Ancient Athens and Democracy II

I. Athens and warfare

a)    Persian wars

b)    Delian League

c)    Peloponnesian wars

d)    Violence and democracy?

II. Democracy and Classical Political Thought.

a)    Thucydides

·       Democracy and vitality

·       Democracy, demagoguery and manipulation

b)    Plato

·       The Republic and democracy

·       The polis and its balanced parts

c)    Aristotle

·       Necessary and integral parts

III. Why so much disagreement?

          a) citizenship and the role of the peasantry & poor

          b) tension between two understandings of the polis

·       Polis as organizational tool for dominant groups