Democracy is, by nature, a work in progress, and Western history has had very few occurrences when the “demos” became a politically self-conscious actor. What do these moments teach us?
| This post is part of a reading series on Democracy Incorporated by Sheldon S. Wolin. To quickly access all chapters, open the book title tab on the Authors & Books page. Disclaimer: This chapter summary is personal work and an invitation to read the book itself for a detailed view of all the author’s ideas. |
“Broadly postulated, the struggle for democracy went through three distinct moments widely separated in time. The earliest sustained attempt at inventing a demos occurred in ancient Athens.1 . . . It was also closely associated with equality (isonomia) and expressed through such practices as election of officials by lot, the accountability of officials, popular jury courts, and the powers of the popular assembly (Ekklesia). Citizens were paid for attendance at the assembly and for participation in jury service. There were no property qualifications for voting or officeholding.”
What made Athenian democracy disappear? The first factor was the will of empire. The citizens of Athens had an equal political voice, but military resources consumed the highest percentage of the city’s budget anyway. Moreover, the sheer size and complexity of imperial power made it difficult to impose fiscal discipline and accountability abroad, while ever more ruthless and demagogic tendencies flourished at home. The second factor, complementarily, was the lack of genuine leaders, public-spirited and able to govern.
Depicting Pericles as a model of rationality, the historian Thucydides (c. 460 BC-c. 400 BC) said that after the death of this great leader, the citizens “allowed private ambitions and private interests” to prevail. Where Pericles had “led the multitude instead of being led by them,” the new leaders “catered to the whims of the multitude,” each outbidding the other in vying for popular approval. The result was a “host of blunders” culminating in a disastrous defeat in Sicily.2 That signed the beginning of the end for Athens’s prestige and influence, as well as the disappearance of the democratic ideal for a long time to come in the Western world.