The Brief History of Democracy.

 

Democracy, the best thing that humans ever created. Also, something that seems to be in danger all around the world.

Democracy can be tracked back to Ancient Greece, in 508 AD. Indian Subcontinent had many democratic states that existed between 6th century BC to somewhere in mid-4th century. Or to ancient Mesopotamia or Ancient Egypt.

Democracy has been as old as human society. Ancient humans, who used to live in tribe were democratic as well. 

Anthropologist has found an early version of democracy in the hunter gathers that roamed around before the foundation of civilisation. The proto-democracy predates the agrarian society, sedentary society, yet the basics ideas were the same.

The group didn't have a leader, per se. They would discuss the issues at hand in the group of families that stayed together and tried to solve the issues. This is what we call Tribalism or Primitive Democracy.

This was the oldest democracy mankind has known. But since then democracy has changed a lot.

Let's go through the changes periodically as we look at various ancient democracies. 

The Democracies of Ancient Worlds.

Phoenicia: 

Ancient Phoenicians firmly believed in the "Governance of Assembly." Every time the king had to make a decision, he would call "mw-'dwt" (Ancient Semitic word that means Assembly)

But we still do not know how the assembly was chosen, we have an idea it was chosen by the subpopulation, but how? we do not know, exactly.

The story of Wen Amon is a good example of this.

Sumerian Democracy:

In Early Sumer, the laws were not made by kings, but they were implemented by the elders of city states. But many scholars, including me, agrees this cannot be called a "Democracy" as it matches more what we call and Oligarchical Society, an Elitist society, where men with power and riches decided the fate of the lower class, while supporting a ruler.

Though later, Sumer became a little autocratic.

The Epic of Gilgamesh also refers to the elder.

Indian Subcontinent:

Many ancient Indian kingdoms were Ganasangha or Gan tantra, which is Sanskrit for Republic. Indian kingdoms consisted of a king, an assembly, and a number of ministers.

While this isn't a democracy, but just like Sumer, this was mankind's early prototype for democracy.

Ancient Greece:

Then came the Greeks, and they changed the whole game. Between 4th and 5th century, the Athenians developed democracy, under the guidance of Cleisthenes, who is also called the "Father of Democracy."

Now the Greeks democracy wasn't combined with the entire Greece. Greece wasn't exactly a country in 508 AD. It was a collection of multiple "Polis-es" or City States. Each polis had it's own kind of ruling system. Some were oligarchical, some were monarchist, some were democratic, some were Elite driven.

But the main and most influential democracy in Ancient Greece was the Athens. So, let's talk about them.

Athenian Democracy and its Impact on Modern Democracy.

Athens developed democracy! The word democracy comes from ancient Greek word, "dēmokratia' which comes from two words, "Demos" and "Kratos"

Demos meant people or Citizen and Kratos meant "Rule" or "Power."

And that's where the term, "For the people, of the people, by the people," originates from.

Now let's talk about the structure of Athenian Democracy.

The basic structure of their democratic institution: 

Ecclesia: Ecclesia means Assembly. It was the governing body of Athenian Democracy. It was the heart and centre of their democracy. Ecclesia gathered on Pnyx, a hill in Acropolis, 40 times a year.

These ruins are the birthplace of democracy. Ancient Greeks would gather here and cast their votes, make their decisions, ran their society.

Criteria for casting votes: To cast a vote in Ancient Athens, you needed to be eligible in all criteria.

And these were the criteria:

1. Only men born in Athens to Athenian parents were allowed to vote. Slaves, foreigners, and women weren't allowed to cast their vote.
2. Only men above 18 years of age were allowed to cast vote.

The slaves and foreigners, who were called "metics" weren't allowed to participate in the government. Later, in 407 AD, the age limit was changed from 18 to 20. And the voting was done by showing hands.

The Council of Five Hundred: While the Ecclesia was in charge of most law making, it didn't have absolute power over Athens. In Athens, there was a Council of Five Hundred representatives, representing 136 "demes" or small territorial entities.

This council was chosen by lots in their respective deme. The number of representatives from each deme was, more or less, proportionate to the deme's population.

Cleisthenes created this council on 508 AD. This is also what inspired our present parliamentary system, and this Council of Five Hundred was an earlier version of MPs. 

But the democratic format of Athens would have vanished through the ages and modern society would have never known democracy if it wasn't for an empire.

And we will continue this chapter next week. Where I will talk about the role Roman played in the preservation of Democracy.

So see you next week....

I am also putting a stop to Stock Market Basics due to schedule issues, with my classes and assignment and my author aspiration, I can't spend much time. But the blog will be consistent each week.

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