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Gonzalo Quiroga
PS 169
Professor Treisman
April 28, 2014
Was Ancient Athens a True Democracy?
In the last century, democratic governments have multiplied around the world.
Nowadays, more than half the countries in the world are consider democracies.
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Freedom of
speech, property rights and free elections are some of the features of a democratic state.
However, democracies need to have strong independent institutions and separation of powers, in
order to prevent autocratic leaders. Without these important features, a democracy becomes what
Fareed Zakaria defines as an illiberal democracy. Ancient Athens its known for being among
the first democracies. Even though society participated electing council members, and a justice
court was in placed, ancient Athens lacked some key features of modern democracies. Only men
that were part of the elite were allowed to vote, and there was no system of check and balances
between the judicial and legislative branch. The lack of equal voting rights, plus an arbitrary
judiciary system without check and balances, characterized ancient Athens as an illiberal
democracy.
In The Future of Freedom, Fareed Zakaria, makes a clear distinction between a
democracy and an illiberal democracy. According to Zakaria, in the West, democracies are
defined as nations where exists a separation of powers, freedom of speech, rule of law and the
protection of certain liberties such as property and religion.

On the other hand, illiberal
democracies are those nations where a democratic elected regime ignores basic rights of its

1
Professor Treisman; Lecture 1. Political Science 169, UCLA.
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citizens.
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For Zakaria free elections are not enough to label a nation as democratic. A good
democratic leader needs to assure and protect its citizens liberties and rights, in order to create a
just society.
In order to prevent the rise of a democratic regime, a strong separation of powers with
checks and balances is needed. This kind of system would prevent a branch of the government
becoming too powerful. Without the separation of powers, the state becomes a monopoly
commanded by a leader without any restrictions. Therefore this leader will have the incentive to
rule for his convenience instead of ruling for the people. A clear example of this is happening in
Venezuela right now, where the leader is controlling the media, shutting down the opposition and
oppressing people in the streets.
Ancient Athens was a democratic society that functioned for a long time without some
key components of modern democracies. As Professor Treisman mentioned in lecture number
three, only men were considered citizens and were allowed to vote in ancient Athens. At the
same time, only members of the elite were able to hold office. The poorest class, called Thetes,
was not allowed to be part of the council or hold any state position.
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Instead of promoting
equality and social rights to everybody, ancient Athens was ruled by an oligarchical group of
men.
There were many practices in ancient Athens that were characteristic of an illiberal
democracy. As explained in class, Athenians used to hold a procedure called Ostracism. This
was a practice by which Athenians would vote to send someone on exile for ten years. There was
no legal process or reason needed, if a certain amount of votes were casted against you, then you

2
Zakaria, Fareed. The Future of Freedom: Illiberal Democracy at Home and Abroad, p. 17. (New York:
W.W. Norton, 2003. Print.
3
Professor Treisman; Lecture 3. Political Science 169, UCLA.
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would have had to leave for ten years.
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This practice was usually used against people that were
seen as a threat to the state. Even though this helped preventing tyrants from rising to power, no
proof or further reasoning was needed to convict someone. This practice clearly violated legal
rights that we enjoy in modern democracies.
Another aspect that made ancient Athens an illiberal democracy was the lack of
separation of powers and check and balances. While the main point of democracy is rule by the
people, Athenians were afraid of a single person becoming too powerful. To prevent tyrants,
there were a set of councils and assembly that were in charge of different tasks. The problem was
that there was no clear separation between the legislative and judiciary branch. The general
assembly had unlimited power, being able to execute people without following the proper legal
process. The assembly, which was composed only by members of the elite, was too powerful in
ancient Athens. This led to a democracy that was managed by the few, again, a feature of an
illiberal democracy.
Another important feature that ancient Athens lacked to be called a proper democracy
was mass media among its citizens. While in modern democracies mass media facilitates
spreading information, in ancient Athens only some people were able to interpret news. Only the
elites were actively involved in the political process and most of the population was illiterate and
uneducated. It was very hard for the poor to participate in politics, because they were not able to
read or argue with the educated elites. This issue isolated the poor from the decision making
process. Because only the elites were able to hold office and state duties, ancient Athens was an
oligarchical democracy, where the poor had no voice.
From its roots, ancient Greek thinkers believed that only the most skilled should be the
rulers. As we learned in lecture number four, Plato believed that masses needed to be ruled by a

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Professor Treisman; Lecture 3. Political Science 169, UCLA.
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philosopher king. He was a believer that only the wise people should be involved in the political
process. At the same time, Aristotle argue that poor people could expropriate the rich, therefore
only the rich and wise people should rule.
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This is a clear ideology of an illiberal democracy,
where the elites have the power to rule to their benefit, while the poor are left behind.
Another component that it is important in modern democracies is party plurality with
different ideologies. In lecture number three, professor Treisman mentioned that this feature was
not part of ancient Athens. He argued that even though there were some private clubs of citizens,
there were no political parties with a common ideology.
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In a democratic system there has to be
different parties, which can raise different ideas and solutions to societys problems. At the same
time, party plurality gives the voter more than one option to choose. However, this did not
happen in ancient Athens. Only the elites were allowed to hold office, and the poor had no option
but to stay aside.
As Zakaria explains, a nation cannot be called democratic only if their leader was elected
in free elections. After all, as Zakaria mentions, Adolf Hitler was elected in free elections.
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A
free election is an important part of democracy, but it is not everything. A leader has to make
sure that every citizen enjoys its social liberties and rights. At the same time, a democratic leader
will push for a good education system and free media. By doing so, people will be more
educated and informed. Therefore, they will be prepared to make better decisions on whom to
choose to govern the nation.
Democracy has evolved since its early forms in ancient Athens. Without a clear
separation of powers and no check and balances, state councils and assemblies were too

5
Professor Treisman; Lecture 4. Political Science 169, UCLA.
6
Professor Treisman; Lecture 3. Political Science 169, UCLA.
7
Zakaria, Fareed. The Future of Freedom: Illiberal Democracy at Home and Abroad, p. 17. (New York:
W.W. Norton, 2003. Print.
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powerful. They acted in an arbitrary way, having the power to execute and exile people without
following the proper legal process. At the same time, only the elites were allowed to hold office,
which made this system an oligarchy. The society was uneducated and there was no form of
mass media. Also, there were no political parties, so the society could not choose a leader with a
different ideology. All this elements are characteristics of what Zakaria defines as an illiberal
democracy; a democracy where the leader deprives the society from their basic liberties and
rights. Ancient Athens was clearly an example of an illiberal democracy. The lack of equality
among citizens and the violation of their liberties were distinctive of an illiberal democracy,
where only a few were ruling the society.