Democracy in Athens is different from primitive democracy in budding countries. Compared with the ancient oriental autocratic countries, it has many obvious characteristics.
First of all, Athenian democracy embodies the sovereignty of most Athenian slave owners and freemen. Perikles once proudly declared: "Our system is called democracy because political power is in the hands of all citizens, not a few." [9] What embodies the Athenian concept of civil sovereignty is the supremacy system of the people's parliament. The mass meeting in Athens is a meeting that all adult Athenian citizens can attend. Here, any citizen can speak; All laws should be discussed and passed here before promulgation; All important state officials; To be elected here, all issues related to war and peace and other major state affairs must be debated here and decided by the majority opinion. Through this system, ordinary citizens in Athens do have many opportunities to influence and even decide the government's decision. And elected officials can better reflect and implement public opinion.
Secondly, closely related to civil sovereignty is the freedom and equality of individual citizens. In fact, this is the starting point of Athenian democracy. People think that the civilian regime has two special concepts: one is "sovereignty belongs to the majority" and the other is "individual freedom". "Populists first assume that justice (fairness) lies in' equality' and then think that equality is the supreme public opinion." [10] The Athenians' concept of freedom and equality can be traced back to the tradition of clan society and strengthened in the special mode of production after Athens entered the class society.
Third, the official system in Athens is an important embodiment of democratic principles. "One of the essences of freedom (embodied in political life) is that everyone takes turns to be the ruler and the ruled." [1 1] All public positions in the country (except the positions of ten generals) are open to citizens at all levels, and only a few necessary conditions can ensure that incumbents can perform their duties normally and smoothly. According to the regulations, the jury officer of the jury court must be a citizen who is over 30 years old and does not owe public debts. Officials are generally elected by lottery, so there are quite a few opportunities for ordinary citizens to hold public office.
The important officials were elected by a show of hands at the public meeting. In principle, "it is not the members of a particular class who are considered, but their real talents." [ 12]
Equally striking is that Athens has a fairly strict system to ensure that citizens can effectively supervise state officials. In Athens, all officials have to pass the qualification examination before taking office. Generally speaking, the institution that conducts this kind of review is the jury court. However, for the members of the Council, consuls and other important officials who serve in the following year, their qualifications are first reviewed by the 500-member Council and then by the jury court, and the final decision is made by the jury court. Because the jury court in Athens is actually in the hands of the people, the judicial consuls in Athens also have the responsibility to supervise state officials, and they can sue the people's parliament for illegal acts of state officials, including the chairman of the Council. In order to prevent state officials from taking bribes and using their powers for personal gain, Athens has set up ten accountants. "All retired officials must keep accounts and report to them." [13] These accountants submit the verification results to the jury court, which will impose fines or other penalties on the criminal officials once they find criminal acts such as corruption and misappropriation of public funds. Ten generals occupy a special position in all state institutions in Athens. They receive ten votes of confidence from the General Assembly every year, although they can be re-elected. If this vote is against any official, he should be tried in a jury court. If he is guilty, he will be punished or fined1"[14]. In addition, the aforementioned "shell exile law" was one of the effective means for Athenians to supervise officials.
As mentioned above, the Athens Parliament, composed of 500 people, is responsible for the daily affairs of the country and is an extremely important organ of the Athens state. In order to prevent the arbitrariness of the jury, the Athenians adopted the method of decentralization, deprived the jury of its original supreme power of sentencing to death, imprisonment and fines, established the highest judicial jurisdiction and supervision power of the jury court, and even gave the jury court the power to protect the Constitution. Aristotle wrote: "The people make themselves masters of everything, handle everything with orders, and the jury court holds the people's power, even the cases tried by parliament fall into the hands of the people." Within the parliament, measures have also been taken to prevent the concentration of power. The Council adopts a system of 50-member delegations from ten departments (three divisions) to serve as the presidium in turn, and each presidium has a term of about110 for one year. The presidium draws lots every day to elect a general chairman, who is responsible for keeping the treasury, archives, keys to temples and national seals; When the people's assembly and the 500-member meeting were held, he was the chairman. However, the term of office of the general chairman is only one night, which cannot be extended or re-elected. These measures are conducive to avoiding the disadvantages of de facto concentration of power or even dictatorship caused by long-term employment.
