‘Politics is polarised’ intoned the chatterati after the Obama-Romney race to the White House. ‘Sick of party politics’ said the people after the elections for Police and Crime Commissioners. Ancient Athenians knew why.
One of the many virtues of Athens’ direct democracy (508-323 bc) was not just that citizens (male Athenians over 18) meeting every week or so in Assembly made all the decisions about policy; it was the absence of political parties in our sense. As a result, the Athenian people in Assembly were not bound by any of the preconditions or assumptions that for historical reasons have shaped our party system. There were no manifesto promises, special interest groups or traditional allegiances (e.g. ‘Clause 4’ issues) to dog their decision-making. No one was intent on ‘winning the next election’, since there was (by definition) no ‘next election’ to win.
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