Democracy vs. Socialism: Key Differences Explained

Democracy vs. Socialism

Key Differences Explained

Democracy vs. Socialism

Key Differences Explained

Rita Shah

Democracy vs. Socialism: Key Differences Explained

Rita Shah

ISBN - 9789361527951

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Preface

Our world has seen a lot of struggles from the stone age to what we are at present. Nobody would have thought that we would be running cars and flying in the sky, but we are in full glory here. As humans evolved, brains evolved with them and started the thirst for power which is never sufficient. In the history of the political world, two terms that have their roots deep in the sea of power, are Democracy and Socialism. The current world follows democracy, applied, loved, and followed by the majority; it came to power with many social, political, and economic struggles. That does not mean that socialism didn't fight. It also has its own power struggles, own philosophies, and socialists its devotee. Democracy prevails in this era, but everything has its own drawbacks and shortcomings. Without someone knowing these cracks known as shortcomings, it will break the mountain of the hierarchy of democracy. We must know what happened in history to know what will happen in the future, and that is where this book enters. This book talks about the etymology, history, struggles, shortcomings, and future of democracy and what happened with socialism and how it came to life, and why it is now barely breathing.

The author attempts to present an analytical discourse on the essence of democracy and socialism in the book. It even contains the history of democracy, theories, points of its merits and demerits, different concepts of it, its goals, implications, struggle movements, features, and responsibilities. The same is discussed for socialism. One can compare the two by reading the material in the book. It is hoped that the book will be found useful not only by the students of political science and leaders of parties and public opinion but also by the reading public interested in the greatest good of the greatest number.

