History Greek & Roman Civilization Unit 1

Citizenship and Franchise - In the Athenian democracy, only male citizens who were born in Athens and had completed military training were allowed to vote. Women, slaves, and foreigners were excluded from the political process. In Italy on the other and, all citizens who are at least 18 years old and have registered to vote are allowed to participate in elections (Anderson, 2006). The procedure to make laws and who had the power to do so - In the Athenian democracy, laws were proposed by citizens and then voted on by the Assembly. The Council of 500, which is a group of citizens chosen by lot that also had the power to propose laws. In Italy, the laws are proposed by the congress and by the president (Anderson, 2006). The Power of the Judiciary - In the Athenian democracy, the judiciary was composed of citizens who were chosen by lot to serve as jurors in trials and there were no professional judges. In Italy on the other hand there are professional judges and no citizens are involved in the process (Anderson, 2006). Judicial Review - In the Athenian democracy, there was no concept of judicial review and the decisions of the Assembly and the courts were final. In Italy on the other hand, the Supreme Court has the power of judicial review, which allows it to declare laws and executive actions unconstitutional (Anderson, 2006). Ways of Constraining the Power of Public Officials - In the Athenian democracy, public officials were subject to ostracism, which allowed citizens to vote to banish a public official from the city for a period of ten years. In Italy, there are also laws and regulations in place to prevent corruption and abuse of power, and public officials are subject to impeachment and removal from office for misconduct or other offenses (Anderson, 2006).