Demokratia

"The excellent collection of essays edited by Ober and Hedrick rewards the reader with a state-of-the-art survey from different perspectives on the topic of ancient democracy: what characterizes all the essays is the constant attention to the lesson that modern democracy can learn from looking back to its ancestral model."

Auteur

Josiah Ober is the David Magie Professor of Ancient History in the Classics Department of Princeton University. Charles Hedrick is Associate Professor of History at the University of California, Santa Cruz.

Texte du rabat

This book is the result of a long and fruitful conversation among practitioners of two very different fields: ancient history and political theory. The topic of the conversation is classical Greek democracy and its contemporary relevance. The nineteen contributors remain diverse in their political commitments and in their analytic approaches, but all have engaged deeply with Greek texts, with normative and historical concerns, and with each others' arguments. The issues and tensions examined here are basic to both history and political theory: revolution versus stability, freedom and equality, law and popular sovereignty, cultural ideals and social practice. While the authors are sharply critical of many aspects of Athenian society, culture, and government, they are united by a conviction that classical Athenian democracy has once again become a centrally important subject for political debate. The contributors are Benjamin R. Barber, Alan Boegehold, Paul Cartledge, Susan Guettel Cole, W. Robert Connor, Carol Dougherty, J. Peter Euben, Mogens H. Hansen, Victor D. Hanson, Carnes Lord, Philip Brook Manville, Ian Morris, Martin Ostwald, Kurt Raaflaub, Jennifer Tolbert Roberts, Barry S. Strauss, Robert W. Wallace, Sheldon S. Wolin, and Ellen Meiksins Wood.

Résumé
Looks at a conversation among practitioners of two very different fields: ancient history and political theory. The topic of the conversation is classical Greek democracy and its contemporary relevance.

Contenu

AcknowledgmentsAbbreviationsContributorsIntroduction: Democracies Ancient and Modern3The Strong Principle of Equality and the Archaic Origins of Greek Democracy19Shares and Rights: "Citizenship" Greek Style and American Style49Transgression, Equality, and Voice63The Ancient Athenian and the Modern Liberal View of Liberty as a Democratic Ideal91Law, Freedom, and the Concept of Citizens' Rights in Democratic Athens105Demos versus "We, the People": Freedom and Democracy Ancient and Modern121Equalities and Inequalities in Athenian Democracy139Comparatively Equal175Athenian Equality: A Constant Surrounded by Flux187Resistance to Change in the Law at Athens203Civil Society, Dionysiac Festival, and the Athenian Democracy217Oath Ritual and the Male Community at Athens227Democratic Contradictions and the Synoptic Illusion of Euripides' Ion249Aristotle and the Idea of Liberal Education271Hoplites into Democrats: The Changing Ideology of Athenian Infantry289The Athenian Trireme, School of Democracy313Reading Democracy: "Socratic" Dialogues and the Political Education of Democratic Citizens327Misreading Democracy: Peter Euben and the Gorgias361Ancient Greek Democracy and the Modern Knowledge-Based Organization: Reflections on the Ideology of Two Revolutions377Bibliography401Index449