Is "demokratía" Similar to Democracy? Contemporary Readings of Athenian Democracy

Abstract

In this article I will examine two important contemporary approaches to Athenian Democracy. These two confronted scholarly interpretations have shed a new light on classic democracy: Mogens H. Hansen studied institutions as basis for democratic power, while Josiah Ober analysed rhetorical texts in an attempt to reconstruct popular ideology. In his view, popular ideology is responsible for political dominion of the demos over the elite. In order to identify the theoretical filiation of each position I will tackle a second question: that of whether the Greek polis is a state or a stateless society. I conclude by arguing that Hansen’s reading is closer to the liberal historiography of G. Grote, while Ober’s is closely related to anthropological and communitarian readings.