University of the People
HIST 1421: Greek and Roman Civilization
Written Assignment Unit - Governments in Ancient Greek city-states
Student at UoPEOPLE
January, 2017
Points to address
Compare and contrast monarchy, aristocracy, tyranny, oligarchy, and democracy as forms of government in Ancient Greek city-states
Different complex forms of governments were in practice in different city-states of ancient Greek. The five main forms of governments are monarchy, aristocracy, tyranny, oligarchy, and democracy. I will discuss what type of governments each refers to and finally what similarities and differences exist between them.
Monarchy
Monarchy is a type of government where a country has a royal family that symbolize its sovereignty. A
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When a group of people controlled the power and strips away the will of the citizens, it is called oligarchy. Megara and Thebes are some of the ancient city-states that passed through such system. This type of system could be deadly as evident in
Athens in 404 BCE (Cartwright, 2013).
Democracy
Athens is the only state characterized by having this type of system. Democracy is a form of government where the citizens has the ultimate power above all. The citizens in the ancient Greek are male person who is above 18 years of age and are not enslaved or stripped off their citizenship for some reason. The people form assembly where they are free to debate and pass laws the determine the fate (Cartwright, 2013).
The forms of government discussed above has many similarities and different that over laps with each other. This overlaps makes the one form of government to come out of the other. For instance, tyranny could emerge from oligarchy. The main difference between them is about who has the ultimate power. In democracy, the people has the power, whereas in the other forms of government the power belongs to a group of people or an individual.
b. Monarchy – rule by one where power rests in the hands of a king or queen
A second comparison that one could make is that the types of governments also have
Oligarchy is the practice of a small group of people governing the states.1 Democracy is a system of government by the whole population, or all the eligible members of a state.2 The word Democracy comes from two Greek words, demo, which means people, and kratos, which means power, literally translating into the power of the people.3 The main influential form of government in the United States ¬¬¬was democracy. Democracy was created by a magistrate in Athens named Solon in an attempt to ease social tensions between the poor and the rich citizens in Athens. The Athenians as a whole appointed Solon, who was appointed the task of easing tensions and created laws based on balance, justice and good order, which gave power to the
Absolute monarchy where a ruler man or woman has complete control over the government. Some may view monarchy as a way to keep everything under control, while most individuals view it as a way a ruler can torment his subjects to his bidding. Rulers viewed proper role of an absolute monarchy as a way to unite the people, on the other hand in their subjects perspective it was a cruel rule and the reason for their laborious life.
Another concept presented is the fact that the powers of government are granted to the government by the people, the citizens have the ability to elect government power and the government is not to become the oppressor of its
They get in charge from the bloodline. The longest they remain in charge is until they are dead because i don’t think they can quit. their laws are not made by the president their the king, queen, or empire when they get chosen then they get to make the laws and sometimes there laws don’t go well. They all aren’t treated equally they don’t have the same laws as democracy does. In the monarchy they really don’t have a voice because they really just pick who is able to be in charge of the country the countries there are Korea, and japan.
Government is an administration defined by the Constitution, but is also a constantly adjusting foundation by the efforts of its citizens. By Litherland (2014), government is defined as policies set in order to lead a body of people (p. 395). Over the span of time, the idea of government has been stretched, changed, and applied to various communities throughout both the nation and the world. Whether it was back in the eighteenth century, current, or in the very near future—government has existed and will continue to exist for its people and the nation it has built its foundation upon. With the use of multiple authors, those of: “Difference between Direct and Representative Democracy” (n.d.), “Federalism - Dividing Power between States and the
Other forms of government is Anarchy (everyone or no one) , Monarchy and Dictatorship ( ruled by one, king or queen). Two forms of government is Dictatorship and Democracy. We have direct democracy where individuals vote directly. Dictatorship is the ruling of one. Although there are different sorts of dictatorship, we have communism which is the government structure that only meets the basic needs of its population. The Monarchy dictatorship is the subcategory, where the people in power have the power by birth right and are inherited. These two types of government are totally opposite of each other and they both have their advantages and
Each type of government holds different views as to the role the leaders and citizens should perform in their country .Different types of government include, oligarchy where the government is run by the best leaders, Tyranny, where they believe those in power should have complete control over its people. In the United States of America, we believe in democracy, rule by the majority. The main problem with our type of government is maintaining it. Our government and its citizens have lost sight of their roles and responsibilities, in government.
In Greece, monarchies were found when the Mycenaeans ruled Greece during the period 2000 to 1100 BC. Monarchy is defined as a system of government where a single ruler has supreme power. The word “monarchy” comes from the Greek words “monos” meaning “single” and “archo” meaning “rule”. This single ruler, known as a king, ruled for life and passed the rule on to his heir when he died. The most famous monarchy was that of King Alexandra of Macedonia who ruled all of Greece from 336 BC.
In the modern world, most of the countries have democratic government, which means that decisions are made by the people, who rule and govern the state. However, there is not a single state that practices perfect democracy due to different reasons. Governments are too big, which makes it very complex for every citizen to have a voice in decisions. Or, governments are claimed to be democratic, but in practice they can be close to authoritarian or even totalitarian regimes where one person has a power to make and enforce laws. Political power is not allocated evenly among all members of society, so, in this or that way, governments tend to fall in the hands of the few, whom we can call the elite or the power elite.
Government is an essential part of civilization in modern and historic times. This crucial element of society has been observed in different forms. There are three main systems of governments: autocracy, oligarchy, and democracy. Which system a government belongs to is determined by who hold the sovereignty, meaning who has the supreme power and authority (“Sovereignty”). This leads to there being major differences between autocracies, oligarchies, and democracies.
Aristocratic Government – the rule by few elites. Its success is depended on the people that rule. It however degenerates into oligarchy which is when men of property take over government.
one essential conviction, expressed in the word democracy itself: that power should be in the hands of the people. Although democracy today has been slightly inefficient in this idea, with the wealthy, elite class challenging this right, “it nevertheless claims for itself a fundamental validity that no other kind of society shares….” To completely understand the structure of democracy, one must return to the roots of the practice itself, and examine the origins in ancient Greece, the expansion in the Roman Empire, and how these practices combined make what we recognize as today’s democratic government.
Government falls into two categories; monarchy or a republic. A monarchy is a form of government that is always headed by a