To me it’s always represented the example of how Democracy can fail. But with further research I no longer see it that way, realizing it to be more of a trade war than a war for justice by Sparta to defeate an abusive mobocracy that was Athens.
While Athens did not seem to hold up her end of the bargan perfectly, I think propoganda within peloponnese led to a war against Athens that should not have been the antagonist, but the protagonist.
How do you relate the Peloponnesian Wars to today, Sparta against Athens, Europe against America?
I definately see Europe as either Persia, who would only aid their allies against Athens when victory seemed possible. Or as Corinth, inciting Sparta (the rest of the world), to attack Athens (America), because Corinth wanted to secure their dominance in the world over Athens which swiftly became an economic power house after the Persian war.
“Europe” is neither analogous to Persia, nor Corinth. It isn’t a unitary actor. It’s a continent, with dozens of heads of state with varying responsibilities to vastly differing electorates.
Your comparison just doesn’t work, unless a sizeable component of the Persian army went off to fight the Athenians on their own initiative.
Sorry to piss on your bonfire but to address the OP as to how do I
Well I don’t, as the situation really has no relation to the modern world.
Domocracy as we understand it simply did not exist in the ancient world, they were slave owning societies with power and access to power in the hands of the few. If you want to see Europe as Persia and America as Athens that really only tells us something about how you want to see the current political situation. It also suggests your understanding of history is pretty shaky - Europe against America? Give us a break… :rolleyes:
Oh because all that anti-American sentiment in Europe is just because of how horrible America is and how bad Bush’s policies are…give me a break. :rolleyes:
And I don’t relate Athenian Democracy to America at all.
I relate the Delian League (do you even know what the hell that is?), to the Union of States known as the USA. The comment of Democracy failing was addressed by philosophers of the 17th and 18th centuries and I feel corrected by our fore-fathers. But as you can see we were a slave nation for a long time. The policies of any nation does not reflect on its government. All that matters is how well the political process holds together.
You begin to bore me. General Questions is just that, questions the have an actual answer. Although I am not a mod, this should probably go in IMHO. Also, IMHO, you should get over thinking that you are the smartest one on the block…
Yours does not appear to be a factual question, so I’ll close this thread. I detect some potentially good debates here (Does history repeat itself, Is democracy failing, etc.), but you should really frame them better before posting them in GD to make it obvious what is to be debated.