Content

Chapter 1. Characteristics of Democracy

1.1 Introduction and Etymology 1

1.2 Characteristics 2

1.3 Features of Democracy 6

1.4 Summary 7

1.5 Questions 9

Chapter 2. History of Democracy

2.1 Origin of Democracy 10

2.2. Origin in America 24

2.3 Summary 30

2.4 Questions 31

Chapter 3. Theory

3.1 Participatory Democracy 34

3.2 African One-Party Model 41

3.3 Deliberative Democracy 42

3.4 Consociational Democracy 48

3.5 Democratic Peace 51

3.6 Feminism and Democracy 53

3.7 Communitarianism, Republicanism, and Democracy 57

3.8 Subalterns and Democracy 59

3.9 True Versus False Democracy 60

3.10 Environmentalism and Democracy 65

3.11 Democracy and Globalization 67

3.12 Summary 68

3.13 Questions 68

Chapter 4. Types of Democracy

4.1 Introduction 70

4.2 Radical Democracy 78

4.3 Liberal Democracy 80

4.4 Quasi Democracy 85

4.5 Summary 86

4.6 Questions 87

Chapter 5. Struggle Movements

5.1 American Revolution 90

5.2 Struggle Movements 127

5.3 Summary 137

5.4 Question 138

Chapter 6. Socialism

6.1 Etymology 141

6.2 Different Versions 143

6.3 Socialism of the prophets 144

6.4 Socialism of the Philosophers 144

6.5 Socialism of Nature 146

6.6 Summary 147

6.7 Questions 147

Chapter 7. Challenges to Socialism

7.1 The Industrial Revolution 149

7.2 Social Changes since 1900 150

7.3 Socialism and War 151

7.4 Poverty and Exploitation 153

7.5 American Capitalism and Unemployment 154

7.6 Inflation 154

7.7 How Much Free Enterprise? 155

7.8 Capitalism and Our Culture 156

7.9 Summary 157

7.10 Questions 157

Chapter 8. Socialist

8.1 Socialism and Mutual Aid 159

8.2 Socialism and the Class Struggle 160

8.3 Socialism, Emulation, and Competition 160

8.4 Socialism, Emulation, and Competition 161

8.5 Psychology of Democracy 162

8.6 The Need for Planning 163

8.7 Planning and Liberty 164

8.8 Planning and Jobs 164

8.9 Socialist Planning for America 165

8.10 Social, Private and Cooperative Ownership 166

8.11 Land and Natural Resources 167

8.12 Credit and Money 168

8.13 Socialization vs. Nationalization 168

8.14 Social Security 169

8.15 Progressive Taxation 170

8.16 Summary 171

8.17 Questions 171

Chapter 9. Politics

9.1 Anarchism 173

9.2. Democratic Socialism 189

9.3 Summary 200

9.4 Questions 202

Chapter 10. Social Movements

10.1 Evils of Capitalism 205

10.3 Socialist Governments 208

10.4 Welfare State 209

10.5 Movements and Legislations in Specific Countries 209

10.6 Great Britain 213

10.7 Nationalization and Social Services 216

10.8 New Economic Policy 218

10.9 Sweden 219

10.10 Social Security 222

10.11 Summary 224

10.12 Questions 224

Chapter 11. Economics of Socialism

11.1 Marxian Economics 227

11.2 Challenge to Socialist Economy 228

11.3 Alleged Benefits of Capitalist Economy 228

11.4 Failures of Capitalist Economy 229

11.5 Three Alternative Systems 231

11.6 Contribution of Barone 232

11.7 Contribution of Taylor 233

11.8 Theory of Lange 235

11.9 Pricing plus Planning 238

11.10 Advantages of Socialist Economy 239

11.11 Limitation of Socialist Economy 241

11.12 Summary 243

11.13 Questions 243

Chapter 12. Communism

12.1 Marxism 245

12.2 Criticism 246

12.3 Practical Failure 248

12.4 Contribution of Marx 250

12.5 Soviet Communism 251

12.6 Revolution of 1917 252

12.7 War Communism 252

12.8 New Economic Policy 253

12.9 Economic Planning 254

12.10 Leninism 258

12.11 Stalinism 259

12.12 Post-Stalin Era 261

12.13 Appeals of Communism 261

12.14 Achievements 262

12.15 Shortcomings 263

12.16 Summary 265

12.17 Questions 266

Chapter 13. Democracy Plus Socialism 268

Appendix A: Evolution Of Democracy 270

Appendix B: Attack On Democracy 275

Appendix C: Christian Socialism 279

Glossary 281

Index287

Chapter 1. Characteristics of Democracy

1.1 Introduction and Etymology

Politics is an important component of civilized existence. Ever since the invention of agriculture, which has made possible a settled life, politics in one form or the other has been an accepted fact of organized and collective existence. It is because of the primacy of politics that Aristotle considers a human being by nature a political animal. Based on assertion, it can be said that politics can be minimized and restricted but cannot be eliminated, and that’s what makes democracy, with ‘one person, one vote’, necessary to ensure civility in public life.

The word Democracy is derived from the Greek word emos, which simply means people. It is defined, basically, as the government in which the supreme power is entrusted in the hands of the people. In some parts of small societies, democracy can be exercised directly by the people. In large communities, it is by the people through their elected representatives. It can be understood by the memorable phrase of President Abraham Lincoln, democracy is the government of the people, by the people, and for the people."

Freedom and democracy are often confused as synonyms and used interchangeably, but that’s not the case. Democracy is indeed based on ideas and principles about freedom. Still, it also consists of the conventions and procedures that came to be through a long and tortuous history. Democracy is the institutionalization of freedom.

Democracy is not inevitable. It does not exist in the United States merely because Americans view it as the soundest possible political system. Rather, democracy exists in this country because the people believe in its fundamental notions. It will continue to survive only as long as we, the people, continue to subscribe to and practice those concepts.

Sir Winston Churchill (1874-1965) once placed the argument for democracy in this manner: No one pretends that democracy is perfect or all-wise. Indeed, it has been said that democracy is the worst form of government except all those other forms that have been tried from time to time.

The American concept of democracy is based on these basic notions:

1. Recognition of the fundamental worth and dignity of every individual;

2. Respect for the equality of all individuals.

3. Faith in majority rule and an affirmation of minority rights

4. Acceptance of the essence of compromise; and

5. Assertion upon the widest possible extent of individual liberty.

In the end, it is the duty of the people living in a democratic society to serve as the ultimate guardian and shield of their freedom. They must forge their path towards the ideals outlined in the preamble of the United Nations’ Universal Declaration of Human Rights: Recognition of the inherent dignity and the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family is the foundation of freedom, justice, and peace in the world.

