About the year 1000 BC, in the area of today's Greece, after long and hard fights the first city-states (polis) started to arise. As a result Greece was divided into: Doric part (Sparta), Achaian part (Arcadia) and Ionic part (Attica). From these three cultures the Spartan culture had the lowest status, although when we look at its military potential, it was the other way round.
Achaians and Ionians owed their independence to exceptionally inaccessible, mountainous terrain only because in battle they were always beaten by primitive Spartans. Fortunately a group of Ionians survived and thank to that, some time later, the world got the opportunity to be proud of special system of government called democracy.
Athenian democracy
Athenian democracy was established as a result of continuous reorganizations. The name comes from demos - people and kratos - power, so literally power of the people.. Apart from many smaller changes, it was mainly based on the opportunity for all citizens over 20 to take part in governing the country. Athenian democracy also had weak sides, like limited possibility of taking part in the Assembly of Citizens for people living outside Athens. Peasants, especially during harvest, could not take part in voting because of distance they would have to cover to vote. Solution of this problem was delegating a representative from each village who would take care of interests of food producers.
The pace of making decisions was criticised by Plato and Aristotle, because it was of high importance in those turbulent times. In a situation when the state was in danger, despite the existence of the strategist's office, the most important decisions had to be made in the Assembly which was not always reasonable.
One of the main advantages of Athenian democracy was that the archon and his eight assistants were elected annually. It was possible to prolong the rule for the next term but in case of any abnormalities a quick change of government took place.
The biggest advantage of democracy in polis was the general possibility of taking part in public life for all free citizens. Undoubtedly it helped the citizens of Athens to broaden their minds, their cultural awareness and, what was probably most important, to develop intellectually;
(^_^)>http://www.ancient-greece.us/democracy.html
The Greeks - Crucible of Civilization:
(^_^)>http://docuwiki.net/index.php?title=The_Greeks_-_Crucible_of_Civilization
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