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See also:DEMOCRACY (Gr. 3np.oKparia, from S)µos, the See also:people, i.e. the See also:commons, and Kparos, See also:rule)
, in See also:political See also:science, that See also:form of See also:government in which the See also:people rules itself, either directly, as in the small See also:city-states of See also:Greece, or through representatives
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According to See also:Aristotle, See also:democracy is the perverted form of the
1 For the " four years' See also:war " and the See also:chronological questions involved, see C
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W
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See also: Of representative government in the modern sense there is practically no trace in Athenian See also:history, though certain of the magistrates (see See also:STRATEGUS) had a quasi-representative See also:character . See also:Direct democracy is impossible except in small states . In the second See also:place the qualification for citizenship was rigorous; thus Pericles restricted citizenship to those who were the sons of an Athenian See also:father, himself a See also:citizen, and an Athenian See also:mother (it 406E11 berrooiv) . This See also:system excluded not only all the slaves; who were more numerous than the free See also:population, but also See also:resident aliens, subject See also:allies, and those Athenians whose descent did not satisfy this criterion (r4ji'yivet jo ,caOapoi) . The Athenian democracy, which was typical in See also:ancient Greece, was a highly exclusive form of government . With the growth of See also:empire and nation states this narrow parochial type of democracy became impossible . The population became too large and the distance too See also:great for regular assemblies of qualified citizens . The rigid distinction of citizens and non-citizens was progressively more difficult to maintain, and new criteria of citizenship came into force . The first difficulty has been met by various forms of representative government . The second problem has been solved in various ways in different countries; moderate democracies have adopted a See also:low See also:property qualification, while extreme democracy is based on the See also:extension of citizenship to all adult persons with or without distinction of See also:sex . The essence of modern representative government is that the people does not govern itself, but periodically elects those who shall govern on its behalf (see GOVERNMENT; See also:REPRESENTATION) . |
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