1.2 Characteristics

Democracy is more than just a set of specific government institutions. It rests upon a well and understood a bunch of values, attitudes, and practices. All of which may take distinct forms and expressions among cultures and societies around the world. Democracy rest upon fundamental principles and not on uniform practices.

1.2.1 Essential Democratic Characteristics

•Democracy is the government in which power and communal responsibility are wielded by all the adult citizens, directly or via their freely elected representatives.

•Democracy rests upon the principles of majority rule and individual rights. Democracies protects against all-powerful central governments and decentralize government to provincial and local levels, with an understanding that all the levels of government must be accessible and responsive to the people as possible.

•Democracies comprehend that one of their major functions is to protect fundamental human rights as freedom of speech and religion. It also includes the right to equal protection under the law and the opportunity to organize and participate fully in the political, economic, and cultural life of society.

•Democracies conduct periodic free and fair elections open to citizens of voting age.

•Citizens in a democracy have rights as well as the obligation to participate in the political system that, in turn, protects their rights and freedoms.

Fig. 1.1 Characteristics of Democracy

Let’s dive into the characteristics of democracy in detail.

• Worth Of The Individual

Democracy is established upon a conviction in the fundamental importance of the individual. Despite a person’s standing in their life, they are recognized as distinct beings. This idea of the dignity and worth of the individual is of overriding importance in democratic thought. At various times, the welfare of one or a few individuals is subordinated to the interests of the many in a democracy. People can be obligated to do certain things. Examples array from paying taxes to registration for the draft to stopping at a stop sign. When a democratic society forces people to pay a tax or obey traffic signals, it is serving the interest of many individuals. However, it is not merely serving the welfare of the many who, as individuals, make up that society. The distinction we are attempting to make here between an individual and all individuals may be difficult to grasp. It is, however, critically important to the understanding of the meaning of democracy.

• Equality Of All Persons

Hand in hand with the belief in the worth of an individual, democracy stresses the equality of all individuals; It holds, with Jefferson, that all men are created equal., Indeed, democracy does not imply an equality of conditions for all persons. Therefore, it does not claim that all are born with the same mental or physical abilities, nor does it hold that all individuals have a right to an equal share of worldly goods.

Relatively, the democratic notion of equality means that every person is entitled to:

1. equality of opportunity and

2. equality before the law.

That is, the democratic concept of equality states that no person should be held back for any such subjective reasons as those based on race, color, religion, or gender. It also states that each person must be free to evolve himself or herself as thoroughly as he or she wishes to and that each person should be treated as the equal to all the other individuals under the law.

We have come to a great distance towards the goal of equality for all in this country. Clearly, we are still a considerable distance from a genuine, universally recognized, and respected equality for all of America’s people.

• Majority Rule, Minority Rights

All democracies are structures in which citizens freely make political decisions by majority rule. In the words of American essayist E.B. White: Democracy is the recurrent suspicion that more than half the people are right more than half the time.

In a democracy, a policy is determined by the people’s will and not the injunction of the ruling few. But what is the prevalent will, and in what way is it determined? A device is needed to answer these questions. The only satisfactory device in democracy is known as that of majority rule. Democracy holds that a majority will be right more often than it will be inaccurate. The majority will also be right more often than one person or small group resolve.

Democracy can be described as experimentation or a trial-and-error methodology designed to find satisfactory ways to order human relations. Democracy does not dictate that the majority will always arrive at the most reasonable decisions on public matters. The democratic process is not meant to develop the right or best answers. Rather, the democratic process searches for satisfactory solutions to public concerns. But majority rule, by itself, is not automatically democratic. For example, would call a system fair or just that permitted 51 percent of the population to dominate over the remaining 49 percent in the name of the majority.

Of course, in a democracy, the majority’s decisions will usually be more than less satisfactory. Democracy does acknowledge the possibility of mistakes. There is the possibility that the wrong or less satisfactory answers will sometimes be found. Democracy also recognizes that there is rarely any satisfactory solution to a public problem that cannot be enhanced upon, and those circumstances can alter over time. So, experimentation in seeking solutions to public queries is a never-ending one.

