In ancient Athens, ostracism did the job of impeachment
When the system of temporary exile fell into disuse, Athenian democracy degenerated
AS EVERY AMERICAN knows, democracies need a means to deal with office-holders whose behaviour seems so terrible that they simply have to go. Modern states have impeachment; ancient Athens had ostracism, a gloriously simple device that gave voters the annual right to impose a decade of exile on a reviled individual.
This article appeared in the Culture section of the print edition under the headline “And stay out”
From the January 4th 2020 edition
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