Summary:
Clearly, the democracy of modern times is extremely different from the one(s) used in Ancient Greece. Over time, people have changed and revised the way nations are ran, through picking up bits and pieces from previous knowledge of other regime.
Ancient Greek Government vs. Modern American Government
Ancient Greek government and modern American government are two very different ways of running a nation. Five main forms of government existed in ancient Greece (monarchy, chiefdom, and tyranny in one category, and oligarchy and democracy in the second) versus the one type of government that applies in the United States, democracy. The Greeks believed in strong central government, ruled by kings and tyrants who kept everything under control at their will. The United States, however, believes in the voice of the people and lets them vote on who they want to represent them in political matters. The obvious improvement of today's society would have benefited the people of ancient Greece, instead of going through all the hardships they struggled.
Monarchy, chiefdom, and tyranny were the first forms of government in the early Greek ages. All these had a similarity of a strong belief in central authority. Monarchy, the first and most powerful type of rule, governed the early Minoans and Mycenaean. These "princes" controlled law, economics, and defense and directed the worship of gods. The monarchy kept track of everything in within their power, even minor things such as broken chariot tires, to try and keep everything in their society organized. Chiefdoms, who ruled during the Greek Dark Ages, were weaker in their ruling compared to monarchs. The only way their government was able to run was if the people of the social order came to an agreement and cooperated with the rulers. If the supporters became extremely determined, the chiefdom became unbalanced. They tried to demonstrate their control with exhibits of status, such as jewelry, gold, bronze, and other things that were of great value. Tyrants, who were determined rulers of the Archaic Ages period in Greek history, established strong central governments with thoughts of making society a better place for their families to live in. The public generally supported tyrants, because they assisted them with public employment. The wealthy people of the time, nevertheless, were against the system, for it cost them power and money.
Oligarchy and democracy came in alter ages of the time. Both were different from the previous three types of government, because of the strong central authority, which included more than one person. Oligarchy and democracy both believed in hearing the input of the people living in their society, rather than having one ruler dictate their way of life. Oligarchy was a form government which incorporated a limited group of men. Some oligarchies had an aristocracy, in which upper classmen were chosen because of their social status in the civilization. The creed of oligarchic government was that people of higher status were more capable and devoted to be part of an administration. Democracy, on the other hand, gave all free men, who were legally responsible, a choice to vote upon their representative. In the most famous democratic civilization, Sparta, the way you chose your spokesperson was going through a lottery and applying term limits. This is similar to how the modern day democracy is.
The United States democracy is a very simple and well set-up process. The democracy has 6 basic principles; (1) People must accept the principle of majority rule. (2) The political rights of minorities must be protected. (3) Citizens must agree to a system of rule by law. (4) The free barter of opinions and ideas must not be restricted. (5) All citizens must be equal before the law. (6) Government exists to serve the people, because it obtains its power from the people. These ideals form the basis of the democratic system in the United States, which seeks to create a union of diverse peoples, places, and interests.
Clearly, the democracy of modern times is extremely different from the one(s) used in Ancient Greece. Over time, people have changed and revised the way nations are ran, through picking up bits and pieces from previous knowledge of other regime. It has changed drastically from being ruled by only one person, to having everyone's input in the system.
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