In addition, in the political life of Athens, the legal system and democracy in Athens complement each other. Perikles declared: "When solving private disputes, everyone is equal before the law." [16] The law applies to all people, and no one can escape from the law and enjoy privileges.
Although the Athenians cherish citizens' personal freedom very much, this freedom has never fallen into a lawless situation, and "everyone has his own interests." "In our private life, we are free and tolerant; But in public affairs, we obey the law. This is because this kind of law makes us convinced. " Aristotle believes that "civilian regime is less evil and safer than oligarchic regime." [17] This is because, in a democratic political country like Athens, certain legal procedures are basically followed when solving the contradictions and struggles of various factions of the ruling class. Therefore, it is rare to fight for power and profit by means of violence and bloodshed.
The Athenians attached great importance to the stability and authority of the law. Although they are allowed to amend the law, there are strict restrictions. In Athens, bills submitted to the citizens' assembly for discussion must be examined by the parliament in advance. Although individual citizens can propose to amend or abolish previous laws or introduce new bills in the People's Assembly, if such proposals are not passed, they will be prosecuted as illegal acts, and the proponents will be fined and even risk their lives.
The Athenians not only attached importance to written law, but also to customary law. "We obey the law itself, especially those laws that protect the oppressed, those laws that are not written in words but violate even recognized shame." [ 18]
The democratic system in Athens plays an important role in the development of Athens.
The establishment of democracy in Athens greatly promoted the economic development of Athens. The development of handicraft, commerce, navigation and planting in Athens has made the foreign trade of Athens expand rapidly. The port of Piraeus in Athens has become the busiest port in the eastern Mediterranean. "Our city-state is so great that it brings us all the good things from all over the world, so that we can enjoy foreign things as our local products." [ 19]
The liberal academic conditions formed under Athens' democratic politics and the atmosphere of allowing individuals to develop freely and comprehensively made Athens' science and culture flourish unprecedentedly. The main schools of contemporary western philosophy, as well as disciplines such as ethics, aesthetics, logic, political science and law, can be traced back to Greek culture centered on Athens. In addition, the Athenians also made outstanding contributions in mathematics, medicine and other scientific fields. Therefore, Perikles proudly said in a speech, (Our city is a school all over Greece. "[20]
The most striking thing is the patriotic enthusiasm of Athenian citizens under this system. In the marathon, Athenian soldiers were able to defeat the Persian army six times their own. It would be unthinkable if they did not have great courage and wisdom to defend their own system. It was the democratic system and lifestyle of the Athenian city-state that inspired the Athenians to fight for it generously and die peacefully, "because they shuddered at the thought of losing this city-state." [2 1]
2. The influence of Athenian democracy.
The political system of the ancient Athens city-state created the first democratic politics in human history and provided a historical prototype for the analysis and research of modern democratic politics. Studying democracy in Athens helps us to understand the meaning and content of democracy.
Under its guidance, the later era:
The political principle of "everyone is equal before the law"
(B) the organizational form of "separation of powers" of state organs
Decision-making principle of "minority obeys majority"
(4) the principle of term of office in national public office election.
Are based on this.
For details, please refer to this article: The Characteristics of Athenian Democracy and Its Influence on Western Democracy.
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3. Several politicians who led Athens to the road of commercial democracy.
The formation and development of Athenian democracy has a process of emergence and development. The glory of laying the foundation of democracy in Athens belongs to Solon.
Before Solon, gentlemen and nobles were the rulers of Athens. During this period, the aristocratic meeting had supreme authority, and the appointment of "senior state officials" such as king consuls and military consuls was based on family status and wealth; And it was originally for life, but later it was changed to ten years. [2] The poor in Athens (the protected people and the "June 1st" Han) are not only powerless politically, but also threatened by slavery at any time, because the "June 1st" Han who can't afford the land rent wants to use his own body or children as collateral, while the debtor's loan should be secured by his own person. The hardships of Athenian civilians and their opposition to the repayment of the privileges of the old clan nobles caused fierce struggles between Athenian civilians (industrial and commercial slave owners, small farmers, craftsmen and the poor) and the old clan nobles.
