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Copyright of Annales: Histoire, Sciences Sociales is the property of Cambridge University Press and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This article discusses the history of democracy, with a focus on its relation to demagogues and populism. The authors comment on the political philosophy of ancient Greece regarding democracy, particularly the ideas of Aristotle. The current state of democratic societies and demagoguery is also examined.

Information is provided regarding the summer school session "Political Participation: Ideas, Forms and Modes since Antiquity" held at Bielefeld University from May 18, 2015 to May 22, 2015. Topics include the political participation of immigrants, political participation during the archaic and classic periods of ancient Greece, and Roman citizenship during the late Republican period and in Imperial Rome. Presenting scholars included Uwe Walter, Oliver Panichi, and Umberto Mazzone.

Copyright of Historische Zeitschrift is the property of De Gruyter and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The article presents a report on a panel on elites in archaic Greece, convened during the Historikertag, the annual congress of the Verband der Historiker und Historikerinnen Deutschlands (VHD) and Verband der Geschichtslehrer Deutschlands (VGD) professional associations in Göttingen, Germany, from September 23-26, 2014. Topics discussed included competition for political office, political philosophy, and political funerals.

This section presents an introduction to this issue and its articles on the theme of citizenship and politics in Ancient Greece.

Copyright of Historische Zeitschrift is the property of De Gruyter and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Historische Zeitschrift is the property of De Gruyter and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The article documents a speech by philosopher Hermann Schweppenhäuser on the history of politics and democracy, delivered at the Bahnhof Göhrde education center, Germany, on July 20, 1996. Topics discussed include politics in ancient Greece, the political philosophy of philosopher Hannah Arendt, and the idea that political systems and the state emerge to impose order on a chaotic state of nature.

Montesquieu famously claims that modernity ushered in gentle mores and peaceful relations among countries. Consulting Montesquieu’s teaching on Greek foreign policy, both republican and imperial, elucidates the character of these peaceful mores. Montesquieu weaves a modernization tale from primitive ancient Greece to modern commercial states, all to teach the reader to overcome any lingering attachment to glory and to adopt the rational standards of national interest and self-preservation. This account provides important insights on the relationship between realism and idealism in Montesquieu’s international relations teaching and helps scholars to rethink how these categories are construed. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The essay examines the role of women in positions of the ruling elite of Classical and Archaic Greece, focusing on the role of Queen Olympias, the mother of aristocratic conqueror Alexander the Great in the 4th century BC. The author looks at Olympias' wielding of political control in Macedon in the 4th century BC, the political implications of marriages among ruling families, as well as women's roles in war efforts.

This article looks at the relation between insular identity and colonization, in Greek thought but also in Greek colonial practices; more precisely, it examines how islands of different sizes are perceived and presented in their role of ‘colonizing entities’, and as destinations of colonial undertakings. Size appears to play an important role: there seems to have been a tendency to settle small to medium sized islands with a single colony. Large islands too, such as Corsica and Sardinia, follow the pattern ‘one island – one polis’; the case of Sicily is very different, but even there, in a situation of crisis, a colonial island identity emerged. Similarly, a number of small to medium-sized single-polis islands of the Aegean acted as colonizing entities, although there is almost no mention of colonial undertakings by small and medium-sized Aegean islands that had more than one polis. Multi-polis islands, such as Rhodes or Crete – but not Euboea – are often presented as the ‘collective’ undertakers of significant colonial enterprises. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This article explores the Islanders' League (koinon ton nesioton) of the late fourth and third centuries (BCE). Through an examination of the epigraphic evidence (primarily the Nicouria inscription IG XII.7 506), I suggest that, rather than interpreting this League as a top-down imposition on the world of the South Aegean islanders by the Hellenistic kings (first Antigonos and Demetrios, and then the Ptolemies), we should view the League as an expression of and contributor to a strong regional island identity. During the late fourth and third centuries, the League changed patronage; I argue that it was not the specific identity of the patrons that mattered, but rather the complex negotiation of power relations and identity in the region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A report from a November 24-25, 2011 conference in Aachen, Germany on identity in Hellenistic Greek culture is offered. Topics of presentations given include the cultural identities of Arcadians in Pheneos, Greece, the impact of the Achaean War, and the destruction, renaming and rebuilding of Hellenistic cities.

The article presents a reflection on the social and financial organization of Athens, Greece in the sixth century BCE. Topics include the reforms of Athenian statesman and lawmaker Solon on taxes, details on the criteria defining the thresholds of these taxes divided into four classes of population based on income, and the monetary system at the time including the relations between the different units of measurement of this period. The place of these taxes in the building of democracy in Classical Greece is discussed.