Democracy Around the World
Ancient Origins and Contemporary Practices

François de Soete
with annotations by

Katsunosuke Namita

は し が き
日本に限らず世界的に、 若者の政治への関心の低さが言われるようになって久しい。 その一方でグローバル化が進む現代では、自国ならびに世界の国々の政治や文化を理解することの重要性も唱えられている。本書は、日本の大学生が英語を学びながら、より政治や世界の国々を身近に感じ、 関心をもつことができるようにとの願いからつくられたテキストである。 一見すると難しそうに思われる「民主主義（デモクラシー）」 を軸にしているが、日本を含め多くの国々の政治形態である民主主義体制とは何を指すのか、 民主主義は現代の私たちの生活にどのような役割をもたらしているのかなど、 基本的な概念をわかりやすく紹介するよう努めた。
セクション I（第 1 章～第 6 章）では、 民主主義の考え方に影響を与えた歴史的背景を、古代ローマからフランス革命まで概説している。セクション II（第 7 章～第 10 章）は現代の民主主義にはどのような特徴があるのか、また古代の民主主義とはどのような違いがあるのかをまとめた。最後のセクション III（第 11 章～第 15 章）では、 現代における民主国家の中から五つの国（イギリス、カナダ、日本、 アメリカ、フランス）を取り上げて紹介している。
外国について理解するのみならず、自国の政治について英語で理解・表現できることも、グローバル市民に求められる教養の一つであると考え、あえて日本も取り上げた。
本書のテーマである民主主義は、 民主国家で暮らす私たち誰もの生活に関連のある身近なトピックである。事前の予備知識がなくとも学べるように内容、英文のレベルともに、わかりやすく書くよう努めた。 基礎的な英語の訓練がオールラウンドにできるよう、 多様な練習問題も配置している。また、 知って楽しい豆知識をより身近な話題から選んでコラムとして各章に配備した。よって、 法学や政治経済を専攻する学生のみならず、 広く一般教養課程の英語総合テキストとして使えるようになっている。 政治哲学を専門とし日本の大学で教鞭をとる筆者と、 長年日本の大学で英語教育に携わってきた注釈者が、 いかに日本の大学生に英語力を伸ばしながら、かつ民主主義という窓を通して世界への関心と基礎知識を身に着けてもらうか、 それを念頭にこのテキストを執筆した。 本書をきっかけに、より一層学生のみなさんが英語へ、 政治へ、 そして世界や自分の国に関心を持って学びを深めてくれることを期待する。

François de Soete, Ph.D.

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Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................vii
Section I: Democratic Ideas in History
Chapter 1: Ancient Athens............................................................... 3
Chapter 2: Ancient Rome.................................................................. 8
Chapter 3: The Middle Ages in Europe......................................... 13
Chapter 4: Magna Carta................................................................. 18
Chapter 5: The American Constitution......................................... 23
Chapter 6: The French Revolution................................................. 28

Section II: Democracy Today
Chapter 7: Democracy Today......................................................... 35
Chapter 8: The Benefits of Democracy.......................................... 40
Chapter 9: Electoral Systems......................................................... 45
Chapter 10: Types of Government................................................. 50

Section III: Contemporary Democratic Government inPractice
Chapter 11: The United Kingdom.................................................. 57
Chapter 12: Canada........................................................................ 62
Chapter 13: Japan........................................................................... 67
Chapter 14: The United States...................................................... 72
Chapter 15: France......................................................................... 77

Closing Comment. ............................................................................. 82
Bibliography. ...................................................................................... 83v

Introduction
The famous philosopher Aristotle once divided governments into six types basedon the number of people in a particular government and which interests thatgovernment served:
Rule for the benefitof those who are ruled

Rule for the benefitof those who rule

Rule by One

Monarchy

Tyranny

Rule by Few

Aristocracy

Oligarchy

Rule by Many

Polity (Republic)

Democracy

Aristotle considered those in the left column correct forms of government andcalled those in the right column deviant forms of government.   You must be
surprised to see that democracy is among those deviant forms of government!  As
you will soon discover, the “democracy” that Aristotle considered a deviant form ofgovernment is very different from the “democracy” found in countries like Japanand the United States today.
Many people today use the term “democracy.”  Have you ever wondered what thisterm really means?  After all, some countries call themselves “democratic” despite
being authoritarian regimes, while many countries that actually are democratic
have very different types of government.  This book will help you understand what
democracy is and what it is not.  
In order to understand what democracy really is, you will learn about the origins
of democracy, the forms and functions of democratic government, and the detailsof government in some prominent democratic countries around the world today.
When you have finished reading this book, you will understand many key terms
and concepts often used in the news and discussions about politics, such as“liberalism,” “liberal,” “conservative,” “political parties,” and of course, “democracy”
and “democratic.”

NOTES
oligarchy「寡頭政治」

polity (republic)「( 共和制 ) 政体」

deviant「特異な、 妥当でない」

authoritarian regime「独裁制」

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Section I:
Democratic Ideas in History

CHAPTER1Ancient Athens

今日、 私たちは民主主義（デモクラシー）の考え方を当然のこととして受け入れているかもしれな
い。しかし人類の歴史を振り返ってみると、 実は民主主義的な考えとはほど遠い社会のほうが多い。もっとも、 民主主義の考え方そのものはとても古く、 古代アテネの都市国家が世界で初めて民主政治を取り入れたときに生まれた。この時代の民主主義はどのようなものであったのだろうか。また、 現在の民主主義とはどのように違ったのだろうか。

1. Reading
Approximately 2,500 years ago, the Greek city
02of Athens was an independent city-state. Thismeans that even though Athens shared similar
linguistic and cultural traits with other Greek
cities, Athenians had their own autonomous

