carried an unfavorable meaning until the nineteenth
century. The Athenian example of direct democracy
was for many years interpreted to mean unrestrained
mob rule, for a "true" democracy had to be a system in
which all citizens who so desired met periodically to
elect state officials and personally enact laws. This
kind of government has been extremely rare
throughout history (the few examples are Athens's
General Assembly, the New England town meeting, and