Roots Of Democracy Essay

Democracy The roots of Democracy can be traced back to the year 508 BC, when Cleisthenes, put in power by the people, put into effect major political reforms in Athens. In 462 BC a Direct Democracy was introduced by Pericles to the Athenian people which allowed them to vote and participate in the administration of the state. Direct Democracy has two preconditions, “The community must be small enough for citizens to be capable of attending debates and voting on issues. And its economy must give these citizens enough leisure to engage in politics” (Gascoigne, 2001). Today, Direct Democracies have been replaced with representative ones. The evolution towards Representative Democracies occurred in various societies during the time between the Athenian established Democracies and modern Democracies. Following the ancient Greeks, the Romans won the right to elect their own officials and entering into the 1st century AD, Scandinavians utilized things (a meeting of …show more content…
Communism is based on the principle of each according to their needs. “The government will provide what people need and through advances in technology everyone will have an abundance to consume” (Glen, n.d.). Unlike Democracy, Communism is both a political and social ideology while a Democracy is only a political one. In a Democracy, the people have the power, deciding everything equally by majority vote. Ownership of property is not allowed in Communism, everything is public property and the government regulates what can be used by whom. Democracies believe in the individual ownership of personal property with limited government ownership of production assets decided by majority vote (Glen, n.d.). Other important aspects of government that differ include freedom of choice, access to services, religion, and key economic principles. Broken down, Communism and Democracy differ in their ideology, philosophy, and human