Democracy & Aristotle Essay

Democracy is widely recognized to have originated from ancient Greece, where much of its political philosophy was developed, particularly by Aristotle. However, Ancient Rome is also credited with significant contributions to the development of democracy. Etymologically speaking, the word ‘democracy’ equates to rule and strength from the people. This is an important notion to consider, as far too often the notion of democracy today has eroded into a belief that this rule and strength lies solely within the electoral process. While there is no denying the importance of elections, Lawrence Lessig (2004) contends that democracy also means rule by the people and opines that in the American tradition that means â€Å"control through reasoned discourse and debate. As such, democracy is exercised most by the people when they are actively engaged in civic affairs. Alexis de Tocqueville (2003), the 19th century French political thinker best known for his sociological travel writings on the United States, observed that this is best exemplified by the jury system. Unlike the elections, jurors did not just vote over the outcome to be imposed at the conclusion of a trial, but rather, they went through intense deliberation, attempting to persuade each other of the outcome. Results were obtained through argument, such that no juror could simply detach himself from the implications of his vote. Democratic theory, when applied to political governance, operates along two princioples. First, that the members of the democratic society in question have equal access to power, and second, that they enjoy freedoms and liberties which are universally recognized. (Dahl, Shapiro & Cheibub, 2003) In practice, this varies wildly, and as such, various strains of democracy exist, some which are less representative of the democratic essence than others. Democracy is better understood by contrasting it with other forms of governance. Aristotle observed that in an oligarchy or aristocracy, rulership is granted to a select few while in a monarchy, it is a single individual who holds the power of rulership. For Aristotle, the foundations of democracy lie in civic freedoms, and it is the only political system which permits the private citizen to have freedom. (No author, 2006) Furthermore, this freedom is a double-edged sword, a privilege and a responsibility. Not only is a government denied unquestioned hegemony over the citizen, but it is the responsibility of the citizen to ensure that the government fulfills its obligations. Additionally, this sense of equality is not contingent on the merits of the individual – class, occupation, etc. are not the basis for measuring rights, but rather distributed regardless of their station in life. In that sense, a democracy maintains an egalitarian appraisal of the individual’s political worth. The successful construction of a democratic political system requires the separation of powers. This is because in order for any political system to distribute power in the egalitarian fashion which defines the democratic ideal, it must be able to ensure that no one faction of the political system can attain enough power as to influence or control the others, for that would effectively dilute and perhaps destroy the democracy itself. (Williamson, 2004) As such, this means that any nation governed under the democratic principle operates under the presumption that its constituents are equal – not just its citizens (though it is crucial that they do) but the various institutions as well. Furthermore, the citizens possess various freedoms that cannot be overridden by the government, regardless of how contrary it may be to the government’s interests, such as the freedom of political expression through speech and press for the purposes of staying informed and declaring their personal interests. (Barak, 2008) REFERENCES Lessig, L. (2004) Free Culture: How Big Media Uses Technology and the Law to Lock Down Culture and Control Creativity. New York: Penguin Press. De Tocqueville, Alexis. (2003) Democracy in America. New York: Penguin Classics. Dahl, R. A., Shapiro, I. & Cheibub, J.A. (2003) The Democracy Sourcebook. Massachusetts: MIT Press. Williamson, T. R. (2004) Problems in American Democracy. Montana: Kessinger Publishing. Barak, A. (2008) The Judge in a Democracy. New Jersey: Princeton University Press. No author. (2006) â€Å"Aristotle (384-322 BCE): Overview.† The Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Retrieved September 30, 2008 from: http://www.iep.utm.edu/a/aristotl.htm