The Greek democratic federations and the European Union’s integration

Economou, Emmanouel/Marios/Lazaros and Kyriazis, Nicholas (2015): The Greek democratic federations and the European Union’s integration.

Abstract

In the present paper we focus on the two best organised ancient Greek federations the Achaean and the Aetolian. Both were democratic ones. We analyse their institutional structure, decision making bodies, and finances. Then, we compare them to the present European Union (EU) and point out similarities and differences. Lastly, we attempt an evaluation of the two federations and the EU according to a set of criteria, such as the existence or not of direct democratic procedures, single citizenship, common currency, common defense policy etc. We conclude that the present European Union lags behind the Greek democratic federations according to a series of institutional criteria and thus, it has a long way to go in order to develop into a true federation.

• Item Type: MPRA Paper
• Language: English
• Keywords: Ancient Greek federations, institutional organization, European Union, interactive analysis
• Subjects: H - Public Economics > H5 - National Government Expenditures and Related Policies > H56 - National Security and War; N - Economic History > N4 - Government, War, Law, International Relations, and Regulation > N43 - Europe: Pre-1913; R - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics > R5 - Regional Government Analysis > R58 - Regional Development Planning and Policy; Z - Other Special Topics > Z1 - Cultural Economics ; Economic Sociology ; Economic Anthropology > Z18 - Public Policy

References

References

Ancient authors

Herodotus “Histories”. (Her. Hist.). Livy “Hisroty of Rome” (Liv. Hist. R.). Oxyrhynchus “Historian” (Ox. Hist.). Pausanias “Hellados Periegisis”. (Paus. Ell. Per). Polibius “Histories”. (Pol. Hist.) Strabo “Geographica”. (Str. Geo.) Thucydides “History”. (Thuc. Hist.). Xenophon “Hellenica”. (Xen. Hell.).

Modern authors

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

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

Brenner, R., (1976). Agrarian class structure and economic development in pre-Industrial Europe. Past and Present, 70, 30-75.

Brock, R. & Hodkinson, S. (2000). Alternatives to Athens. Varieties of political organization and community in ancient Greece. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Cackwell, G.L., (1981). Notes on the failure of the second Athenian Confederacy. Journal of Hellenic Studies, 101: 40-55.

Cartledge, P., (2012). The origins and the organisation of the Peloponnese league. In in M. Whitney (Ed.), Sparta (pp. 223-230). New York: Routledge.

Cary, Μ., (1923). A constitution of the United States of Greece. The Classical Quarterly, 17(3/4), 137-148.

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

Cohen, E., (1997). Athenian economy and society. Princeton: Princeton University Press.

Davis, S.R., (1978). The federal principle: A journey through time in quest of meaning. Berkeley, Los Angeles and London: University of California Press.

De Figueiredo, R.J.P., & Weingast, B.R., (2005). Self-enforcing federalism. Journal of Law Economics and Organisation, 21, 103-135.

De Laix, R.A., (1973). The silver coinage of the Aetolian League. Californian Studies in Classical Antiquity, 6: 47-75. Despotopoulos, Α., (1972). The Athenian alliance changes Character, History of the Greek Nation (Γ1) (pp. 35-37). Athens: Ekdotiki Athinon Publications.

Dunn, A., (2002). The great rising of 1381: The Peasants' Revolt and England's failed revolution. Tempus.

Economou, E.M.L., & Kyriazis, N., (2013). The emergence and the development of the federations: The Achaean federation, the United Provinces and the EU. Munich Personal RePEc Archive, MPRA Paper No. 47349.

Economou, E.Μ.L., Kyriazis, N., & Metaxas T., (2014) The institutional and economic foundations of regional proto-federations. Economics of Governance, DOI 10.1007/s10101-014-0155-4.

Forrest, W.G., (2000). The pre-polis Polis. In in R. Brock & S. Hodkinson (Eds.), Alternatives to Athens: Varieties of political organization and community in ancient Greece (pp. 280-292). Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Fine, J.V.A., (1940). The background of the Social War. The American Journal of Philology, 61(2), 129-165.

Grainger, J.D., (1999). The league of the Aitolians. Leiden and Boston: Brill Academic Pub.

Habermas, J., (2012). The crisis of the European Union. Cambridge: Polity Press.

Hammond, N.G.L., (1989). History of Greece to 322 B.C. Oxford: Clarendon Press.

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

Hix, S., & Hoyland, B., (2011). The political system of the European Union. Hampshire: Palgrave Macmillan. Kyriazis, N., (2012). Why ancient Greece? Athens: Psychogios Publications.

Kyriazis, N., & Economou E.M.L., (2013) Macroculture, sports and democracy in Classical Greece. European Journal of Law and Economics, DOI 10.1007/s10657-013-9390-3.

Kyriazis, N., & Economou, E.M.L., (2015) Democracy and education: A history from ancient Athens. In J. Backhaus (Ed.), The University according to Humboldt and the Alternatives. Springer Verlag.

Larsen, J.A.O., (1925). Representative government in panhellenic leagues, Classical Philology, 20(4): 313-329.

Larsen, J.A.O., (1944). Federation for peace in ancient Greece, Classical Philology, 39(3): 145-162.

Larsen, J.A.O., (1952). The assembly of the Aetolian League, Transactions and Proceedings of the American Philological Association, 83: 1-33.

Larsen, J.A.O., (1972). A recent interpretation of the Achaean assemblies. Classical Philology, 67(3), 178-185.

Mackil, E., (2013). Creating a common polity: Religion, economy, and politics in the making of the Greek koinon. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press. Μetaxas, T., & Economou, E.M.L., (2012). Security policy in the European Union and the United States through the issue of their defence expenditures. Global Analysis, 3(1): 52-79.

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 National Bureau of Economic Research (ed.), Public finances: needs, sources and utilization (pp. 97-122). New York and Princeton: Princeton University Press.

Musgrave, R.A., (1988). Approaches to a fiscal theory of political federalism. In E.W. Oates (Ed.) The economics of fiscal federalism and local finance. Chelterham: Edward Elgar Publishing Limited.

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., (1988). Income reduction as a local public good. In W.E. Oates (Ed.), The economics of fiscal federalism and local finance (pp. 364-388). Chelterham: Edward Elgar Publishing Limited.

Peterson, J., & Shackleton, M., (2012). The institutions of the European Union. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Pritchard, D.M., (2013). Sport, democracy and war in Classical Athens. Cambridge: Cambridge.

Rahtjen, B.D., (1965). Philistine and hebrew amphictionies. Journal of Near Eastern Studies, 24(1/2), 100-104.

Raauflaub, K.A., (1993). Homer to Solon: The rise of the polis In M.H. Hansen (Ed.), The ancient Greek city-state: Symposium on the occasion of the 250th anniversary of the Royal Danish Academy of Sciences and Letters (pp. 41-105). Copenhagen: Munskgaard.

Robinson, E.W., (2003). Ancient Greek democracy: Readings and sources. Wiley-Blackwell: New Jersey.

Roebuck, C., (1955). The early Ionian League. Classical Philology, 50(1), 26-40.

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

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

Rzepka, J., (1999). The Aetolian elite warriors and fifth century roots of the Hellenistic confederacy. AKME Studia Historica, 4: 5-34.

Scholten, J.B. (2000) The politics of plunder: Aitolians and their Koinon in the early Hellenistic era, 279-217 B.C. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press.

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