ABSTRACT
Although democracy is an ancient form of government, it took until the dawn of modernity for one of its overarching principles, sovereignty created through free choice and popular consent, to gain currency as a popular alternative to imposed sovereignty and restricted freedom. In fact, attitudes toward democracy since the 1600s differ greatly from attitudes expressed by the Classical thinkers discussed in Chapter 1, including Herodotus (b. ca. 484–d. ca. 425 bce), Plato (b. 427–d. 347 bce) and Aristotle (b. 384–d. 322 bce). These thinkers see merits in democratic freedoms but perils in democratic governance, which inevitably breaks down and leads to imposed sovereignty. At the same time, in The Politics, Aristotle offers a positive portrayal of an agricultural democracy, which finds parallels in the Hebrew Republic, the polity described in the Old Testament. In the Hebrew Republic, the supreme authority was never an earthly individual invested with divine power but always the Mosaic Law as the Jews had agreed in their covenant with God at Mt. Sinai. Aristotle wrote The Politics during the time of the Second Jewish Temple (515 bce–70 ce), and his positive depiction of an agricultural democracy may reflect his knowledge of the nature of governance in the Hebrew Republic.
