Editing Democracy (section)

===Origins===

====Greece and Rome====
{{See also|Athenian democracy}}

The term ''democracy'' first appeared in ancient Greek political and philosophical thought in the city-state of [[Athens]] during [[classical antiquity]].<ref>John Dunn, ''Democracy: the unfinished journey 508 BC&nbsp;– 1993 AD'', Oxford University Press, 1994, {{ISBN|978-0-19-827934-1}}</ref>{{sfn|Raaflaub|Ober|Wallace|2007|p={{page needed|date=July 2014}} }} The word comes from ''dêmos'' '(common) people' and ''krátos'' 'force/might'.<ref>[[Luciano Canfora]], ''La democrazias:Storia di un'ideologia,'' [[Editori Laterza|Laterza]] (2004) 2018 pp.12–13</ref> Under [[Cleisthenes]], what is generally held as the first example of a type of democracy in the sixth-century BC (508–507 BC) was established in Athens. Cleisthenes is referred to as "the father of [[Athenian democracy]]".<ref>R. Po-chia Hsia, Lynn Hunt, Thomas R. Martin, Barbara H. Rosenwein, and Bonnie G. Smith, ''The Making of the West, Peoples and Cultures, A Concise History, Volume I: To 1740'' (Boston and New York: Bedford/St. Martin's, 2007), 44.</ref> The first attested use of the word democracy is found in prose works of the 430s BC, such as [[Herodotus]]' ''[[Histories (Herodotus)|Histories]]'', but its usage was older by several decades, as two Athenians born in the 470s were named Democrates, a new political name—likely in support of democracy—given at a time of debates over constitutional issues in Athens. [[Aeschylus]] also strongly alludes to the word in his play ''[[The Suppliants (Aeschylus)|The Suppliants]]'', staged in c.463 BC, where he mentions "the demos's ruling hand" [''demou kratousa cheir'']. Before that time, the word used to define the new political system of Cleisthenes was probably [[isonomia]], meaning political equality.<ref>Kurt A. Raaflaub, ''Origins of Democracy in Ancient Greece'', pp. 108, 109.</ref>
[[File:Cleisthenes.jpg|thumb|200px|Modern bust of [[Cleisthenes]], known as "the father of [[Athenian democracy]]", on view at the [[Ohio Statehouse]], Columbus, Ohio]]
Athenian democracy took the form of direct democracy, and it had two distinguishing features: the [[sortition|random selection]] of ordinary citizens to fill the few existing government administrative and judicial offices,<ref>Aristotle Book 6</ref> and a legislative assembly consisting of all Athenian citizens.<ref>{{cite book|first=Leonid E.|last=Grinin|url=http://www.socionauki.ru/book/early_state_en/|title=The Early State, Its Alternatives and Analogues|publisher=Uchitel' Publishing House|year=2004}}</ref> All eligible citizens were allowed to speak and vote in the assembly, which set the laws of the city-state. However, Athenian citizenship excluded women, slaves, foreigners (μέτοικοι / ''métoikoi''), and youths below the age of military service.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Davies|first=John K.|date=1977|title=Athenian Citizenship: The Descent Group and the Alternatives|journal=The Classical Journal|volume=73|issue=2|pages=105–121|jstor=3296866|issn=0009-8353}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.stoa.org/projects/demos/article_women_and_family?page=4|title=Women and Family in Athenian Law|website=stoa.org|access-date=1 March 2018|archive-date=1 March 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180301164428/http://www.stoa.org/projects/demos/article_women_and_family?page=4|url-status=dead}}</ref>{{Contradictory inline|Athenian democracy|date=September 2014}} Effectively, only 1 in 4 residents in Athens qualified as citizens. Owning land was not a requirement for citizenship.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Manville|first=Philip Brook|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RBcABAAAQBAJ&pg=PA94|title=The Origins of Citizenship in Ancient Athens|date=14 July 2014|publisher=Princeton University Press|isbn=978-1-4008-6083-8}}</ref> The exclusion of large parts of the population from the citizen body is closely related to the ancient understanding of citizenship. In most of antiquity the benefit of citizenship was tied to the obligation to fight war campaigns.<ref>Susan Lape, ''Reproducing Athens: Menander's Comedy, Democratic Culture, and the Hellenistic City'', Princeton University Press, 2009, p. 4, {{ISBN|978-1-4008-2591-2}}</ref>

