The arts of democracy in classical and Hellenistic Greece

2022 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 20K01054
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Review Section: Basic Section 03040:History of Europe and America-related
• Research Institution: The University of Tokyo
• Principal Investigator: Hashiba Yuzuru 東京大学, 大学院人文社会系研究科(文学部), 教授 (10212135)
• Project Period (FY): 2020-04-01 – 2023-03-31
• Keywords: 民主政 / 民主主義 / ギリシア / 古代 / 抽選 / 技術

Outline of Final Research Achievements

The concept of ars democratica, or the arts of democracy, is defined here as any methods or techniques, both physical and institutional, that were used to facilitate the effective management of democratic governments in classical and early Hellenistic periods (5-3 centuries BCE), and include allotment systems, pay for attending assemblies and jury courts, and access to public information through epigraphical media as well as public archives. This study has brought it to light (1) that the arts of democracy were first established in the middle-fifth-century Athens, which had reached democracy in the end of the sixth century, (2) because it had much more population than most of the other poleis in Greece and therefore needed to control large scale of groups at one time such as the assembly, council, and popular courts, and (3) that the arts of democracy were diffused only after Athens was defeated by the Spartans in the Peloponnesian Wars (431-404 BCE).

Free Research Field

古代ギリシア史

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

代議制民主主義が機能不全に陥り、国民投票など直接民主主義的手法がポピュリズムの危険性をはらむ一方で、世界のあちこちで強権主義・権威主義が急速に台頭しつつある現代において、暴力やテロといった破壊的手段によらずに民主主義を持続可能なものとするにはどうしたらよいか、という現代的な問題に対する手がかりを、民主政の生命である市民参加のメカニズムを歴史的に解きあかすことによって、与えることができる。これが本研究の今日的な意義である。