What did democracy really mean in Athens? - Melissa Schwartzberg

雅典人眼中的民主意味着什么？ - 梅利莎·施瓦茨贝里

翻译人员: Yixiong Zhu 校对人员: Moire Yim

Hey, congratulations!

恭喜！

You've just won the lottery,

你中奖了！

only the prize isn't cash or a luxury cruise.

不过，奖品不是现金和豪华游轮船票，

It's a position in your country's national legislature.

而是你在国家立法机构中的席位。

And you aren't the only lucky winner.

你也不是唯一的获奖者。

All of your fellow lawmakers were chosen in the same way.

你在立法机构的所有同事都是这样选出来的。

This might strike you as a strange way to run a government,

这种政府运作方式在你看来可能很奇特，

let alone a democracy.

更别提这还是民主政府了。

Elections are the epitome of democracy, right?

难道选举不是民主的象征么？

Well, the ancient Athenians who coined the word had another view.

发明“民主”这个词的雅典人看法却是不同。

In fact, elections only played a small role in Athenian democracy,

事实上，选举在雅典民主中只起很小的作用。

with most offices filled by random lottery from a pool of citizen volunteers.

大部分公职人员都是从一群公民志愿者中随机抽选出来的。

Unlike the representative democracies common today,

与当今常见的代议制民主不同，

where voters elect leaders to make laws and decisions on their behalf,

代议制中选民选举领导人，领导人代表选民立法和执政，

5th Century BC Athens was a direct democracy

公元前五世纪的雅典是直接民主制，

that encouraged wide participation

鼓励公民广泛参与政府，

through the principle of ho boulomenos, or anyone who wishes.

方法是通过“ho boulomenos”原则，即凡是愿意参政的公民，皆可参政。

This meant that any of its approximately 30,000 eligible citizens

这意味着雅典的大约三万名合格公民中，任何一个人

could attend the ecclesia,

都可以参加“ecclesia”，

a general assembly meeting several times a month.

一个每月召开数次的全体大会。

In principle, any of the 6,000 or so who showed up at each session

原则上，出席的约六千名公民中，所有人

had the right to address their fellow citizens,

都有权向公众进行演说，

propose a law,

提出法律提案，

or bring a public lawsuit.

或提起一场公诉。

Of course, a crowd of 6,000 people trying to speak at the same time

当然，如果6000人同时发言，

would not have made for effective government.

效率不会太高，

So the Athenian system also relied on a 500 member governing council

因此雅典的政治体系中还有一个500人的理事会，

called the Boule,

叫作“Boule”，

to set the agenda and evaluate proposals,

负责制定议程和评估提案，

in addition to hundreds of jurors and magistrates to handle legal matters.

此外还有数百名陪审员和法官处理法律事务。

Rather than being elected or appointed,

以上这些人都未经过选举或任命，

the people in these positions were chosen by lot.

而是通过抽签获得了席位。

This process of randomized selection is know as sortition.

这种随机任选的过程叫做抽签制。

The only positions filled by elections

唯一进行选举的职位，

were those recognized as requiring expertise,

是被认为需要专业技术的职位，

such as generals.

例如将领。

But these were considered aristocratic, meaning rule by the best,

但这些职位被认为是贵族性的，即由精英所掌控，

as opposed to democracies, rule by the many.

从而与民主制，即多数统治，相违背。

How did this system come to be?

这种政治体制是如何产生的？

Well, democracy arose in Athens after long periods of social and political tension

雅典在经历了由贵族冲突

marked by conflict among nobles.

导致的长期社会政治动荡之后，民主制开始兴起。

Powers once restricted to elites,

精英曾经特有的权利，

such as speaking in the assembly and having their votes counted,

例如在公民大会发言和投票，

were expanded to ordinary citizens.

被扩展给了普通公民。

And the ability of ordinary citizens to perform these tasks

由公民来履行这些职责

adequately became a central feature of the democratice ideology of Athens.

成为了雅典民主理念的中心特征。

Rather than a privilege,

公民履责不是一种权利，

civic participation was the duty of all citizens,

而是所有公民的义务。

with sortition and strict term limits preventing governing classes

抽签制和严格的届期限制防止了

or political parties from forming.

统治阶层和政党的出现。

By 21st century standards,

以21世纪的标准来看，

Athenian rule by the many excluded an awful lot of people.

雅典的民主制排除了相当多的人。

Women, slaves and foreigners were denied full citizenship,

妇女，奴隶，和外国人都没有完全的公民权，

and when we filter out those too young to serve,

再除去未成年人，

the pool of eligible Athenians drops to only 10-20% of the overall population.

合格的雅典公民仅为总人口的10-20%。

Some ancient philosophers, including Plato,

一些古典哲学家，包括柏拉图在内，

disparaged this form of democracy as being anarchic and run by fools.

否定这种民主制，认为这种制度毫无秩序，由愚民进行统治。

But today the word has such positive associations,

但今天，“民主”这个词是如此正面，

that vastly different regimes claim to embody it.

以至于截然不同的政府都自称“民主”。

At the same time, some share Plato's skepticism about the wisdom of crowds.

同时，一些人也认同柏拉图对民众智慧的疑虑。

Many modern democracies reconcile this conflict

很多现代民主政府解决这一问题的方法是，

by having citizens elect those they consider qualified

由公民选举认可的人

to legislate on their behalf.

来代表公民自身进行立法。

But this poses its own problems,

但这又创造了新问题，

including the influence of wealth,

例如财富对政治的影响，

and the emergence of professional politicians

以及职业政客的出现，

with different interests than their constituents.

其利益与其选民的利益有很大不同。

Could reviving election by lottery lead to more effective government

恢复抽签制会不会让政府更加有效，

through a more diverse and representative group of legislatures?

因为立法机构更广泛更具有代表性？

Or does modern political office, like Athenian military command,

还是现代政治，如同雅典的军事体制一样，

require specialized knowledge and skills?

需要专业的知识和技巧？

You probably shouldn't hold your breath

你或许不能完全寄托于

to win a spot in your country's government.

中奖来参加你的政府。

But depending on where you live,

但是取决于你住的地方，

you may still be selected to participate in a jury,

你仍可能会被抽签进入陪审团，

a citizens' assembly,

公民大会，

or a deliberative poll,

或慎思民调，

all examples of how the democratic principle behind sortition

这些都是随机抽选背后的民主原则

still survives today.

在今日发挥作用的例子。