The Constitutional Limitation of Power: A Study on the Athenian Democratic Assembly during the Peloponnesian War
Abstract
The Peloponnesian War was a large scale conflict between the Peloponnesian League and the Delian League, the former being led by Sparta and the latter by Athens. Its consequences shook the Hellenic world, but the case of Athens is particularly interesting, given that it led to the revision of the laws of Solon and Draco with the result of giving legislative bounds to the assembly, limiting its power in what can be considered a constitutional milestone. The goal of this paper is to explain where did this need for legislative bounds came from. My hypothesis is that it arose from both the questioning of democratic principles, related to civic liberty, and the need to safekeeping them.
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