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Summary HISPO QUIZ 1: ALL READINGS + LECTURE NOTES
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Quiz 1: Lectures 3 + 4 and readings
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Lecture 1Who should rule? (not exhaustive)
1. The people (you might be able to prevent revolts
2. The elderly (they are experienced and may have more knowledge)
3. The king/queen (new ruler comes into power based on succession)
4. The elected (this may be the president or the cabinet)
5. The party
Another option is…. Epistemocracy → expert rule
Episteme = knowledge
Krateo = to rule
● This presupposes that ruling is a craft/skill or requires knowledge and competence
Context of Athens
● Athens was a popular or direct democracy
○ It was not completely democratic because children, women and slaves were still excluded
● The men would met regularly in an assembly
○ 1. Everybody was allowed to vote by raising their hand
○ 2. Everybody was allowed to speak freely (isegoria)
● For important/urgent matters there was the Boule which had 500 citizens
○ These people were chosen by lot and they served for 1 year
■ Many magistrates were also chosen by lot
● Athens is also very much a unitary state
● Separation of powers
Fifth and fourth century Athens
● In order to subsidize a few hundred people a year to rule the city, Athens requires enough money
● The Athenians became wealthy by being a benevolent naval empire
● Athens and Sparta defeated the Persian invasion
● After the war with Persia, the Athenians used their navy to conquer the Eastern medditeraism
● They created voluntarily alliances
● The Athenains would be their alliance if they gave them silver or ships
● After a decade of this, Athens was extremely wealthy and had a flourishing economy
● Athens used the money to create buildings and pay the Athenian navy a salary
○ And pay Athenian citizens subsidies to help rule the place
● The good times did not last because Sparta was not happy with Athens rising to power
● Not everyone was happy with a democracy
○ There was a war between Sparta and Athens and the Athenians lost badly due to the plague
■ Socrates fought in these wars
■ At the end of the war, Sparta installed a dictatorship (Thirty Tyrants)
, ● Many of these thirty tyrants included students from Socrates
● Greece was a naval force
● Athens never became as powerful as before and Athens by defeated by
○ Philips the I
○ And later Alexander the Great
The Ship of State Analogy
At least 10 Platonic criticism of popular democracy
1. Democracy leads to dissensus [disorder]
2. Self rule generates overconfidence in each of us [reign of false]
3. Citizens lack expertise [reign of false]
4. The masses deny the existence of political expertise [reign of false]
5. They threaten to kill anybody who claims intellectual superiority [anarchy, disorder]
6. Everybody wants to rule → this leads to murderous conflict [disorder]
7. The masses incite revolutions and steal property [disorder]
8. With the masses in control there is much rudderless pleasure [disorder]
9. The people are susceptible to flattery and demagogues [reign of false]
10. The masses call demagogues ‘skilled’ [reign of false]
Some evaluative comments
● Our desires are adjusted to the possibilities. We do not naturally want to rule
● However, if we have the opportunity to do so we would want to
● Our preferences are shaped by the opportunities we might have available to us
○ This may also be referred to as Stockholm syndrome
● If sufficient people want to be in control then it is possible for Socrates to make the analogy
● Plato associates democracy with value pluralism
○ Value pluralism = existence of conflicting and incompatible values
● This natural democatic value pluralism is a consequence of the instability of human appetite
● It has been argued that value pluralism is a modern concept due to the division of labor
○ Workers in one industry are shaped by different places in society and value different things
○ Nevertheless, this is a different theory!
● Self-rule causes overconfidence
● Rhetoric and a certain type of culture may convince people that there is no political skill
● Or even worse! People believe that those who do not have any skills, actually do….
● The true danger of a demagogue is that he gets other people explicit to his beliefs
,4 theoretical problems for Epistemocracy
● 1. On what (objective) grounds is someone qualified to lead?
● 2. Who gets to decide who rules and who monitors the decision?
○ In the Republic, the rulers self-elect
○ This requires a strong public ethos and ability to select and breed for competence
● 3. Even if 1 and 2 can be met, why think the ruling experts will be accepted by the rest?
● 4. Will the experts actually rule fairly?
Aristotle
● Aristotle was a student of Plato
● Aristotle founded the Lyceum
● He became the most important thinker in the Middle Ages and he shaped the Catholic church
● The phrase ‘politics’ and ‘political theory’ is derived historically from Aristotle's works
Sortition/lottery
● Aristotle is not a great fan of democracy because it is founded on an illegitimate logic
● Even if you did not have a property qualification you could still participate in politics
● Democracy in the ancient world is NOT about elections!
● Elections are more associated with oligarchies and aristocracies
● The democratic idea for Ancient Greece was NOT elections but rather everyone had an equal say
● Naturally when a polity is small enough, equal say means to have an assembly where you vote
● As states grow and become more complicated, equal say turns into a lottery
● If you want to organize a democracy it was in terms of lottery or sorition
○ In which everyone had the equal chance of probability to rule
Challenges to sortition
● Inexperienced legislatures and as a result sub optimal performance
● If you start selecting by lot and randomly then the sample may not be representative at all
○ You might end up with a big assembly that does not represent the population at all
● In many countries today, juries are chosen by lot to create fairness is some sort of way
What is political theory?
