Politics: Antiquity and Its Legacy
- ISBN-10
- 1845118456
- ISBN-13
- 9781845118457
- Series
- Politics
- Category
- Political Science / History & Theory
- Pages
- 168
- Language
- English
- Published
- 2010
- Publisher
- Bloomsbury Academic
- Author
- Kōstas Vlassopoulos
Description
Ancient Greece is famous as the civilization which 'gave' the world democracy. Democracy has in modern times become the rallying cry of liberation from supposed totalitarianism and dictatorship. And the desire by the western powers, especially America, to foment (or impose) democracy across the globe is one of the most powerful driving motors in present-day geopolitics: not least in Iraq and Afghanistan. Thus, a lively and well informed treatment of the nexus between politics in antiquity and political discourse in the modern era is both timely and apposite. As Kostas Vlassopoulos shows, much can be learned about the practice of politics from a comparative discussion of the classical and the contemporary. His starting point is that the value of looking back to a political system with different assumptions and elements can help us think, and even shape, what the future of modern politics might be.
He discusses the contrasting political systems prevalent in the Greek city-states of Athens, Sparta and Corinth; tensions between democrats and oligarchs in Periclean Athens; the bitter rivalries which led to the Peloponnesian Wars in the fifth century BCE; and, the delicate balance of powers between people, senate and emperor in the hierarchical society of republican and latterly imperial Rome. Above all, the book shows how important and surprising the study of antiquity can be in reassessing and revaluating modern political debates.
Get the book
Other editions
Similar books
-
The Evolution of Political Knowledge: Theory and inquiry in American politics
By Edward D. Mansfield, Richard Sisson, American Political Science Association. MeetingWashington, D.C. Uslaner, Eric M. 1993. The Decline of Comity in Congress. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press. Valelly, Richard M. 1996. “Couch-potato Democracy?” American Prospect 25: 25–26. Valentino, N. A. 1999.
-
1968: Radical Protest and Its Enemies
By Richard VinenRichard Vinen pursues the story into the 1970s to show both the ever more violent forms of radicalization that arose from 1968 and the brutal reactions from those in power that brought the era to an end.
-
European Political Thought, 1815-1989
By Spencer M Di Scala, Salvo Mastellone, Spencer Di ScalaIn addition, the book includes clear, concise discussions of major twentieth-century totalitarian movements—Communism, Fascism, and Nazism—and of the major opponents of the one-party state.
-
Benjamin Disraeli Letters: 1848-1851
By Benjamin Disraeli, John Alexander Wilson Gunn... Alexander 1919n2 MacCarthy , C.J. 1735n2 Macclesfield , 5th Earl of 1860n2 McCulloch , John Ramsay 1893 & n2 ... 2050n6 Mackenzie , Hugh 1877n8 Mackenzie , William Forbes 1975n2 Mackinnon , William Alexander i 188n11 , 1758n2 ...
-
North Korea: The Politics of Regime Survival
By Young Whan Kihl, Hong Nack Kim... covert , or semiformal — that were extended to the DPRK by Western governments in the kangsong taeguk period , we might well discover that the ratio of such outside assistance to local commercial earnings began to approach the scale ...
-
The Press and the Bush Presidency
By Mark J. RozellBernard Roscho , " The Evolution of News Content in the American Press , " in Doris Graber , ed . , Media Power in ... William L. Rivers , The Other Government : Power and the Washington Media ( New York : Universe Books , 1982 ) , p .
-
Contemporary Social and Political Theory: An Introduction
By Fidelma Ashe, Alan FinlaysonAccording to Harding , this means that the political standpoint of the scientist is a relevant consideration in the evaluation of scientific theories . Rigorous scientific scholarship can only take place under conditions where women and ...
-
Federalism
By Robert P. SuttonThe Senate Committee on the Judiciary holds televised hearings on the nomination of Robert H. Bork to the Supreme Court that focus on Bork's understanding of " original intent . " The Court , in Texas v . Johnson , sets aside a state ...
-
الحكم في عالم يتجه نحو العولمة: Governance in a Globalizing World
By John D. Donahue, Joseph S. Jr. Nyeالعولمة نضجت من مجرد كلمة طنانة مثيرة للجدل حول كيف تغير شبكات الاتصال الثقافة والاقتصاد والأمن والبيئة - ومعها التحديات الرئيسية ...
-
FDR and Harry: Unparalleled Lives
By Robert Underhill... 3 , 47 , 55–57 passim , 70 , 78 , 99 , 109 , 111 , 120 , 164-65 , 179–80 , 183 Hoover , J. Edgar , 178–79 Hopkins ... General von , 129 Johnson , Hiram , 96 , 130 Johnson , Hugh , 95 Johnson , Louis A. , 175 Johnson , Lyndon B.