Athenian democracy was not only ''direct'' in the sense that decisions were made by the assembled people, but also the ''most direct'' in the sense that the people through the assembly, [[Boule (ancient Greece)|boule]] and courts of law controlled the entire political process and a large proportion of citizens were involved constantly in the public business.{{sfn|Raaflaub|Ober|Wallace|2007|p=5}} Even though the rights of the individual were not secured by the Athenian constitution in the modern sense (the ancient Greeks had no word for "rights"{{sfn|Ober|Hedrick|1996|p=107}}), those who were citizens of Athens enjoyed their liberties not in opposition to the government but by living in a city that was not subject to another power and by not being subjects themselves to the rule of another person.{{sfn|Clarke|Foweraker|2001|pp=194–201}}

[[Range voting]] appeared in [[Sparta]] as early as 700 BC. The [[Ecclesia (Sparta)|Spartan ecclesia]] was an assembly of the people, held once a month, in which every male citizen of at least 20 years of age could participate. In the assembly, Spartans elected leaders and cast votes by range voting and shouting (the vote is then decided on how loudly the crowd shouts). [[Aristotle]] called this "childish", as compared with the stone voting ballots used by the Athenian citizenry. Sparta adopted it because of its simplicity, and to prevent any biased voting, buying, or cheating that was predominant in the early democratic elections.<ref>Terrence A. Boring, ''Literacy in Ancient Sparta'', Leiden Netherlands (1979). {{ISBN|978-90-04-05971-9}}</ref>
[[File:Austria Parlament Athena bw.jpg|thumb|upright|Statue of [[Athena]], the patron goddess of [[Athens]], in front of the [[Austrian Parliament Building]]. Athena has been used as an international symbol of freedom and democracy since at least the late eighteenth century.<ref>{{cite book|last=Deacy|first=Susan|author-link=Susan Deacy|title=Athena|location=London and New York|publisher=Routledge|date=2008|isbn=978-0-415-30066-7|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kIiCAgAAQBAJ&q=Athena+and+Ares+Darmon&pg=PA163|pages=145–49}}</ref>]]
Even though the [[Roman Republic]] contributed significantly to many aspects of democracy, only a minority of Romans were citizens with votes in elections for representatives. The votes of the powerful were given more weight through a system of [[weighted voting]], so most high officials, including members of the [[Roman Senate|Senate]], came from a few wealthy and noble families.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://annourbis.com/Ancient-Rome/8rome10.html|title=Ancient Rome from the earliest times down to 476 A.D|publisher=Annourbis.com|access-date=22 August 2010}}</ref> In addition, the [[Overthrow of the Roman monarchy|overthrow of the Roman Kingdom]] was the first case in the Western world of a polity being formed with the explicit purpose of being a [[republic]], although it did not have much of a democracy. The Roman model of governance inspired many political thinkers over the centuries.<ref>{{harvnb|Livy|De Sélincourt|2002|p=34}}</ref>

====Ancient India ====
[[Vaishali (ancient city)|Vaishali]], capital city of the [[Vajjika League]] (Vrijji [[mahajanapada]]) of [[Ancient India|India]], is considered one of the first examples of a [[republic]] around the 6th century BC.<ref>{{cite book|last=Bindloss|first=Joe|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=T7ZHUhSEleYC&q=Vaishali&pg=PA556|title=India: Lonely planet Guide|author2=Sarina Singh|publisher=[[Lonely Planet]]|year=2007|isbn=978-1-74104-308-2|page=556}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Hoiberg|first=Dale|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DPP7O3nb3g0C&q=Vaishali&pg=PA208|title=Students' Britannica India, Volumes 1-5|author2=Indu Ramchandani|publisher=Popular Prakashan|year=2000|isbn=978-0-85229-760-5|page=208}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Kulke|first=Hermann|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TPVq3ykHyH4C&q=Vaishali&pg=PA57|title=A history of India|author2=Dietmar Rothermund|publisher=Routledge|year=2004|isbn=978-0-415-32919-4|page=57}}</ref>

====Americas====
Other cultures, such as the [[Iroquois]] in the Americas also developed a form of democratic society between 1450 and 1660 (and possibly in 1142{{sfn|Mann|Fields|1997}}), well before contact with the Europeans. This democracy continues to the present day and is the world's oldest standing representative democracy.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Lightfoot|first=Sheryl R.|date=2021|title=Decolonizing Self-Determination: Haudenosaunee Passports and Negotiated Sovereignty|journal=European Journal of International Relations|volume=27|issue=4|page=978|doi=10.1177/13540661211024713|issn=1354-0661|s2cid=237710260}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|last=Communications|title=Government|url=https://www.haudenosauneeconfederacy.com/government/|access-date=2022-05-19|website=Haudenosaunee Confederacy}}</ref>

====Africa====
{{Main|Gadaa}}