Athenian
democracy was created after the age of
the tyrants as an attempt to create a system of
government which was governed
and shaped by the citizenry of Athens. With this in mind, one of
its major
tasks was to prevent an oligarchy or a single person from seizing power, and
it
contained several safeguards designed to counteract a perceived accretion
of power.
One of these was the idea of ostracism. Athens
had a procedure enshrined within its
laws which allowed the citizenry to vote
whether or not to banish a citizen from Athens for a
span of ten years. This
practice was intended to give Athenians a chance to counteract
individuals
who were becoming too prominent or influential or powerful, to the point where
they
might become a threat to the democracy itself.
In
addition, the Athenians
made use of a lottery system when it came to the
selection of individuals for public service, to
ensure there was randomness
to the selection. This is in sharp contrast to modern democratic
values...
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