Compare and contrast the economic, political, and social structures of Ancient Athens to modern-day Iraq to see if democracy can work in Iraq

Democracy does not work. This is the case in some countries. However in others democracy can thrive and work like no other government. By comparing the political, economic, and social structures of ancient Athens and Iraq it can determine what the conditions are for democracy to work in Iraq. Before democracy is able to work in Iraq, the Iraqi people must learn to coexist with one another, pay off their debt, and

Athens went through several different government changes. Athens was first a Monarchy. The nobles, who advised the king and provided leadership in war, gain power. This led to an Aristocracy. The Aristocrats became wealthy, to extremely wealthy. They made a huge gap between the lower class citizens and the upper class citizens. However average citizens started to demand more say in the government. As the citizen-soldiers became more important, they also demanded input in the government. The Aristocrats, not wanting to give up any power, did no such thing.

iraq

English: Former President of Iraq, Saddam Hussein,...

Iraq

Revolts began to break out by the lower class citizens. To try to prevent a civil war, the Aristocrats appointed a man named Draco to write the first written code. Draco's code was not well accepted by the Athenians so a man named Solon was sent to improve them. Solon's reform gave more power to an average citizen. However this did not stop the rise of Tyranny. The first tyrant of Athens was Pissastratus. Pissastratus took land and power away from the nobles and gave it to the peasants. Cleisthenes was the next tyrant. Cleisthenes was responsible for the making of the Athenian Assembly. This was a big step toward the development of democracy. Democracy reached its peak under the leader Pericles. Athens then had a direct democracy. All citizens had the right to vote and attend the assembly.