CONCERNING THE ESTABLISHMENT OF DEMOCRACY IN PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION THE STATES OF ANTIQUITY

Abstract

The publication deals with the theory and practice of participatory democracy since its inception in the IV th century. B.C. in ancient Greece – before the fall of the Roman empire. It is emphasized that the despots (Greek Δεσποτία, Latin. Despoteia – «unlimited power») of the Ancient East, which were based on theocracy, did not have authentically known forms of democracy. In addition, these states (empires) were enormously large to hold the assembly of all citizens. It is noted that democracy (Greek δῆμοκράτία – from. Δῆμος «people» and χράτέω «to rule, to possess»), which was formed as a doctrine and practice of public administration in the VII-IV centuries. B.C. in Athens, the Megars, and other ancient Greek city-states, it had significant differences from the present-day democracy. The content of Athenian democracy was most clearly identified in Pericles’ speech, which, in addition to the principles of freedom and democracy, proclaims the principle of tolerance of the citizens of Athens for communication in private and public life, as well as the principle of open public discussion of problems of public and public life. The content of Aristotle’s teachings on athenian democracy as well as the basic methods and forms of democratic governance in Athens are analyzed. It is emphasized that democracy of the time was not only a noble idea and universal value, but also a normalized procedure. Thus, in the procedural sense, democracy was realized in the following stages: proposal formation; discussing this proposal; sanctioned by the Council of 500 (senate), after preliminary scrutiny by a specially created committee of 7 senators for legitimacy; submission of the proposal for consideration of the National Assembly and voting for or against it. The phenomenon of ostracism has been investigated. It is noted that the achievements of Ancient philosophy and public administration practice in the sphere of democracy, including elements of participatory democracy, can be considered as historical prototypes of modern party-democracy. Although the demise of Ancient Greece and the destruction of the Roman empire by the barbarian tribes, Europe’s long-standing forgetting of the values, principles and procedures of democracy in all its meanings. Researchers have known examples of «reference democracy» in the swiss cantons and «eternal democracy» in the ancient slavic peoples and others. But, until the end of XX century participatory democracy did not gain such popularity and development as in the IV century B.C.in Athens.