The draconian code promulgated in 62 1 BC has shown that the civilian power in Athens has increased, but the descendants of nobles still enjoy exclusive rule over the country.
Athens, in the crisis of fierce struggle between city-state civilians and aristocratic descendants, urgently needs to establish a new order. In 594 BC, Solon, who was elected as the chief consul, undertook the important task of establishing this new order. Solon, who was born a commoner and became rich in business, tried to establish a system that could accommodate all parties. Its purpose is for civilians, "freedom cannot be excessive, and coercion cannot be excessive."
Solon issued a rescission order, which invalidated the debt and removed the debt tablet on the debtor's land; Solon announced that life insurance for debts would be banned forever and debt slavery was abolished. Solon confirmed the legality of private property, land division and sale, and stipulated the maximum amount of land occupation. All these declared the personal freedom of the Athenians and liberated the poor in Athens.
At the same time, Solon carried out a series of political reforms. All Attica citizens are divided into four grades according to their legal property qualifications (based on real estate income); Rich peasants, knights, middle peasants and poor peasants. The annual land income of the first three grades is 500,300 and 200 Medina respectively (each Medina is about 465,438+0 liters). Those who have no land income or income below 200 Medina are poor. The citizens' assembly is the highest authority, and all adult Athenian citizens, including the poorest, have the right to participate. The citizens' assembly is responsible for legislating, deciding on war and peace, and electing the highest officials of the country. A new 400-member committee was set up to propose bills for the citizens' assembly and handle daily affairs.
Solon also founded the "jury court" as the judicial organ of Athens, and any citizen can appeal to the jury court.
Solon's reform means the failure of the aristocratic descendants who once enjoyed hereditary privileges, and marks the rise of the wealthy industrial and commercial slave class and the victory of this class with the free peasants, craftsmen and poor people in Athens. Despite the existence of property privileges, the poor in Athens can participate in the political life of the country and play an important role in defending their own interests in legislative and judicial activities. But the struggle is far from over, and Solon's absence from the founding of the country is not stable. After Solon left office, the plain faction composed of aristocratic descendants who opposed Solon's reform and the non-sea faction composed of businessmen and craftsmen who adhered to Solon's system were still struggling fiercely. At the same time, the mountain-dwelling faction formed by mountain farmers also participated in this struggle, demanding further reform and redistribution of land. Finally, the Athenian regime fell into the hands of Petrato. Although he was expelled twice, Petrato finally established a tyrant politics. This autocratic politics is obviously a reaction to the system founded by Solon. Therefore, although Petrato is "gentle in handling state affairs" and "kind and gentle in everything to lawbreakers, he lends money to the poor" [3], his regime cannot last long after all. The political history of the tyrant ended after 49 years.
In 509-508 BC, Cleisthenes further reformed Solon's legislation. According to the principle of region, all Attica residents are re-divided into ten tribes (three sub-regions), and each tribe occupies one district in the inland, coastal and suburban areas of Asia. This disrupted the old household registration and weakened the influence of aristocratic descendants in the old tribes and clans. The 500-member Council was re-established to replace Solon's 400-member Council, and citizens of the fourth grade also had the right and opportunity to participate in the Council.
Cleisthenes's reform made the aristocratic oligarchy lose its power. However, around the national political system, the struggle between Democrats and oligarchs has not ended. After the Persian War, when Perikles came to power, the authority of the aristocratic meeting was almost completely abolished. Therefore, democracy in Athens entered its heyday.
During this period, the citizens' assembly (ECC), as the highest organ of state power, was responsible for passing laws, solving problems such as war and peace, food supply in the city-state, listening to reports from consuls and other heads, examining and supervising state officials, examining and finally determining cases in jury courts, and deciding all other major affairs of the country. The general assembly is held about four times a month, and full freedom of speech is allowed in the general assembly. Therefore, the Athenians established a form of government in which citizens were free and equal and sovereignty belonged to all citizens.