Some Remarks on the Five Criteria of Democracy

Abstract

In a recent article published in this journal, Gregory T. Papanikos presented and discussed the five criteria of democracy. This paper further discusses these criteria by providing some additional ancient sources in light of the modern application of democracy in various countries. It is shown that these five criteria had a diachronic effect in ancient Athens as is demonstrated by a number of ancient writers. I use excerpts from some ancient works to show that this was the case.