Dangerous Counsel

Matthew Landauer

Matthew Landauer

Dangerous Counsel

Accountability and Advice in Ancient Greece

University of Chicago Press | 2019

DOI: https://doi.org/10.7208/9780226653822

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About this book

We often talk loosely of the “tyranny of the majority” as a threat to the workings of democracy. But, in ancient Greece, the analogy of demos and tyrant was no mere metaphor, nor a simple reflection of elite prejudice. Instead, it highlighted an important structural feature of Athenian democracy. Like the tyrant, the Athenian demos was an unaccountable political actor with the power to hold its subordinates to account. And like the tyrant, the demos could be dangerous to counsel since the orator speaking before the assembled demos was accountable for the advice he gave.

With Dangerous Counsel, Matthew Landauer analyzes the sometimes ferocious and unpredictable politics of accountability in ancient Greece and offers novel readings of ancient history, philosophy, rhetoric, and drama. In comparing the demos to a tyrant, thinkers such as Herodotus, Plato, Isocrates, and Aristophanes were attempting to work out a theory of the badness of unaccountable power; to understand the basic logic of accountability and why it is difficult to get right; and to explore the ways in which political discourse is profoundly shaped by institutions and power relationships. In the process they created strikingly portable theories of counsel and accountability that traveled across political regime types and remain relevant to our contemporary political dilemmas.

Author information

Matthew Landauer is assistant professor of political science at the University of Chicago.

Reviews

“This is a clever, thought-provoking, and knowledgeable work that makes a significant contribution to the understanding of ancient Greek political thought.”

— Melissa Lane, Princeton University

“Landauer has produced an exceptionally well-written and readable work of political theory that raises new and thought-provoking questions about the role of advice in tyrannies and democracies, which will be of interest both to political theorists and historians of ancient Greece.”

— Matt Simonton, Arizona State University

Frontmatter Free access PDF PDF	i
Contents Free access PDF PDF	v
Acknowledgments Free access PDF PDF	vii
Introduction Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	1
1. Accountability and Unaccountability in Athenian Democracy Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	25
2 The Tyrant: Unaccountability’s Second Face Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	59
3. The Accountable Adviser in Herodotus’ Histories Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	83
4. Responsibility and Accountability in Thucydides’ Mytilenean Debate Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	105
5. Parrhēsia across Politeiai Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	129
6. Demagoguery and the Limits of Expert Advice in Plato’s Gorgias Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	149
Conclusion Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	179
Notes Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	187
Bibliography Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	223
Index Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	235

Dangerous Counsel

Accountability and Advice in Ancient Greece

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