Democracy, Now And Then

The word 'democracy' is, as we often remind ourselves, a Greek one, but what the classical Greeks meant by that term is quite different from our current understanding of it. For one, the Greek demos was a far more restricted group : only adult Athenians were counted as 'the people' which excluded women and the slaves. However, all of these Athenians enjoyed an equality that is unimaginable in today's democracies : each one of them could speak before the gathering when it was trying to arrive at a public decision. Consequently, Athens could not go to war, form an alliance, or pass a law without the agreement of the assembled people (that is, the adult males). Our democracies are, of course, far more 'inclusivist' than the Greek democracy : all genders, all ethnicities, and all linguistic communities are brought under their ambit. What has been gained on the side of inclusivity has, however, been lost in the respect of immediacy : a modern nation-state can go to war without consulting its citizens on this matter.

Perhaps what we aspire for is a mode of government that is both more 'inclusive' and more 'immediate' : we may use the term 'democracy' to refer to such a mode, but it is only too clear that this does not exist anywhere in the world, at least in the year 2005.