Preliminaries

At the end of the Cold War, democracy seems triumphant and unassailable, its universalization only a matter of time. But if democracy is being universalized, it is only because it has been trivialized to the point that it is no longer threatening to power elites around the world, who may now enjoy democratic legitimacy without the notorious inconveniences of practicing democracy.

The trivialization of democracy occurred under the pretext of sorting out a complex and confusing political concept. That was an ideological blind, however. For a political concept, democracy is uncharacteristically precise. Democracy means popular power or in a famous American restatement, government of the people, by the people for the people. The Greeks who invented it understood it in that sense. Indeed, every faction in the ideological camps of ancient Greek society including conservatives such as Aristotle agreed on this definition despite their strong political disagreements. They also operationalized it meticulously in practical political arrangements. They left us not only a precise and non-controversial definition but also a historical practice of democratic governance complete with institutions. The Athenians took democracy seriously enough to devise, at great pains, political arrangements which actually realized the ideal of popular power. All citizens formed the Sovereign Assembly whose quorum was put at 6,000. Meeting over forty times a year, it debated and took decisions on all important issues of public policy including issues of war and peace, foreign relations, public order, finance and taxation. The rigors of direct control of the people was carried to the executive function.