The Qualities and Workings of Direct Democracy: Lessons from Classical Athens

Abstract

Drawing on classical Athens the paper outlines the qualities and workings of direct democracy to provide a simple model of public choice in policy-making. In particular, the paper conceptualizes Athenian democracy as an institution which is founded on two pillars: public discourse and public ideology. The former refers to the reciprocal communication between citizens enabling, inter alia, the integration of diverse knowledge and the coordination of collective action. The latter refers to a pragmatic set of social values (i.e. emerged dialectically as a result of ongoing collective experiences) enabling to reduce diversity of thought and behavior and with it many of the collective-action problems that communities encounter. On the basis of these, direct democracy as an institution is able to internalize the costs and benefits of decision-making, to actively engage citizens in the political and policy-making process, to enhance the community’s knowledge base, and to deliver cooperative and innovative solutions to matters of public concern.