Democracy In Rome
The Romans are not known for democracy. They are famous for being imperialists. The voters in Rome were all male citizens. |
Women and slaves were not included in the political life. The poorer citizens had limited rights to vote. The actual voting power vested in the hands of very few privileged people. They were usually the elite class.
The poor people did not have much of a say in how the country was run. At least in this respect, there was a major difference from the democracy model that operated in Athens. There is a huge difference between the levels of democracy of the Roman people who had conquered it in the middle and late Republic (300 - 30 BC) and those Romans, who were present under the authoritarian government. The actual power of the country was with the elected officials. They were responsible for running Rome. But they did so on behalf of the Senate. The Romans, who held high offices, actually came from some limited families that were famous. They were the ones that were given important roles in all facets of the society. In a nutshell, there were only a few people who actually had the power to run the country. The rest were all silent spectators.
The Roman government was actually a blend of republic and democracy. The people derived many of their ideas from the Ancient Greeks. The Ancient Romans did not want a single power to decide on all the laws of the country. So they balanced the power.
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