Historically,
the ancient Athenians regarded and viewed democracy as the involvement of all
free-born citizens of the polis as the rulers over their joint affairs. This
goes to substantiate the primordial definition of democracy as the government
of the people for the people by the people. According to Entwistle (1971), in
the chapter
“A concept of Democracy and the implementation for Education” “the
concept of political equality is part of the justification of democracy”. The
assumption that democracy requires the continuous and active participation of
citizens in governmental affairs of the community is subscribed to by Aristotle
in his argument that the citizen is one because he does a certain job in the
city, and this constitutes his right to be a citizen. In the ancient Athenian
society, for one to claim citizenship, one had to be prepared to accept to
undertake certain responsibility in government. Thus Pericles (Cited in
Entwistle 1971) suggested in Athens that a man who holds aloof from the affairs
of state should not be regarded as quiet but as useless.
Also,
according to Glotz (1926), in the Greeks
at work. The emphasis upon the
democratic man “was upon responsibility rather than upon rights, upon activity
and work”. Such procedural words as responsibility, participation, work,
activity and sharing were frequently employed in the discussion of political
democracy. Thus a democratic person was expected to be prepared to be
responsible to the state as he accepted whatever task the state assigned to
him. He had to be ready to participate activity in government affairs, as his
citizenship depended on this. He had to be ready to work for the good of the
society. The democratic Athenian was active and expressed profound delight as
he should in the responsibility of the affairs of the Community. An Athenian
whose right was based upon the work he performed, usually realized that he was
only sharing in the monumental governmental tasks. No one felt and arrogated
the work of the community to himself or his family alone. It was shared
responsibility. In this process, national development is guaranteed through
effective participation of the citizens in political democracy.
The
meaning of political democracy could be further enhanced through the
understanding that the Athenian assembly relied heavily on the participation of
the free-born members through debate and discussion. They believed that
policies had to be debated and discussed before an approval was given.
Discussion was however regarded as most paramount since it was believed that
sound judgment could not be reached without the thorough discussion of the
issues at hand. Pericles (Cited in Entwistle 1971) asserted that the people
were not bored by prolonged discussion (Filibuster). According to him “far from
believing that prolonged discussion might blunt the appetite for action … the
Athenians were bolder in action for having paused for reflection”.
According
to Lindsey (1929), in The Essentials of
Democracy, discussion was not for its own sake or merely a means of
criticizing the established authority. Rather, democratic discussion was
believed to have a worthwhile product; it was a means for the people to know
what concerned them in relationship to their government. A corollary to
achieving democracy in discussion is to be engaged in responsible discussion.
This simply means that those thus engaged should be attentive and participate
actively since any of them could be called upon to implement the decisions
emanating from the discussions. It was also envisaged that the measure of one’s
responsibility in such discussion dictated the willingness to accept the
responsibility of an office and to participate in the affairs of the state.
This responsibility to participate is essential, especially in Nigeria where
politicians seek rotational method in assuming the affairs of governance. As
the citizens participate and play their requisite roles in the state every
segment of the society gradually develops.
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