Certainly, a democracy cannot function without the principle of majority rule. Unchecked; however, a majority could eliminate its opposition and, in the process, obliterate democracy itself.

Thus, democracy requires majority rule controlled by minority rights. The majority must always recognize the right of any minority to become, if it can be fair and lawful means, the preponderance.

The majority must always be willing to listen to a minority’s argument to hear its objections, bear its criticisms, and welcome its suggestions.

Minorities need to have faith in the government to protect their rights and safety. Once this is accomplished, such groups can contribute to their country’s democratic establishments. The principle of majority rule and minority rights characterizes all modern democracies, no matter how varied in history, culture, population, and economy.

• Individual Freedom

It should be clear that democracy can flourish only in an atmosphere of individual freedom. However, democracy does not and cannot demand complete freedom for the individual. Absolute freedom can only exist in a condition of anarchy- the total absence of government. Anarchy can only lead to inevitably and quickly rule by the strong and ruthless. Democracy requires that each individual be as free to do as he or she pleases as far as the freedom of all will allow.

Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes once said this about the comparative nature of each individual’s rights: The right to swing my fist ends where the other man’s nose begins.

Drawing the line between the individual’s rights and those of another is not easy. Still, the drawing of that line is a continuous and vitally essential function of democratic government. As John F. Kennedy placed it, The rights of every man are diminished when the rights of one man are threatened.

Striking the appropriate equilibrium between freedom for the individual and the rights of society as a whole is likewise difficult- and vital. Abraham Lincoln described democracy’s problem in these words:

Must a government, of necessity, be too strong for the liberties of its people or too weak to maintain its existence?

- Message to Congress July 4, 1861

Human beings desire both liberty and authority. A democratic government must constantly work to attempt the proper balance between the two. The authority of the government must be adequate to the requirements of society. At the same time, that authority must never be permitted to become so sumptuous that it prohibits the individual beyond what is necessary.

• Necessity Of Compromise

In a democracy, public decision-making must be principally a matter of give-and-take among the various challenging interests. It is a matter of compromise in order to discover the position most acceptable to the majority of the number. Compromise is the process of amalgamation and adjusting opposing views and interests.

Compromise is an indispensable part of the democratic concept for two major reasons. First, remember that democracy puts the individual first and, at the same time, insists that each individual is equal of all others. In a democratic society made up of many individuals and groups with many different opinions and interests, how can the people make public decisions except by compromise? Second, few public questions have only two sides. Most can be answered in several ways. Take the apparently simple question of how a city should pay for the paving of a public street. Should it charge those who own property along the street? Or should the costs be paid from the city’s general treasury? Or should the city and the adjacent property owners share the costs? What about those who will use the street but do not live in the city? Should they have to pay a toll?

Remember, compromise is a process, a method of achieving majority agreement. It is never an end in itself. Not all compromises are good, and not all are necessary.

1.3 Features of Democracy

Democracy is the most successful political idea in the world.

Democracy allows ordinary people to decide who governs a country and how they govern it. It is based on a system of government by all the citizens of a country, typically exercised through elected representatives.

The concept of democracy is broad and diverse. Every country has a unique democratic system, and countries will be ‘differently democratic’.

Democracy has many features: What then are the key features of democracy?

Although there are other aspects to democracy, we look at six key features. When these six main features are present, it indicates a strong democracy.

They are:

1. Respect for basic human rights,

2. A multi-party-political system paired with political tolerance,

3. A democratic voting system,

4. Respect for the rule of law,

5. Democratic governance, and

6. Citizen participation

1.4 Summary

The word Democracy is derived from the Greek word demos which simply means people. It is defined, basically, as the government in which the supreme power is entrusted to the hands of the people. In some parts of small societies, democracy can be exercised directly by the people. Democracy is the government of the people, by the people, and for the people.

