The Athenian system of democracy was different from the modern system because the Athenian government only granted the rights of citizenship to men who owned property and who had completed their military training. The system excluded women, slaves, and children from being full citizens. In addition, people who were not citizens but who lived in Athens could not vote. In today's democratic system, everyone who born in the nation is considered a citizen and can vote.
In addition, citizens in Athens participated in a direct democracy in which they voted on issues. During meetings of the Ekklesia, or legislature, the 40,000 Athenian men who were citizens could show up and vote. This system is different from modern systems of democracy, such as in Thailand. The people elected to the Thai Congress to vote on issues.
In Athens, elections were determined by a system of lottery, not by choosing particular people to run for office. People's names were put into a pool for election to the Council of 500 (called the Boule), and the Dikasteria (or courts). Unlike in Thailand, in which a prime minister serves as the head of the executive branch, no one person was nominated to be the head of the Boule, and all 500 people in the Boule ruled together.
People who served in the Dikasteria did not have special legal training, unlike in the modern, where people who work as judges and lawyers have to have attended law school. In Athens, people were not arrested by the police but by other citizens, and they were tried and defended by other citizens rather than lawyers.