DEMOCRACY AND THE ROLL OF TYRANT KILLING LAW

David A. Teegarden, Death to Tyrants!: Ancient Greek Democracy and the Struggle against Tyranny (Princeton & Oxford: Princeton U. Press, 2014) ("In this book, I demonstrate that the ancient Athenians invented, and the citizens of many Greek poleis subsequently adopted, an institution that facilitated large-scale, pro-democracy uprisings: tyrant killing law. This peculiar law type essentially harnessed the dynamics of bandwagoning. It encouraged brave individuals to strike the first public blow against a nondemocratic regime--to 'kill a tyrant'--and convinced everybody else that, should he follow the tyrant killer's lead, other individuals would follow. Thus, in the event of a coup, somebody would likely commit a conspicuous act of political defiance and thereby precipitate an ever-growing pro-democracy cascade. It was a simple, yet profound invention. And I will argue that it contributed to the success of democracy in the ancient Greek world." "Democracy ultimately represents a victory of the nonelite masses over the elite and powerful few. But the victory is not 'once and for all.' I think it is safe to say that there always have been and always will be enemies of democracy: individuals and groups that seek to overthrow the people and hold the reigns of power themselves. The ancient Greeks learned how to combat those forces and thereby helped to ensure the success of democracy for several generations--the world's first democratic age. I suspect that the length and scope of our modern democratic age will likewise depend on how well pro-democrats learn to drawn upon their collective strength and combat the modern 'tyrannical threats." Id. at xi-xii. Of course, today, it may not be necessary to literally kill the tyrants if one can effectively permanently neutralize (imprison, exile, de-legitimize) them. However, in contemporary America, if there is a tyrant, it comes in the from of a complex web of institutes (corporate institutions?) for which is unclear who, exactly, are the heads. Institutions are harder to kill than individuals.).