Ancient Greek Thought and Its Relationship with Democratic Politics

The basic characteristics of Athenian democracy: all citizens are rulers, participate in politics and collectively control the supreme power of the country; Relatively equal within the citizens' collective; The law is supreme. (2) Historical function: attaching importance to individual freedom and sense of responsibility of citizens; It has created the Greek national character of thirst for knowledge and willingness to explore, and the space created by its democratic atmosphere has made ancient Greece achieve brilliant achievements in many cultural fields. The theory and practice of Athenian democracy laid the initial foundation for the modern western political system. (3) The essence and limitations of Athenian democracy: Athenian democracy maintains the dominant position and interests of slave owners and nobles, and its essence is based on slavery and is the democracy of a few people. Democracy in Athens is only a political system of "adult male citizens are the masters of the country". Democracy is out of reach for women, foreigners and slaves. It is different from modern democracy, which stifles and restricts the self-development ability of another part of society and has great limitations. 4. Athenian democracy is the product of small countries and few people, and only a few people really enjoy democracy. Excessive direct democracy has gradually become a hidden danger of political corruption and social unrest. Coupled with the chaos within the city-state and the war between the city-States, the narrow city-state system is difficult to match the rapidly developing political economy, and the city-state democracy inevitably declines. Conquered by the Kingdom of Macedonia in 338 BC. The democratic politics of Greek city-states are lost in the dust of history.