As one of the sources of modern democratic theory, the democratic system in ancient Greece left a valuable cultural heritage for human society. The democratic system of ancient Greece, especially the democratic system represented by Athens, has made considerable historical progress in the electoral, administrative and judicial systems, but it also inevitably has its shortcomings. When reading the democratic politics of ancient Greece, we should treat its advantages and disadvantages with a dialectical attitude. Democracy; Limitation 1. An overview of the democratic system in ancient Greece There is a word called demokratia in ancient Greece, which means people, skratia means rule or authority, and demokratia means people's rule, which is "democracy". In the 5th century BC, many Greek city-states experienced great political changes-democratic reforms, among which Athens was the most prominent. "Its democratic development is a typical example of the political development of the Greek city-state, and its democratic system is an outstanding example of the Greek democratic system" [1], and the political scene it describes has a lasting appeal to modern democrats. (1) Athens citizen assembly adopts direct democracy. The so-called direct democracy means that the political sovereignty of a city-state belongs to its citizens, and citizens have the right to directly participate in the governance of the city-state, rather than governing the country by electing representatives or forming a parliament or congress (that is, representative system). "Citizens' Congress" is the embodiment of direct democracy. All citizens in Athens should attend the citizens' assembly, which is held twice or four times a month to solve all major issues of the city-state, including the election and evaluation of government officials, the revision of laws, the settlement of fiscal revenues and expenditures, the decision to declare war and make peace, the conclusion and dissolution of covenants, and the review of the proceedings of the intermediate people's court. Every citizen has the right to vote in Parliament, which elects 500 members of the Council, jurors and general administrators by drawing lots. Pericles said: "As long as a citizen has any merits, he will be promoted to public office. This is a reward for his merits, which is different from privilege. Poverty is no longer an obstacle, and anyone can benefit the country, no matter how bleak his situation is. (2) The Parliament, which consists of 500 people, is the highest administrative organ in Athens. As a permanent body of the citizens' assembly, it is responsible for handling the daily affairs of the country internally, such as preparing proposals for the citizens' assembly and presiding over the assembly, and has the right to appoint envoys on behalf of the country externally. The Council elected 50 members of the Speaker's Committee and divided them into 10 groups with 5 members in each group. Each group takes turns to preside over daily affairs for 35-36 days. Therefore, during the one-year parliamentary term, every member once became one of the five speakers who presided over government affairs. According to Aristotle's introduction, the administrative officials in a general city-state include generals or commanders, market supervision, urban guardianship, public water source management, township guardianship, treasurer, "registration department" for registering civil contracts or court judgments, "penalty executors" and "warders" for executing court judgments (Aristotle's Politics, p. 1 page). These administrative officials are all voluntary, unpaid and have different terms of office. They are all directly elected by the citizens' assembly or other corresponding institutions. All administrative officials do not form a "government" under the leadership of a unified chief executive, but are independently and directly responsible to the citizens' assembly or its corresponding institutions. Each tribe elects a general by referendum to command its own army, and forms a "Ten Generals Committee" to command the army to fight abroad in wartime. In fact, the "Ten Generals Committee" is the executive power organ that holds the highest political power and all diplomatic and financial affairs. (III) Trial System Ten jury courts have been established in Athens as the highest judicial organs to try major litigation cases. The jury court has a total of 6,000 members, with an average of 500 members in each jury court, and the rest 1000 as a backup. Jurors are elected by lot, and the term of office is one year, and they cannot be re-elected. All male citizens over the age of 30 have the right to be jurors. In addition to hearing major litigation cases, the jury court also has the right to accept complaints from ordinary citizens. Accepted cases shall be heard in court. After the debate between the original defendant and the defendant is over, the jury will vote, and the party with the most votes will win. Shell exile system is the most distinctive system in Cristini's reform, which is mainly aimed at those who abuse power, endanger national interests and violate civil rights. Every spring, a special town meeting is held. First, it is proposed by oral vote whether anyone endangers the freedom of citizens and must be exiled. If so, a second citizens' meeting will be held, and everyone will write the names of people he thinks should be exiled on pottery or shells. Anyone convicted by a majority vote will be exiled for ten years before returning to Athens. Second, there is no doubt about the limitations of ancient Greek democracy. In ancient Greece, the government, politics and political life in Athens were far superior to the numerous undemocratic political systems in which most people lived. In particular, its direct democracy has become one of the four sources of modern democratic theory. However, we should not be blinded by this, but also look at its limitations dialectically through its remarkable achievements. (1) Exclusivity of civil rights "From the perspective of contemporary democracy, Greek democracy has a crucial limitation in theory and practice, that is, civil rights are highly exclusive [3]". At that time, the citizens of ancient Greece were not citizens in the modern sense, but a few adult men in the polis. Women are not citizens, slaves are not citizens, residents in remote areas are not citizens, and foreign immigrants who have lived in Athens for a long time have no citizenship. Take Athens as an example, the total population is about 300,000, and there are about 30,000 to 