ABSTRACT
The term “democracy” originates in 6th century BC Athens, where only free male land-owners were permitted to vote. One type of election, regularly held in Athens, can be interpreted as an example of a violation of monotonicity. Voters were asked to vote for their least favorite politician, and any politician who “won” this election (by receiving 6000 or more of these negative votes) was exiled for 10 years. The modern word “ostracism” comes from the Greek word ostraka for the shards of broken pottery that were used as ballots.
