A treatise on the roots of democracy, mixed with a few
prescriptions for what the author believes to be ailing US politics
today. Woodruff (Philosophy/Univ. of Texas, Austin; Reverence,
2001) catalogues the crucial factors that allowed Athens to develop
a thriving democracy from around 500 to 300 BC. Most of those
factors involve the state treating equally everyone designated as a
citizen, while each citizen, whether rich or poor, tended to be
educated and culturally homogenous enough to agree on decisions
about how he wanted the state to behave. Much of this
nuts-and-bolts history offers a fascinating lesson in civics.
Legislation and important decisions in Athens were made by the
first 6,000 men who showed up on a hill where the assembly
traditionally met, but the topics discussed there first had to be
vetted by a ruling council that was democratic because its members
were determined by lottery. The system usually curbed mob rule, but
sometimes the majority acted as a tyrant, forcing through such poor
decisions as the failed invasion of Syracuse in Sicily. The system
also checked, but was constantly dogged by, class warfare.
Aristocrats often plotted to end a government that gave poor
citizens as many rights as they had. The author subtly compares
Athens to the United States, the implication being that current
officials regularly undermine American democracy. Like the US,
Athens was an influential state that sometimes had to act
tyrannically to protect its far-flung interests abroad. Unlike the
US, however, Athenian citizens had more of a hand in making
day-to-day political decisions, rather than ceding decision-making
to elected officials who received a majority of votes every few
years. Some of these critical comparisons are too subtle; readers
occasionally may wish Woodruff would simply spit out his charges.
He's more explicit at the book's conclusion, laying out reforms he
feels would bring the US in line with the ancients' democracy. An
enlightening reminder of lofty-and, alas, elusive-ideals. (Kirkus
Reviews)
Americans have an unwavering faith in democracy and are ever eager
to import it to nations around the world. But how democratic is our
own "democracy"? If you can vote, if the majority rules, if you
have elected representatives--does this automatically mean that you
have a democracy? In this eye-opening look at an ideal that we all
take for granted, classical scholar Paul Woodruff offers some
surprising answers to these questions.
Drawing on classical literature, philosophy, and history--with
many intriguing passages from Sophocles, Aesop, and Plato, among
others--Woodruff immerses us in the world of ancient Athens to
uncover how the democratic impulse first came to life. The heart of
the book isolates seven conditions that are the sine qua non of
democracy: freedom from tyranny (including the tyranny of majority
rule), harmony (the blending of different views), the rule of law,
natural equality, citizen wisdom, reasoning without knowledge, and
general education. He concludes that a true democracy must be
willing to invite everyone to join in government. It must respect
the rule of law so strongly that even the government is not above
the law. True democracy must be mature enough to accept changes
that come from the people. And it must be willing to pay the price
of education for thoughtful citizenship. Ancient Athens didn't
always live up to these ideals. Nor does modern America.
If we learn anything from the story of Athens, Woodruff concludes,
it should be this--never lose sight of the ideals of democracy.
This compact, eloquent book illuminates these ideals and lights the
way as we struggle to keep democracy alive at home and around the
world.
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