Реферат: Democracy Essay Research Paper DemocracyI

person or party. Other features like free elections, and majority/ minority rule, help

to make elections fair, since the judgment of many people is generally better then

the judgment of a few people. Political parties keep one government, or idea of

government form holding all power. These features let the people to govern

themselves without the country being torn apart.

There are two true types of democracies, direct democracies, and

representative democracies. In a direct democracy all the people meet to discuss

problems and creat laws. A direct decision consults all the people for the

decisions.. Since that is unpractical in todays world, a new form of democracy, the

representative democracy has arisen. This form of democracy has elected

representatives making most of the day to day decisions, while the main groups of

citizens consulted for only the most important decisions.

One of the earliest known democracies was in Athens, a city-state in

southern, ancient Greece. Around 620BC, Athens became the first true democracy.

In Athens the ruler Draco tried to make many reforms in the city state. Draco

organized laws by putting them in a written code, letting everyone know what the

laws were and how they applied to everyone. He also gave the people the right to a

trial. The next ruler Solon, the next Athenian ruler also helped Athens become a

democracy. He also wrote many reforms into the laws and gave all citizens the

right to vote, an important step in the origins of democracy. Some of his reforms

created problems for other people, who wanted to become citizens. In 500BC,

Athens looked like a modern democracy. The main lawmaking body was known as

the assembly, and all free male citizens could be in the assembly. The assembly met

about forty times a year to discuss and vote on the issues. The council of 500,

which was made of volunteers from all ten districts, helped sort out the assembly s

business. An even smaller council, a counsel of fifty men, made the daily decisions

of the city-state. The largest problem of Athens democracy were that only a few of

the people could become citizens, therefore limiting the power to a small group.

This problem caused many slaves, and other non-landowners to be disappointed.