Matthew Landauer
- Published in print:
- 2019
- Published Online:
- May 2020
- ISBN:
- 9780226654010
- eISBN:
- 9780226653822
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Chicago Press
- DOI:
- 10.7208/chicago/9780226653822.003.0008
- Subject:
- Political Science, Political Theory
The conclusion brings together the analyses of the previous chapters to explicate the ways in which fifth- and fourth- century sources used the demos-tyrant analogy to gain analytical leverage on a ...
More
The conclusion brings together the analyses of the previous chapters to explicate the ways in which fifth- and fourth- century sources used the demos-tyrant analogy to gain analytical leverage on a cluster of political concepts, including accountability, advice, responsibility, and control. In doing so, the authors under consideration reveal themselves neither as rejectionist critics of democracy nor as engaged in a sympathetic project aiming to call Athenian democracy back to the best version of itself. Instead they used the demos-tyrant analogy, and a consideration of the politics of accountability and advice, to articulate a set of fundamental political questions and confront a series of difficult tensions political actors may face. Athenian democracy was committed both to political accountability and to a politics grounded in good counsel and frank discussion. Yet a commitment to both values does not guarantee that they will always fit neatly together or that institutions can be easily designed to facilitate both. In explicating that trade-off and dramatizing its stakes, the Greek authors discussed in the book offer reflections on politics that continue to resonate today.Less
The conclusion brings together the analyses of the previous chapters to explicate the ways in which fifth- and fourth- century sources used the demos-tyrant analogy to gain analytical leverage on a cluster of political concepts, including accountability, advice, responsibility, and control. In doing so, the authors under consideration reveal themselves neither as rejectionist critics of democracy nor as engaged in a sympathetic project aiming to call Athenian democracy back to the best version of itself. Instead they used the demos-tyrant analogy, and a consideration of the politics of accountability and advice, to articulate a set of fundamental political questions and confront a series of difficult tensions political actors may face. Athenian democracy was committed both to political accountability and to a politics grounded in good counsel and frank discussion. Yet a commitment to both values does not guarantee that they will always fit neatly together or that institutions can be easily designed to facilitate both. In explicating that trade-off and dramatizing its stakes, the Greek authors discussed in the book offer reflections on politics that continue to resonate today.
Matthew Landauer
- Published in print:
- 2019
- Published Online:
- May 2020
- ISBN:
- 9780226654010
- eISBN:
- 9780226653822
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University of Chicago Press
- DOI:
- 10.7208/chicago/9780226653822.001.0001
- Subject:
- Political Science, Political Theory
This book examines the role of the sumboulos (adviser) in Greek conceptions of both democratic and autocratic politics. The distinctive role of advisers follows from the structural similarity between ...
More
This book examines the role of the sumboulos (adviser) in Greek conceptions of both democratic and autocratic politics. The distinctive role of advisers follows from the structural similarity between the two regime types, especially with regard to accountability politics. The Athenian demos, gathered together in the assembly and in the popular courts, was understood in the fifth and fourth centuries to have competencies and powers akin to those of an autocratic ruler. In particular, both the demos and the autocrat were recognized as unaccountable rulers able to hold others, including their advisers, to account. Given the power asymmetries structuring the relationships between advisers and decision-makers in both democracies and autocracies, both practicing orators and theoretically inclined observers came to see that the problems and opportunities associated with having (or choosing) to speak to the powerful were comparable across regimes. In playing with the image of the demos as tyrant, fifth- and fourth- century authors such as Herodotus, Thucydides, Aristophanes, and Plato illuminated the logic of accountability and offered powerful accounts of the ways in which power asymmetries conditioned and at times distorted political discourse.Less
This book examines the role of the sumboulos (adviser) in Greek conceptions of both democratic and autocratic politics. The distinctive role of advisers follows from the structural similarity between the two regime types, especially with regard to accountability politics. The Athenian demos, gathered together in the assembly and in the popular courts, was understood in the fifth and fourth centuries to have competencies and powers akin to those of an autocratic ruler. In particular, both the demos and the autocrat were recognized as unaccountable rulers able to hold others, including their advisers, to account. Given the power asymmetries structuring the relationships between advisers and decision-makers in both democracies and autocracies, both practicing orators and theoretically inclined observers came to see that the problems and opportunities associated with having (or choosing) to speak to the powerful were comparable across regimes. In playing with the image of the demos as tyrant, fifth- and fourth- century authors such as Herodotus, Thucydides, Aristophanes, and Plato illuminated the logic of accountability and offered powerful accounts of the ways in which power asymmetries conditioned and at times distorted political discourse.
