In what way was Athens not a total democracy?

Answer 1

Citizenship was only awarded to landowning men. The only people allowed to partake in the government were the citizens. Since the amount of citizens was much smaller than the amount of women, foreigners, and merchants, there were more people that couldn't participate in the government. Therefore Athens wasn't truly "governed by the people" (definition of democracy), it only gave political power to an elite few.

Answer 2

Pure democracy is a nonsense phrase. Athens was a direct democracy, as opposed to today's representative democracy. The citizens met in fortnightly assembly and made decisions which were implemented by the Council of 500. That is about as pure as you can get, compared with today's representative democracies, where members elected to a parliament are not obliged to obey the will of the electors who put them there.

Answer 3

Could Athens be considered truly democratic during Pericles rule? Depending on one's perspective, Athens was either more democratic than we are today or nowhere close. From one standpoint, the "direct democracy" system used is much more representative of the population and truer to the textbook definition of democracy. The party system used today gives power to the few who were elected by the people, losing representation through loss of direct action in government. In Athens, a vote was brought forth on such issues for all citizens to vote on instead of a select group to decide on. On the other hand, Athens had very restrictive citizenship system which defeated its main benefit over our current party system.3 This lowered representation as well and corrupts its definition of democracy. Another problem with Athenian democracy was its policies concerning Imperialism and diplomacy. Athens controlled a wide empire in Greece and thus had room to bully to achieve its goals. This almost always never fell under the citizens power but rather the military and high government.7 Other times, like the relocation of the Delian league treasury to Delos, was the same situation which happened to upset surrounding Greek allies and further Athens imperialism.6 Realistically, in the face paced theater of wartime politics is would be almost impossible to rest the responsibility of such decisions on the citizens of Athens, like it is today. This possibly brings Athens closer to our democracy, or shows that some things cannot be solved by cooperation of a nation, but rather by a swift hand. The problem with Athenian democracy was its lack of involvement of all the peoples who lived under and relied on the government. Not only that, but for the people who did participate in government, it was sometimes dangerous to have an unpopular opinion. For in the past, if you didn't like what someone said, ostracism and flat out murder were options to further a law or goal you want met. This pools the government into a conglomerate of yes men who nod and bat eyelashes at the most intimidating figure in politics. Definitively, Athens was not truly democratic, but rather a massive stepping stone on the road to achieving it.

Answer 4

It was similar to the U.S. democracy; it was a democracy through representatives. Simplified: people assigned others to cast their votes for them. Not every person voted on every single issue.

Answer 5

The only Athenians who could vote were "free men"; thus no women, no slaves, no one in debt or otherwise marginal.

Answer 6

because u suck!

Answer 7

cuz it was gay