● Politics = where power is, or could be exercised in decision making over collective ends
● Power is a means (cause) to achieve one’s ends
● Lots of things can be power (Lukes three dimensions of power!)
○ Including beliefs and theory
● Decision making involves 1. Aims 2. Means 3. Some decision procedure
,Theory
● An abstract or conceptual entity that has or may have systematic relations among its:
○ 1. Principes
○ 2. Components
○ 3. Inferences
● It can include treatises as well as narratives/epics/dialogues or even revelation
● Theory abstracts away from mere (contingents) description and offers ways to project beyond time
● It can be applied to different contexts
● Not everything is theory
Political theory
“Political theory is an abstract and potentially systematic account of the ways or means, conditions of,
and constraints on what power is or could be exercised for its collective ends
5 uses of political theory
1. Normative guidance
a. How should/ought we behave?
2. Explanation
a. Explaining how and why something happens
3. A tool to guide empirical research
a. Where to look and what to test
4. Unmasking behavior
a. The ideology behind our claims
5. Conceptual clarification
a. Offer analysis of contested or confusing concepts
Normative political theory
● Tells you how to improve on the status quo
● It can happen in terms of some utopian outcome that would involve a reorganization of society
● Theory is based on principles or institutions
, Ryan
The Glories and Failures of Democracy
● It has been said that it was surprising that the democracy of Cleisthens survived its first 3 decades
● The fifth century involved 2 great wars:
○ 1. A collective Greek triumph
○ 2. An Athenian disaster
● The persian wars lasted with intervals from 500 to 479 and at a lower level of intensity for 20 years more
● The Peloponnesian war was between 1) Athens and its allies and 2) Sparta, Corinth, and their allies
○ This war started in 431 and ended in 404
■ In this war Athens was defeated
● After 479, Athens became the main maritime power of Greece
○ Athens also became the centre of a maritime empire that embraced:
■ 1) The Aegean
■ 2) The Western Shore of Asia Minor
● Even though, Athens had experienced a defeat, it still revived during the final three-quarters of the century
○ It twice tried to recreate its Aegean empire
● Two main events put an end to democratic Athens as an independent state:
○ 1. The allied Greek forces by Phillip of Macedon at Chaeronea in 338
○ 2. A final defeat of the Athenian fleet by the forces of Macedon in the sea battle in 322
● The Persian and Peloponnesian wars shed light on the talents of two of the greatest historians
○ Both of them were also acute political commentators
■ 1. Herodotus:
● He was called the father of history
● He was called the father of lies
○ He was also known for swallowing tall stories
○ Later research shows that he usually was actually right…
■ 2. Thucydides:
● He was never accused of credulity
● He is one of the greatest political analysts of all time
● Both Herodotus and Thucydides had aristocratic sympathies
○ They believed that democracies were vulnerable to:
■ 1) Dissension
■ 2) Inconstancy
■ 3) The wiles of ambitious scoundrels
● Herodotus was impressed enough by the effectiveness of the Persian monarchy to attract the ….
● Herodotus leaves the reader surprised that Athenian democracy was coherent enough to defeat the Persians
● Thucydides leaves the reader unsurprised that the Athenian Assembly could be self-destructive
○ The history of Thucydides ends in 411, which is 7 years before the defeat of Athens
, Herodotus
● Herodotus wrote his histories to explain why Greeks and Persians were doomed to fight one another
○ He never provided a definite answer to this question however we can have a good guess
● The wars began in 500, with the revolt of Miletus and other Greek cities on the Western shores of
Asia minor.
● They had succumbed to Persian invasion earlier in the 6th century
○ They were subjects of the Persian monarchy for half a century before they revolted
■ The reason for the revolt is unclear
○ Their lives had not been affected much by subjection:
■ 1. They had to pay tribute
■ 2. Intercity relations were controlled by the Persians
○ On the other hand they were in control of their own:
■ 1. Internal government
■ 2. Religious ritual
■ 3. Economic activity
● The puzzling this is that Persian suzerainty had not become more oppressive
○ Also the cities that revolted were prosperous
● It may have been a revolt of the prosperous and confident, not a lashing out by the wretched
Athens
● Athens sent twenty triremes, however the motivation behind this remains obscure
○ The Athenians cited ties to former colonies and “Ionian” loyalties
■ However, such ties were usually treated lightly
● Herodotus believed that the conflict between democratic Athens and despotic Persia was inevitable
○ Writers after WWII, agreed with Herodotus that democracies and autocracies cannot co-exist
● The visible presence of democratic governments inspires subjugated people to think of freedom
● Oppressive regimes may expand their frontiers to prevent their democratic neighbours from influence
○ However, in reality theses tensions were never as intense and severe as described here
■ Greeks and Persians allied with one another for their own ends
● This has been proven by the Pelloponesian war
Revolt in Asia Minor
● The revolt in Asia Minor was put to an end in 494 and the Athenians saw they had a dangerous enemy
● The first attempt by Darius’ I to invade in 492 was unsuccessful and a storm wrecked his fleet
● In 491, the Persians demanded “Earth and Water” signs of submissions from:
○ 1. The Aegean islands
○ 2. The mainland cities
■ Many submitted.
■ Athens and Sparta did not only stand firm but also murdered the Persian ambassadors
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