ATHENIAN DEMOCRACY vs AMERICAN DEMOCRACY

It signifies freedom and equality. While democracy dates back to ancient Phoenicia, Mesopotamia, and India. It was believed to have originated in ancient Greece specifically in Athens. The Athenian type of democracy was known as the direct democracy (Thornton, 1) there are two main types of democracy direct democracy and representative democracy. Direct democracy is also referred to as pure democracy. (wright, 14) This is in complete contrast to the American democratic system where the president is the head of the executive. Further, Citizens in representative democracies elect a government official from any political party who is supposed to represent them in congress or senate. Their role is to propose laws that are of help to the public that elected them. Although it is assumed that representatives act on behalf of the people they do not always follow what the community wants.

(Thornton, 2) Besides, there were also some political parties in the Athenian democracy, but the chosen leaders made sure that the decisions of the majority were upheld. It appears to be more of a select club that is facilitated by the slave population. Additionally, it is believed that the success of this system was because Athens was a great profitable empire and this kept money flowing into the city. Nevertheless one should not be too smug to think that the American democracy appropriately represents the idea of democracy. The same way we may view Athenian democracy is the same way an ancient Athenian might view American democracy. It is practiced in Switzerland which approves laws using a single majority in the town, city, and canton levels and a double majority in the national level.