The emergence and the development of the federations: The Achaean federation, the United Provinces and the EU.

Economou, Emmanouel/Marios/Lazaros and Kyriazis, Nicholas (2013): The emergence and the development of the federations: The Achaean federation, the United Provinces and the EU.

Abstract

In the present essay we analyse for the first time as far as we know the development of democracy, which emerged in Greece during the classical period, into the proto-federations of the democratic city-states. We examine their political institutions and policies, like common defense and external policy, military organization, representative federal bodies like popular assemblies, parliament, generals as military and political commanders, federal finance ministers etc., as well as their economic institutions and policies: Common currency, federal budget and federal revenues. We address in more detail as a case study the Achaean Federation. Then, we compare this particular proto-federation with the United Provinces (UP, the Dutch Republic) and show structural and organizational similarities. Lastly, we compare the Achaean federation with today’s European Union (EU) and conclude that in some respects the proto-federation was more advanced than the EU, and thus can serve as a benchmark in addressing current European issues.

• Item Type: MPRA Paper
• Language: English
• Keywords: Institutions, economic organization, Achaean federation, United Provinces,EU
• Subjects: H - Public Economics > H5 - National Government Expenditures and Related Policies; H - Public Economics > H5 - National Government Expenditures and Related Policies > H56 - National Security and War; H - Public Economics > H7 - State and Local Government ; Intergovernmental Relations; N - Economic History > N9 - Regional and Urban History; Z - Other Special Topics > Z1 - Cultural Economics ; Economic Sociology ; Economic Anthropology > Z18 - Public Policy

References

References:

Ancient authors

Plutarch “Moralia”, (Plut. Mor.).

Polybius “Histories”, (Pol. Hist.).

Modern Authors

Ager, S. (1996), Interstate relations in the Greek world 337-90 BC. Berkeley, Los Angeles and London: University of California Press.

Anderson, J.K. (1967), “Philopoemen’s reform of the Achaean army”, Classical Philology, 62(2), 104-106.

Arvanitides, P. and Kyriazis, N. (2012) “Public choice, economy and war in classical Athens,” paper presented at the 16th Annual International Conference on Economics and Security, Cairo, June, 2012.

Badian, E. (1952), “The Treaty between Rome and the Achaean League”, The Journal of Roman Studies, 42(1/2), 76-80.

Birgalias, N. (2009), From social to political majority: The stadium of “isonomia”, Athens: Patakis Publishers, (in Greek).

Βriscoe, J. (1974), “The Greek Resistance to Rome. Der politische widerstand gegen Rom in Griechenland 217-86 v.”, The Classical Review, New Series, 24(2), 258-261.

Caspari, M.O.B. (1914), “The parliament of the Achaean League”, The English Historical Review, 29(114), 209-220.

Caspari, M.O.B. (1917), “A survey of Greek federal coinage”, The Journal of Hellenic Studies, 37, 168-183.

Davids, K. and ’t Hart, M. (2012), “The navy and rise of the state: The case of the Netherlands, c. 1570-1810”, in J. Backhaus (ed.), Navies and State formation. Berlin: Lit Verlag, pp. 273-316.

De Laix, R. A. (1973), “The silver coinage of the Aetolian League”, Californian Studies in Classical Antiquity, 6, 47-75.

Gabrielsen, V. (1994), Financing the Athenian Fleet, Baltimore: John Hopkins University Press.

Griffith, G.T. (1935), The mercenaries of the Hellenistic world. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Halkos, G. & Kyriazis, N. (2005), “A naval revolution and institutional change: The case of the United Provinces, European Journal of Law and Economics, 19(1), 41-68.

Halkos, G. and Kyriazis, N. (2006), “Is tax competition harmful and is the EU an optimal tax area?,” European Journal of Law and Economics, 21, 163-177.

Halkos G. and Kyriazis, N. (2010), “The Athenian economy in the age of Demosthenes,” European Journal of Law and Economics, 29, 255-277.

Hansen, M. H. (1999), The Athenian democracy in the age of Demosthenes. London: Bristol Classical Press.

Kyriazis, N. (2006), “Seapower and Socioeconomic Change”, Theory and Society, 35(1), 71-108.

Kyriazis, N. (2009), “Financing the Athenian State: Public Choice in the Age of Demosthenes,” European Journal of Law and Economics, 27, 109-127.

Kyriazis, N. and Paparrigopoulos, X. (2011), “The Birth of Democracy: Values in War and Politics in Classical Greece”, in: P. Hermann (ed.), “Democracy in the Theory and Action”, Nova Publishers, pp. 277-287.

Kyriazis, N. and Paparrigopoulos, X. (2012), “War and democracy in ancient Greece”, European Journal of Law and Economics. DOI 10.1007/s10657-012-9352-1.

Kyriazis, N. and Economou, E.M. (2012), “Macroculture, Sports and Democracy in Classical Greece”, paper presented at the 25th Heilbronn Symposion in Economics and the Social Sciences, June 21-24th in Heilbronn.

Kyriazis, N. and Economou E.M.L. (forthcoming), “Macroculture, sports and democracy in Classical Greece.

Kyriazis, N. & Economou, E. M. L., (2012). "Property rights and democratic values in Bronze Age and Archaic Greece," MPRA Paper 42399, University Library of Munich, Germany.

Larsen, J.A.O. (1972), “A recent interpretation of the Achaean Assemblies”, Classical Philology, 67(3), 178-185. Loomis, W.T. (1988), Wages, welfare costs and inflation in Classical Athens. Michigan: Michigan University Press.

Meier, C. (2012), A culture of freedom. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Moussis, N. (2008), Access to European Union: Law, Economics. Rixensart: European Study Service.

Musgrave, R. A. (1961), “Approaches to a fiscal theory of political federalism”, in Public Finances: Needs, sources and utilization, National Bureau of Economic Research. New York and Princeton: Princeton University Press, pp. 97-122.

Musgrave, R. (1998), “Approaches to a fiscal theory of political federalism”, in Oates W.E. (ed), The economics of fiscal federalism and local finance. Chelterham: Edward Elgar Publishing Limited, pp. 187-212.

Nohlen, D. and Stöver, P. (2010), Elections in Europe: A data handbook. Berlin: Nomos Publishers.

Oliver, J. H. (1978), “Panachaeans and Panhellenes”, Hesperia, The Journal of the American School of Classical Studies at Athens, 47(2), 185-191.

Pauly, M.V. (1973), “Income reduction as a local public good”, Journal of Public Economics, 2(1), 35-58.

Pauly, M.V. (1998), “Income reduction as a local public good”, in Oates W.E. (ed), The economics of fiscal federalism and local finance. Chelterham: Edward Elgar Publishing Limited, pp. 364-388.

Pritchard, (2012), Sport, Democracy and War in Classical Athens. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Russell, J. and Cohn, R. (2012), Aetolian League. Edinburgh: LENNEX Corp.

Roberts, K. (2011). The origins of business money and markets. New York: Columbia University Press.

Τhompson, M. (1939), “A hoard of Greek federal silver”, Hesperia: The Journal of the American School of Classical Studies at Athens, 8(2), 116-154.

Walbank, F.W. (2010, repr.), Selected Papers: Studies in Greek and Roman History and Historiography. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press; Reissue edition.