whatsoever. Indeed, Athenian citizens were able to devote so much of their lives to politics only because slavery relieved them of the need to engage in arduous labour, and the confinement of women the private realm freed men from domestic responsibilities. Nevertheless, the classical model of direct and contin- uous popular participation in political life has been kept alive in, for instance, the township meetings of New England in the USA, the communal assemblies that operate in smaller Swiss cantons and in the wider use of referendums.