40,000 adult male citizens over the age of 18, of whom only about 20,000 citizens over the age of 30 enjoy full political rights. Moreover, in ancient Greece, democratic rights were only qualified citizens of the same city-state, and foreign members were not allowed to be democratic. In other words, democracy in ancient Greece was only democracy within the country, but for all Greeks, democracy did not exist. The exclusiveness of citizenship has formed a profound ideological boundary between citizens and residents and between polis. Within the city-state, the gap between citizens and residents makes people feel that the country is "no longer a country of all people, but a country of free citizens [4]", and whether free citizens can fully represent the will of all residents has become a similar problem to modern representative democracy. The exclusiveness among the Greek city-states led to the relative closure of the city-states, and even the constant military aggression and conflicts made the unification of ancient Greece impossible. Therefore, it was impossible to resist the Persian aggression with a strong "Greece" and only to unite in a loose and weak way, which doomed ancient Greece to be conquered by Macedonians and Romans. (2) Direct democracy itself restricts the political activities of Athens city-states. Citizens' meetings are held two or four times a month, and citizens attending the meetings have to go to Mount Olympus twice a month, which leads to poor citizens and citizens living far away from the city-state being unable to exercise their civil rights among those who have civil rights. Others, such as the activities of the board of directors and the jury court, are even more. Such frequent political activities are unbearable for ordinary citizens, both economically and in time. First of all, officials in early Athens were unpaid. Although I received some allowance later, the position of general was still unpaid, so the poor citizens were forced by life and dared not take it. Second, the frequent convening of citizens' meetings takes a lot of time, requiring farmers to give up farm work and craftsmen to give up production. However, in order to make a living, some citizens will choose to give up, especially those who are far away from the polis, and the time is even more difficult. It is also worth noting that the soldiers in Athens are all citizens' troops and citizens. It is an army in wartime and a militia in peacetime. When a war breaks out, no matter whether it is the civil war in neighboring countries or the invasion by foreign enemies such as Bo Shi War, these people can't attend the citizens' meeting. According to statistics, "the number of people who can often attend civic meetings only accounts for about 1/5 of the total number of citizens." [5] (3) Problems in the political system 1. Direct democracy has caused the "political hypertrophy" of citizen values. Direct democracy requires citizens to invest a lot of time and energy in public politics, and citizens are unwilling to give up the opportunity to participate in public politics in order to realize their freedom and rights more reliably. Politics has become the most valuable thing for citizens. So that most citizens would rather sacrifice their private space and ignore economic affairs to participate in democratic politics, resulting in a deep imbalance in various functions of social life, which Satolli called "political hypertrophy". Therefore, it can be said that democracy in ancient Greece was extremely extravagant at the expense of citizens' lives and other social values. 2. The potential contradiction of a huge administrative organization. Democracy in Athens mainly depends on a huge administrative organization. The 500 members of the Senate and the 6,000 members of the jury court accounted for about 1/3 of the citizens who fully enjoyed political rights in Athens at that time, as well as other officials and soldiers. Under the economic conditions at that time, it constituted a very large administrative organization. The social and economic costs required for its operation are enormous, but "political hypertrophy" has reduced the space for economic development, even violating "the economic base determines the superstructure". Low national quality leads to unscientific judgment. Members of the citizens' assembly, Council and jury court come from all walks of life. They have no professional knowledge and skills and have not formed their own independent opinions on the problems that need to be judged. In this case, most citizens vote blindly, which creates opportunities for reactionary instigators, arouses people's irrational passion and may lead to destructive consequences. For example, in 406 BC, at a civic meeting, six Athenian generals were sentenced to death, because as commander-in-chief of the expeditionary force, although he won the war, he was responsible for the casualties of many Athenian soldiers. Some malicious elements incited people's emotions and violated several necessary procedures of due trial, and sentenced six generals to death. They didn't even have a chance to defend themselves. Moreover, the democratic system in ancient Greece still had some limitations, such as frequent regime changes, short term of office of consuls, lack of ruling experience, lack of continuity and enthusiasm in work, and great contingency in elections. The article will not elaborate. Third, summarize the democratic system of ancient Greece represented by Athens. From Solon's reform to Cristini's reform, Pericles' era reached its peak and finally ended with the conquest of Alexandria. Although the ancient Greek democracy did not exist for a long time, its system design was quite simple and rough, and it had its own insurmountable limitations. However, it is the beginning for human beings to practice democracy and pursue freedom, the inexhaustible source of wisdom and strength for future generations to pursue democracy and freedom, and a bright pearl in the history of human civilization. Reference [1] Cong Riyun. Western Political and Cultural Tradition, Heilongjiang People's Publishing House, 2002, P58. [2][ America] Anoos, Stavri, the global history of 65438+the world of 0500 years ago [M]. Translated by Wu Liang. Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences Press, 190. P209。 [3][ America] Robert Dahl. Democracy and its critics. Translated by Cao Haijun. Jilin people's publishing house, 2006, P 15. [4] Cong Riyun. Western political and cultural traditions, Heilongjiang People's Publishing House, 2002, P2 17. [5] King mode.