in the 1700's,
“In a democracy the poor will have more power than the rich, because there are more of them, and the will of the majority is supreme” - Aristotle. This quote lays out the main idea behind Democracy. The idea that the people deserve equality and freedom. Equality in race, colour and religion, and freedom of speech, and will, unless it is against the will of the majority of the people. Democracy endeavors to achieve a balance in freedom of an individual, whilst not violating the majority's will. Democracy was developed in Ancient Greece. The word itself comes from the greek term ‘demokratia’ (‘demos - the people’ and ‘kratos - rule’. Democracy was first used in the Greek state, Athens. Athens used a direct form of Democracy, as people knew each other. Nowadays, there are an abundant amount of countries that are ruled under democracy, such as New Zealand, Switzerland, Ireland, and Austria.
Many ancient regimes throughout the world teased with the idea of basic personal rights and elections , but not until the 6th century did this form of government become a legitimate way to exercise a country's control. The earliest traces of democracy can be seen in Ancient Greece, “the birthplace of democracy”, which can be attributed for democracy through their radical political ideas. Since then the idea of democracy has slowly grown, and in some countries decayed into another form of government. Without this evolution and radical thinking where would our country be today? Would we be living in a country that allows our leader to get away with murder? A communist government led by a corrupt leader or system? Democracy did
The United States of America is not fully a democracy. People tend to vote for the issues and laws directly yet, most of the issues are resolved by representatives that are voted in by the people. Somehow, both of these are examples are a democracy, yet our country is mainly run by the second definition. However, republic has a better suited definition to the way our country works and allows things to be controlled. Republics have the power to vote for electives and others for the population to rely on. The federal government is a full on republic, however, looking more into state and local levels of governments, it is more along the lines of democracy. Yet, since the government that hold absolute power in the laws and decisions is mainly
Democracy has come to America. With the foundation of democratic by the Greeks and Romans, of English roots was the first to experiment and democracy was the answer for the Americans. By its equality of everyone has a role to vote, its voting vested in the people of supreme power through the representation of elections. With "that all men are created equal," and without the regulation of state power, that democracy could not survive. We learn from the mistakes, or to utilize critical parts is use today in America.
The most current form of a democracy is the United States of America. Formed on the principles of a democracy, but it's a bigger form were represented by different senators, representatives and a president and is what most people think about. Everyone in the country
The city-state of Athens, 5th century Athens to be precise, is the inventor and first practitioner of democracy. So for 4,000 years men and women lived under forms of government other than
Democracy began to emerge in Greece during the archaic (800-500) and classic (500-323) period, and it has expanded through the country over time . Greeks came up with the idea of democracy through discussions among citizens and with the majority voting; this was called direct democracy as everyone could debate and vote in one place to determine new policy for the country. During this period, only men were allowed to vote and give their opinions, others were not allowed to participate in government’s decisions . However, over time, the democratic government in Greece changed to be more open for every citizen. The poor, men and women, had the same rights, and equal share of power.
Mandatory voting has been a topic of debate in democratic countries since the creation of democratic republics themselves. Voting is a crucial part of democracy because it determines who will be the leaders of both the voters and nonvoters. It is the right of a citizen to vote, but whether or not it is the responsibility remains disputed. However, voting must be performed with a basic understanding of policy and what it takes for someone to fit the role which they are running for. Voting should not be compulsory because it results in more uneducated voting that counteracts the educated voting.