Emily Wilson: evaluation

Transcript context

…Well, is it like a democracy, but simply fewer people vote and the rulers are responsive to public opinion? Or does the agenda setter have all the power? What’s your vision of how ancient Athenian democracy, at its peak, worked? For those who were citizens, it was, in a way, much more democratic than our system — which is representational democracy — because, of course, everybody who was a citizen had a voice in the assembly, was able to speak directly to those who were in power. Several offices were elected by lot, such that anybody, regardless of background — aristocratic or not aristocratic background, or regardless of wealth — could, in theory, become one of the generals or one of the leaders of the assembly. Of course, also, it was a tiny fraction of the population of Athens that was a citizen. Of course, most of the population were enslaved and were not citizens. Women weren’t being appointed to be generals or leaders in the assembly. The critique that many of our sources from Athens are, in a number of different ways, hostile to democracy — the critique that you find in Plato, for example — has a lot to do with the idea that, because it depends so much on the will of the people, and the people aren’t necessarily educated people, they’re easily swayed by demagoguery. And, of course, in an age of the internet, we can see how people are still easily swayed by all kinds of different voices. Should we consider electing politicians by lot today? Is it such a crazy idea?…

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