When Did Democracy become possible?

Ah, behold! Democracy! Such a rare unicorn in the historical zoo. The number of times when democracy revealed itself in history can be counted on two hands, and only became the norm in recent years. Our history is a stage filled to the brim with kings, queens, nobles, oligarchs, and only God knows how many Henries had once held the throne.  

But why is that the case? 

Have you ever wondered why democracy is so scarce when compared to oligarchy and monarchy?  

Well, I don’t care whether you’ve ever wondered or not. In this article, I will explore and discuss democracy through history with you, and hopefully shed some light on our ancestors’ achievements to achieve a majority-ruled society.  

The word ‘democracy’ first came about in ancient Athens, which was ‘Demos Kratos’ back then. ‘Demos’ means ‘citizens of a city state’, and ‘Kratos’ means ‘power’. Nowadays democracy means a system of government by the whole population or members of state, typically by electing representatives.  

Using this definition, it becomes clear that democracy is an extremely difficult political structure to organize. Millions of opinions need to be collected by central administrative systems and sorted into different political beliefs and parties to push forward a representative body to rule. Our generation was blessed with wonderful tech wizardry. Communication methods were extremely inefficient before those came into being. Wanna travel? Horses. Delivering mail? Horses. Or ox, if you can wait. Let me also remind you that fancy high-tech recordings don’t exist - votes must be collected by carves on stone blocks or inks on bamboo pieces, which are the dumbbells of ancient messaging, making them unrealistic to carry around en masse, even if we ignore the stark cost of those in our ancient societies.  

Of course, democracy is relatively easy in a quaint village of 100, being as simple as “raise your hand if you agree”. No need for Amazon Prime-style delivery services because everyone lives close enough. Counting those votes is also relatively easy because the numbers are small.  

However, communication obstacles become more vivid as civilizations rise in size. You're dealing with a complex system that's more tangled than a cat in Christmas lights if you ever want democracy in an ancient society. Imagine an empire of millions, with remote regions thousands of miles away from the capital. The sheer difficulty of delivering votes written on bamboo is almost otherworldly absurd. How many horses will we need? How much bamboo will we need? Furthermore, the more complicated a system is, the more susceptible it is to failure and corruption. In an age without verification methods, votes can easily be forged. Oh, did I mention that situations such as “Oops the warehouse storing votes suddenly went up in flames now I am the ruler” can happen? Such frauds are even prominent in the modern age. Take Xi’s election in 2023 in China as an example, which saw the “people’s representatives” voting for Xi as the next chairman with no objections and no abstains. Trust me when I say this, but democracy in ancient civilization would have caused more chaos than aristocratic rule. All those who can would start fighting for power in a way that is catastrophic beyond imagination.  

Another difficulty that democracy faces is the slow decision-making process. Our history is plagued from tip to toe by wars, famines, uprisings, etc. Quick decisions are not only wanted but demanded, to struggle through difficult situations.  

“Sir, there is a famine in Brandenburg!”  

“Wait 4 months before we take any action. The votes from Berlin have not been collected yet. We cannot distribute emergency food to the population just yet.”  

“But sir, the people would have starved to death in 4 months!”  

Democracy falls short in comparison.  

Not to say, democracy was not always the desired political structure in the first place. In agricultural societies, people were almost always focused on basic survival. A flood could ruin a harvest, a drought could ruin a harvest, an evil landlord could ruin a harvest, and a ruined harvest could starve the lives of countless. Who will ever be interested in political participation, if they struggle to put food on the table? Furthermore, a group of farmers untrained in politics can only ruin political atmospheres and structures due to their lack of understanding of affairs, leading to chaos that is comparable to today’s USA.  

This isn’t to say that democracy did not exist in the past, with examples being Athens (~ 5 BCE. A city-state in ancient Greece), the Roman Republic (~ 5 BCE. The republic only had some features of democracy in its governmental system: Roman and only Roman citizens are allowed to elect some officials that manages infrastructure, finance and administration; but have no say over law and military. Furthermore, the local governments are ruled almost entirely by magistrates), and some folkmoots in the middle ages. I will take the democracy in Athens as an example, to discuss how it existed and how it bypassed flaws.  

Democracy in Athens was a direct democracy: all representatives could vote directly on an issue or a candidate, instead of voting for representatives to rule on your behalf. The Ecclesia, or the gathering-of-those-summoned, had 6000 citizens, who were drawn completely randomly from its 30000 citizen volunteers. Any of those 6000 representatives can address their fellow citizens, propose a law, or address the lawsuit. Ancient Athens then created a council called Boule that oversaw the Ecclesia: 500 oligarchs who could veto proposals and formalize the reasonable ones. The Boule is then overseen by hundreds of Jurors and magistrates to handle military and legal issues.  

The Greeks did what the rest of the world couldn’t do. They managed to bypass the potential flaws of democracy, while still accepting the opinions of the mass. First of all, the city-state of Athens was not a large region. Representatives and opinions can be easily collected and counted, which removes the communication and logistics obstacles. Such feat was in large empires such as the ancient China impossible. Second of all, its military power was concentrated in the hands of magistrates, which meant that decision-making could be fast and efficient. Third and lastly, the Boule can cover all lack of political understanding of the citizens, making sure that the suggestions made by the Ecclesia are reasonable, so that the administrative structure do not waste time debating fruitless suggestions. Such a sophisticated yet simple political structure is very rare to find in history, lasting 180 years till the Lamian war. What is funny is that the citizens had voted against the democratic institution twice, both times in war, both times under manipulation and pressure. Although democracy was threatened, both times it recovered itself in less than a year, proving the faith the citizens had in the system.  

However, how effective was the democracy? Unfortunately, we have no records of how big of a role the Ecclesia played in decision-making. They were at the literal bottom of the political pyramid; their opinions could be easily vetoed by higher powers. If we think about it, important power was still concentrated in the hands of oligarchs and aristocrats, not in the people. Their opinions are mere suggestions at best, although that in itself is a massive improvement. Furthermore, the 30000 citizens were only a fraction of the Athenian population, with women, ethnic groups, and slaves excluded from full citizen rights. Did the Ecclesia really represent the opinion of the masses, or did it just serve as a ceremonial part of the Athenian government? We could never know.  

The obstacles of democracy are mostly overcome in today’s world in developed countries such as UK or Canada. Internet and validation methods popped the logistic nightmare; political education removed knowledge barriers; and people genuinely started to care about political involvement as they find it easier and easier to put food on the table. However, it cannot be taken for granted. Next time you cast a vote for the post, remember how lucky we are to be born in a society that accepts and practices functional democracy, and think about the greatness that humanity had achieved.