雅典的民主与苏格拉底之死——雅典直接民主制下多数人暴政的成因

雅典的直接民主因为奉行绝对的多数统治，因而蕴藏着走向专制和暴政的危险。而雅典民主政治中的相关制度设计却不曾对多数权力进行丝毫制约，个人的基本权利和自由在城邦生活中也无处可觅，普遍的参与并没有带来充分和有效的参与，反而降低了民主的质量和效果。这一切都构成了雅典城邦直接民主制下多数人暴政的原因，也使苏格拉底悲剧的发生无法避免。

Athens' Democracy and the Death of Socrates——On the Reasons of Majority Tyranny Caused by Direct Democracy in Athens

Athens＇ direct democracy pursued the majority rule absolutely, which contains the danger of tyranny. Nevertheless, the design of political system failed to restrict the majority power. Personal fundamental rights and freedom had no place in city-state of Athens. Popular participation made no contribution to effective participation and did harm to the effectiveness of democracy instead. All of these leads to the majority tyranny and makes the death of Socrates inevitable.