Democracy Ancient vs Modern: 10 things you really ought to know
Professor Paul Cartledge
Tue 6 October at 7:30 pm - 9:00 pm BST
£4.00 – £10.00 Democracy under Threat
BRLSI’s Democracy Under Threat series invites you to pause and take stock by surveying the wealth of history and political thinking which underpins our long-held democratic systems and institutions. It explores the laying down of democratic principles from Ancient Athens to the present day, and takes in current scenarios in international geopolitics, while considering Britain as its own small island with its own set of political traditions.
Whatever your thoughts about the pressures on our current democracies, BRLSI’s Democracy Under Threat series invites you to pause and take stock as we collectively take the long view across history and the breadth of political thinking which underpins our long held democratic systems and institutions.
So if our democracies are in trouble, can we learn anything salutary by studying the history of – very different – democracy in ancient Greece?
Yes – and No says Professor Paul Cartledge of Unversity of Cambridge. No, precisely because the ancients’ democracies were so very different both in conception and in practice from any of our current versions. Yes, because some of their ideas – about citizen equality, active participation, use of the lottery – still have potential purchase today and for the future.
Join Democracy Ancient Vs Modern: 10 things you really ought to know and let us know your own thoughts in our Q&A.
Professor Paul Cartledge, University of Cambridge