The duty of the people living in a democratic society is to serve as the ultimate guardian and shield of their freedom. Accordingly, they must forge their path towards the ideals outlined in the preamble of the United Nations’ Universal Declaration of Human Rights: Recognition of the inherent dignity and the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family is the foundation of freedom, justice, and peace in the world.

The entire edifice of modern democracy is based on the assumption that politics is not a zero-sum game, as civilized societies must accommodate both dissenters and supporters, the majority and the minority, and different kinds of religious, linguistic, and ethnic groups. Democracy, as such, is based on the politics of accommodation and compromise within a well-defined public space, different from a private space, giving enough scope for autonomous action for each individual as a part of a larger collection and with adequate protection of individual rights, ensured by the rule of law.

A democratic government, to be called democratic, must meet the following basic preconditions:

•The legitimacy of the government rests on a claim to represent the desires of its citizens. That is, the government’s claim to obedience to its law is based on the government’s assertion to be doing what the people want to do.

•The organized arrangement regulating this legitimate bargain is the competitive political election. Leaders are elected at regular intervals, and voters can choose among alternative candidates. In practice, at least two political parties with a chance of winning are needed to make such choices meaningful.

•Adults can participate in the electoral process, both as voters and as candidates for important political office.

•Citizens’ votes are secret and not coerced.

•Citizens and leaders enjoy basic freedom of speech, press, assembly, and organization. Both established parties and new ones can work to gain members and voters.

Fig 1.2 Characteristics of Democracy

Fig. 1.3 Features of Democracy

1.5 Questions

1. What do you mean by democracy?

2. What is the difference between freedom and democracy?

3. What is the only satisfactory device known to democracies to determine public policy?

4. What is the definition of a citizen?

5. Which concept/s is of overriding importance in democratic thought?

6. What do you mean by Anarchy?

7. What are the main characteristics and features of democracy?

8. What is the difference between characteristics and features?

9. What is the argument put up by Sir Winston Churchill on democracy?

10. What is the etymology of democracy?

References

Howard Cincotta, "Democracy In Brief", Bureau Of International Information Programs U.S. Department Of State.

William A. McClenaghan,1917, "Magruder’s American Government", Pearson Prentice Hall

Alexis de Tocqueville, 1835, Democracy in America, Saunders and Otley

Aurelian Craiutu, J. Jennings,2009, "A Third ‘Democracy in America’?", Cambridge University Press

Russell-l,1997, America - a Corrupt Democracy, a de facto Plutocracy with Pronounced Fascistic Strains?, Association for Education in Citizenship

Kevin Harrison and Tony Boyd, 2018, "Democracy", Manchester University Press

2003, "Our American Government", H. Con. Res. 139, 108th Congress

Marc F. Plattner, Larry Diamond, 1993, Second Edition, "The Global Resurgence of Democracy", JHUP

Leland Harper, March 2022, The Crisis of American Democracy, Vernon Press

Steven Levitsky & Daniel Ziblatt, 2018, "How Democracy dies", Penguin Books

Figure References

Fig. 1.1. https://www.dreamstime.com/characteristics-democracy-eight-characteristics-western-democracy-image112562233

Fig. 1.2. https://edu.glogster.com/glog/characteristics-of-democracy/20qqt4t9oxg?=glogpedia-source

Fig. 1.3. https://edurev.in/studytube/Detailed-Chapter-Notes-What-is-Democracy---Why-Dem/9ee42a7b-1ea7-4cec-8829-cd82dc818f2c_t

Chapter 2. History of Democracy

2.1 Origin of Democracy

Though the actualization of democracy took place only in the 20th century, its basic idea can be traced back to antiquity. According to Dahl (1989), modern democracy has four historical sources: the direct democracy in ancient Greece, the republicanism of Roman and Italian city-states in the Middle Ages and Renaissance, the theory and practice of representative government, and the idea of political equality. The emergence of mass representative democracy has been a protracted one, made possible by the emergence of an individualistic society with a balanced relationship between the rights and interests of the individuals with that of the collective. Individualism was reinforced by commercial scientific and technological changes, the rise of capitalism, and the extension of the franchise. Besides ancient Athens, there have been semblances of democratic functioning in other parts of the non-Western world in ancient times.