5government. It was at this time that Athens
created one of the first democratic governments
ever. The word “democracy” actually comesfrom two Greek words: the Greek word “demos,”C o l u m n s s u c h a s t h e s e w e rewhich in English means “common people,” and common in ancient Athenian andthe Greek word “kratein,” which in English

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Roman architecture, and today they
symbolize democratic values.

means “to rule.” Democracy therefore literallymeans “rule by the common people.”  Although all citizens were eligible to bein the government, only adult men who were born to Athenian parents could
be citizens—women, slaves, and foreigners were not citizens. This seems verydiscriminatory by today’s standards, but allowing that many men to be eligible
for government positions was quite inclusive in comparison with other forms ofgovernment from that time period.
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The government in Athens during this era was complicated and changed
03

several times, but it was primarily a form of direct democracy: each citizen ofAthens could vote on specific issues. Pericles, who was one of the most influential
leaders in ancient Athens, said that having all citizens involved in decision5

making was one of democracy’s greatest strengths. As you will read about inlater chapters, today’s democratic countries like Japan and the United States
are based on representative democracy: citizens vote for politicians who makedecisions on their behalf. In Athens, there were some politicians in the Councilof Five Hundred that took care of daily political matters. These politicians

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were usually selected by lot, which guaranteed that even the poorest citizens
could become politicians. The Assembly, however, made the most important
decisions: all citizens could be in the Assembly (which always had at least6,000 citizens present!) and they voted on important issues, such as whether or
not to go to war.
Democracy in Athens was essentially majority rule: the majority had the1504

power to do almost anything. For example, if Athenians debated going to war,
Athens would go to war if more than fifty percent of the citizens in the Assembly
voted “yes.” Athenian citizens would sometimes also vote on things that would beunimaginable today, such as whether or not to exile a person whose ideas were20

unpopular. Athenian democracy therefore allowed all citizens to participate inpolitics, but the power of the majority could sometimes suppress the minority.
The execution of Socrates is one famous example of Athenian injustice. Socrates
is today considered one of history’s greatest philosophers, but during his own
lifetime his ideas were unpopular with some of the most powerful citizens in25Athens. Those who were agitated by his philosophic principles managed tohave him executed—which reveals that Athenian democracy did not protect
freedom of speech.
NOTES
autonomous「自治権のある」 eligible (to do)「～する資格がある」 discriminatory「差別的な」（cf.
discriminate） Athenian「アテネ人の」（発音に注意 cf. Athens） representative democracy「議会制民主主義」 the Council of Five Hundred 「500 人評議会」（アテネのすべての地区からくじで選ばれた 500 人よりなる、世界史上最古の比例代表制である。） the Assembly「民会」（アテネをはじめ古代ギリシ
ャの諸ポリスにおける国家の意思決定機関。市民権をもつ成年男子全員に参加権があった。） majority rule「多数決原理」 exile「（国外）追放する」

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Chapter 1 Ancient Athens

2. Vocabulary
Find the correct definition for each word. Find each word in the reading section and try
to guess the definition based on the context.

1. complicated
2. specific

3. guarantee
4. suppress
5. violate(       )a. end or stop the activity or existence of by force(       )b. promise that something will happen(       )c. do something against a law, rule, etc.

(       )d. relating to only one particular thing(       )e. difficult to understand or explain

3. Comprehension Questions
Read each question and circle the correct answer (a, b, c, or d).

1. Citizenship in ancient Athens was restricted to which group of people?
a. All men in Athensb. All people in Athensc. Men with Athenian ancestryd. All people with Athenian ancestry

2. What kind of democracy existed in ancient Athens?
a. Representative democracyb. Direct democracy
c. Minority democracyd. Political democracy

3. The word “democracy” comes from two Greek words that mean:a. Rule by people
b. Rule by all Peoplec. Rule by some people
d. Rule by the common people

54. What does “majority rule” mean?
a. Everyone must agree before making a decision.
b. A decision can be made with less than fifty percent of the people		 agreeing.
c. A decision can be made with more than fifty percent of the people		 agreeing.
d. The people are not involved in making decisions.

5. Who could vote in the Assembly?
a. All people
b. All politiciansc. All citizens
d. All men

4. Listening

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Fill in the blanks.

Athens created the first democratic government, whichcitizens to vote directly on important. However, there wereseveral problems with democracy in Athens. One problem was that only men
could be citizens in Athens. Another problem was that citizens sometimes
made badbecause they were not adequately.

Finally, there were also injustices when the majority of the population wanted
to do something that was unfair to theThe
democracy did not

6of the population.

of Socrates, for example, demonstrates that Athenian
freedom of speech.

Chapter 1 Ancient Athens

5. Grammar and Expression
Fill in the blank for each question with the correct word.

1. Athenians decided ______________ Socrates because he said things thatangered some people.
a. executeb. to executec. execution

d. to be executed2. We can say that ancient Athens had direct democracy ______________ thepeople could vote directly on important issues.
a. therefore

b. because

c. althoughd. maybe

3. In ancient Athens, women ______________ not be citizens.
a. canb. couldc. might

d. may4. According to Pericles, having citizens involved in the decision-making
process was one of the ______________ features of democracy.
a. strengthb. minorc. smallest

d. strongest

5. ______________ ancient Athens and other cities in Ancient Greece sharedsimilar cultural and linguistic traits, each city had its own government.
a. therefore

b. because

c. althoughd. maybe

Point of Interest
Socrates had a great student: Plato, who criticized democracy.
Plato also had a famous student: Aristotle, who also criticizeddemocracy. Aristotle also had a famous student of his own: thefamous Macedonian conqueror, Alexander the Great, who conquered
Athens and ended its democracy! Some people might say that thiswas poetic justice for the execution of Socrates.

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