Democracy? What democracy?

Abstract

Historicising Claims for Democracy….it’s the Economy stu…..Historically, the democratic claim of the common people to elect representatives was, relative to feudal antecedents, revolutionary. However, the claim was disconnected with (indeed it was antithetical to) the earlier polis-based democratic system of ancient Athens from which it took its name. Keeping in mind that women, foreigners and their children, and slaves did not participate in the institutions of politics in Athens. At the same time, political representation was considered a weakness compared with the direct participation of Athenian citizens. Today, in the more universal representative system of democracy, common people only rarely participate directly, effectively barred from the institutions that protect those inside. Worse still, they are not automatically given the vote.