2.1.1 Ancient Athens

In the Greek city-state of Athens, the first major effort to realize democracy and freedom was attempted, with the establishment of a vibrant, direct, and participatory democracy that remains unparalleled till date, both in the ancient and the modern world.

This unique achievement was made possible by creating the polis, which in English means the city-state. The polis began as a common association for security but gradually became the pivot around which all the activity, moral, intellectual, social, cultural, aesthetic, and practical life revolved. It was a conscious creation of the Greeks, providing an intelligent, meaningful, and responsible way of life for the community and the individual to attain fulfillment and excellence. The polis was not self-governing and self-sufficient, and the Greeks considered polis as that which distinguished them from the barbarians. Aristotle, eulogizing the polis, stated that a person who did not feel it was ‘either an angel or a beast’ (1946:45). The polis was the source of all rights and obligations, as freedom meant ordered existence within a community governed by common codes and laws. The idea of due process of law and constitutional government was to gift Greece in general and Athens in particular to the modern world; in the 18th C BC, Hammurabi, the ruler of Babylon had established the earliest known legal code, the basis of the concept of rue of law in modern democracies.

2.1.1.1 The Beginnings

Athens was among the many islands that constituted the Greek archipelago. The mountainous terrains, valleys, and rivers separated these islands physically. However, many of these islands were accessible by sea. In spite of their territorial and political separateness, the Greeks shared cultural and social unity due to one language, common religious rituals, and Olympic festivals started in 776 BC. Herodotus (484-25 BC) remarked, ‘our being of the same stock and the same speech, our common shrines of the gods, our similar customs’ imbibed a sprit of oneness and culturally, but not politically. The Greeks never called themselves Greeks. ‘Hellas’ was the collective term that they used. Most of the city-states were small and compact in size and population. During the period 750–550 BC, the city-state of Athens was 1,000 square miles in the territory with 40,000 citizens and 400,000 mixed populations. The size limit was important because the Greeks were convinced that good order could be sustained only within a small city-state. This is reflected in Plato’s (427-347 BC) directive that an ideal city-state should have 5,000 citizens, and Aristotle (1946: 292) states more succinctly that an ideal state is achieved ‘both to give decisions in matters of disputed rights and to distribute the offices of government according to the merits of candidates’ when citizens enjoy a life of total intimacy knowing one another by sight. He criticizes Plato for prescribing 5,000 as the optimum number for such a polity, as that requires ‘unlimited space’, as the vast lands of Babylon. Military command, public communication, and judicial judgment are impossible within a larger political community. A large polity affects the quality of citizenship.

Other than Athens, Acreages, and Syracuse had a population of more than 20,000 citizens. Besides the smallness in size, the city-states were distinctive for their economic independence, self-sufficiency, political independence, and a fierce sense of loyalty to the polis. With the emergence of the markets as a replacement for the close-knit household economy, the cities evolved as market towns without losing the Greek sense of community. These, coupled with a moderate climate and relatively calm international setting, enabled the Greeks to lead a simple life with few needs. They had a penchant for outdoor games and activities, making them healthy and vigorous. They valued leisure which was possible due to favorable conditions. These virtues of Greek life found their fullest manifestation in Athens.

Among the city-states, Athens and Sparta represented diametrically different modes of governance. Sparta was the dominant power from 900 to 600 BC, while Athens rose to prominence after the Persian wars of 490—79 BC. Sparta’s ideal was a closely-knit community. Unlike the other city-states, it maintained a standing army forbidding its citizens from other occupations like agriculture, trade, and professional work. Citizenship was synonymous with professional military service. Like the other city-states, Sparta was self-sufficient. However, it discouraged trade, was suspicious of foreigners, was opposed to foreign ideas, and had a static social structure.

