Question

Why has it been suggested that athenian direct democracy was a brilliant failure?

Answer 1

This has been suggested because it required all male citizens to vote on every issue despite having leaders in a complicated system, it made any real population growth nearly impossible and despite only land owning men being allowed to vote it would never work in a modern setup because of civil rights movements gaining traction laws would eventually change and cause great upset and slow the general political process.

Answer 2

Some people were always criticizing Athenian democracy for various reasons. Here we will see the ancient and modern views about democratic failure:

a) Direct democracy gives all citizens the power to vote but ancient thinkers thought that all citizens could not bear the responsibility comes with the power to rule.

b) Modern thinkers consider it a total failure because the citizens were too inclusive and does not include women, slaves, and foreigners.