In contrast to Athens, which had a well-developed currency and a banking system, Sparta was still using outmoded iron currency. There was a Senate, an Assembly of all, which was not a debating body. The decision-making powers were also singular, as they were not done by voting but by shouting in, which the loudest carried the day. A disputed fact in Greek history is a document (d 600 BC) that states that a popular Spartan assembly should meet regularly. This was when Athens did not have any provision for regular meetings of the assembly. The document also mentions the provision of a propaedeutic council, which scrutinized matters for the assembly. "The propaedeutic represented in the embryonic form the ideal of popular sovereignty’. However, much of this document remains unclear. Sparta was an oligarchy, a polity that defied any classification for ‘it abolished nothing and developed nothing’. Nevertheless, Sparta was grudgingly praised for its order, discipline, and attaining the Greek ideal of common good and harmony.

The victory in the Persian wars made Athens an imperial power, specifically, a tributary maritime empire, and a set of two centuries of democratic experiment with a renewed faith in free institutions made it different from Oriental despotism. Another early indication that there were some kinds of democratic norms and free institutions was in Chios between 575–550 BC. Still, Athens became not only the laboratory of an exciting democratic experiment but also laid down the first principles of politics. An early manifestation of this democratic temper was evident in the formation of the Union of Attica (the area surrounding Athens was called Attica, and the city-state of Athens included both Athens city and Attica) in the 5th century BC. Athens of the 5th century ‘had a culture that exhibited the seriousness and the solidity of the good bourgeois society with all the elegance, fineness, disinterestedness of aristocracy’. It produced some of the best minds - Solon, Pisistratus, Cleisthenes, Themistocles, Aristides and Pericles, statesmen, Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides, Aristophanes, and Menander, among dramatists’, Thucydides among, historians, Demosthenes among, orators, Icinus and Meikles as the architects of the Acropolis, Phidias and Praxiteles among, sculptors, Phormis, a brilliant naval commander, Protagoras, Thrasymachus, and Other Sophist Philosophers, Socrates, Plato and Aristotle of the Socratic tradition, Hippocrates, Democratius, Epicures, Parmenides, Heraclitus and Plotinus among philosophers, and Pythagoras among mathematicians. Athens provided the foundations for European culture and was considered the most civilized society that had ever existed. Shelley regarded the 5th and 4th centuries, referred to as the classical period in Greek history, whether considered in itself or with reference to the effect it has produced upon the subsequent destinies of civilized man, the most memorable in the histories of the world’. It is not a coincidence that the only comparable period to the 5th century BC is 19th century Modern Britain, which like ancient Athens, was a home to social and political reforms, and to the beginnings of modern mass representative democracy,

To a historian of democracy, five main impacts following the Persian Wars made Athens an imperial power. First, the council and assembly had more and more important matters to discuss and decide regularly. Second, the tribute from the empire provided the cash for the introduction of political pay, initially for juries and councilors, thus, establishing a link between radical democracy and imperialism. Third, Athens tried to export democracy around the Aegean Sea. Fourth, empire and economic gains made Athens tighten its citizenship rules as it did in 451 BC. Fifth, economic gain and material prosperity until 415 BC benefiting all classes, insulated Athens from civil strife, which plagued many other city-states enabling democratic free institutions to flourish.

2.1.1.2 Economic and Political Reforms

The lawgiver, Solon’s (640–589 BC) wise and judicious rule, witnessed a number of important reforms like ending slavery for debt, reducing the quantum of debts, restoration of land to the debtors, elimination of collective property, grant of a right of succession, freedom of bequest, restriction of paternal authority and limiting the estates. Furthermore, he revolutionized agriculture by encouraging specialization based on soil conditions and export promotion and lured foreign craftsmen to settle down in Athens by promising them citizenship. Furthermore, he made the learning of crafts mandatory. These reforms checked the growth of noble estates and allowed for the creation of small and medium farms that eventually became the pattern for the countryside of Attica and Greece. These small farm-holders, known as "hoplites’, meaning heavy-armed soldiers, were responsible for defending the city-state. The hoplite was a typically Greek innovation. Each hoplite armed with weapons and armor met expenses from his income, implying a reasonable earning.

Interestingly, the hoplites, or self-armed citizen militia, led to the creation and sustenance of democracy in Athens. The aforesaid economic reforms, the creation of hoplites, and the universal institution of slavery that was not only necessary from a purely economic perspective but also sustained the whole social and political order resulted in the creation of an exclusive ‘citizen elite’ with equal benefits that devoted time to political debates and duties of citizenship. The slaves ensured the commercial success of Athens while citizens devoted their time to free political activity. ‘In Athens, the political equality of the citizens coexisted uneasily with economic inequality, as it continues to do today; but the whole point of the democracy was that it gave the poor as well as the rich a part to play in governing the city’.

Among the economic reforms that Solon initiated, according to Aristotle, three were most important for the success of the Athenian constitution. These were (a) abolition of enslavement for debt, (b) creation of the right of a third party to seek justice in court on behalf of an aggrieved person, and (c) the introduction of appeals to a popular tribunal.

All three had one thing in common: they were steps designed to advance the community idea and really by protecting the weaker majority from the excessive and extra-legal power of the nobility, Or stated differently, they stopped loopholes in the rule of law, an idea which was coming to be the Greek definition of civilized political organization; more than that, they were steps towards equality before the law, which Athenians in the classical period considered the central feature of democracy.

Economic reforms were accompanied by political reforms, which included the admittance of all citizens to the assembly. Distinction based on birth was abolished for citizenship though fortune was considered. On this basis, Solon in 594 BC divided the citizen body into four classes with corresponding rights and obligations. The first was the pentakosiomedimni, whose land yielded a harvest of at least 590 bushels or five hundred metritis of liquid or 4,200 gallons. The second was knights with a yield of at least 355 bushels or 2,575 gallons. The third was the Zeugitai, who yielded at least 285 bushels or 1,715 gallons. The fourth was the thetes who did not possess any land or whose crops did not touch a minimum of 200 measures. While the first two income groups had access to senior magistracies, the third had a right to lower administrative offices, and the fourth had a vote in the citizens’ assembly. Thus, before Solon, Athens was an aristocracy where one’s birth determined the political office one could hold. During this time, the council of 400 was introduced to prepare the business for the popular Assembly or the Ecclesia. Cleisthenes expanded this into the council of 500. Its roots were in the Council of Elders or Areopagus, which existed in Athens and elsewhere somewhere from 600 BC. It continued till the demise of democracy and the advent of Alexander the Great in 320 BC. Solon also established a popular law court, the heliaea, where an appeal against an unjust decision of the magistrates was made, thus making the latter accountable.

Though the reforms of Solon were well-intentioned and timely, their realization was partial. This led to the rise of a tyrant Pisistratus (545–510), who transformed Athens from a small country town into a city with a reputation beyond Greece through deft handling of policies. His unique achievement was initiating a novel cultural policy by which popular festivals acquired a national status. He popularized theatre. In the economic arena, he provided stability and was instrumental in making Athens famous. There was a spurt of commercial and trading activities. He preserved Solon’s democratic reforms but did not extend their ambit. Pisistratus encouraged maritime commerce and undertook a massive building project that provided urban craftsmen and laborers employment. He provided direct financial assistance to the peasantry in public credits, which eventually led to their autonomous status and security. The survival of the small and medium farmers was ensured. These reforms weakened the aristocracy’s monopoly though neither Solon nor Pisistratus had democracy in mind while initiating these reforms.

Cleithenes (515–495 BC) completed the reforms of the constitution in 508-07 BC and as Herodotus remarks, ‘created the tribes and democracy’. Cleithenes replaced the old four classes with ten new classes based on residence and not just birth. With the view to preventing the return to tyranny and destroying the nobility’s strength, the whole city was divided into demes with an assembly, magistrates, and administration of its own. Each citizen was allowed to register in one of these demes and the deme-name, which he bore, was proof of his status as a citizen. Citizenship was linked to domicile. These demes were more than a hundred in number. The tribe, and not the family, was the basis of the deme. The tribes were basically topographical groups, thus, preventing the reorganization of old tribes into new ones. To prevent regional rivalries, Cleithenes established intermediate divisions between the demes and tribes by dividing the three parts of the country – the town, the coast, and the interior into ten sections. Each tribe by lot was assigned one group in these three sections. In this way, each tribe was composed of three series of demes, of three tritteis. The