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Description
Shift your attention to another important arm of the government. Explore the roles of the Council of 500 officials chosen by lot, required to serve for a whole year, as well as the respected (if not particularly powerful) magistrates known as archons. Then, review the relatively limited systems of taxation and welfare in ancient Athens.
Description
Fifty years after Solon's reforms, a tyrant named Peisistratus seized power. The overthrow of his tyranny, and the ensuing skirmish among different aristocratic groups, led to the rise of Cleisthenes, a truly innovative leader. Find out how he undermined the old aristocratic system and carried the democratic experiment forward.
Description
Go inside one of the hallmark institutions of Athenian democracy. Open to freeborn citizens older than age 20, the popular assembly met 10 times a year and was for many citizens who lived some distance from Athens a three-day affair - one reason Athenian citizenship might seem like a full-time job. Listen to the some of the debates and arguments of a typical assembly meeting.
Description
To understand Athenian democracy, we first must understand Athens as a polis, or city-state, within the broader context of ancient Greece. Review the territory of Attica and get the lay of the land for Athenian government in the 6th and 7th centuries BC. Then, witness the great crisis that led to Solon's reforms and set Athenian democracy on its course.
Description
The most significant confrontation between a president and a president's investigators happens not in a court of law but in the court of public opinion. Often, the "storyline" is the deciding factor in how an investigation will be seen by future historians. Examine four different tactics used by President Bill Clinton and his team that helped them achieve a public relations victory.
Description
Among Greek city-states, Athens was not alone in having a form of democratic rule. As you'll discover in this lecture, Greek governments ran on a sliding scale from oligarchy and democracy to kingship and tyranny. Delve into Homer's epics to examine several early examples of democratic assembly.
Description
Today, legislative and judicial oversight of the presidency are a permanent part of American government and critical to limiting and restraining the possibility of executive abuse. In this lecture, learn how our system of checks and balances came to exist - with, among other things, a close look at the landmark judicial review case, Marbury v. Madison.
Description
Investigate the use of presidential pardons. Start by looking at two general types of pardons in American history: the "justice and mercy" pardon and the "peacefulness" pardon. Then, focus on key questions about the presidential pardon power: Can American presidents pardon co-conspirators for crimes they've committed, thereby frustrating an investigation? Can they pardon themselves?
Description
After the Nixon presidency, Congress and the American public became convinced that an independent investigator function was essential. Twenty years later, they let that function expire. Follow the swing from the Nixon era to the independent counsel of the Reagan and Clinton eras back to the special counsel leading the investigation of Russian election hacking and the 2016 Trump campaign.
Description
Conclude this lecture series with a study of the "nuclear option" in presidential investigations: impeachment. Learn why impeachment is inevitably as much a political event as a legal one - and why, when a presidency is on the line, public opinion is at least as powerful a determinant of the outcome as the laws that are on the books.
Description
Following the disastrous Sicilian campaign, Athenian democracy appeared to be on the ropes. But in 413 BC, the demos appointed a board of 10 elderly "probouloi," or advisors, to deal with the immediate crisis. Find out how these leaders steadied the ship and and how the democractic experiment carried on into the next century.
Description
Depending on where you sit, testimonial privileges are either barriers to the truth or limitations on the disclosure of sensitive information. Using the Whitewater and Lewinsky scandals that swirled around President Bill Clinton and his lawyer, Bruce Lindsey, in the late 1990s, explore the topics of attorney-client privilege and executive privilege.
Description
Athenian democracy did not always respond well under pressure. In this lecture, Professor Garland walks you through three case studies - the massacre of a neutral people, the illegal trial and execution of Athenian generals en bloc, and the trial and execution of Socrates - that demonstrate the capacity of Athenian democracy for genuine brutality.
Description
Twelve eye-opening episodes guide you through the ins and outs of presidential investigations, using past events as a lens through which to make sense of current (and future) ones. You’ll examine the legal framework that informs how Congress and the courts handle charges of abuse of power. You’ll also dive into the investigations of presidents including Andrew Johnson and Bill Clinton.
38) Democracy at War
Description
The ancient Greeks were a bellicose people, and they considered military service a privilege. Innovations such as hoplite warfare and the construction of their navy, manned by the poorest citizens, went hand in hand with the development of democracy in Athens, particularly since the Athenian military had no permanent commander in chief.
Description
Presidential crises and abuses of power aren't just features of modern times. Early executive scandals have had significant long-term effects that resonate down the corridors of time. Learn how we're still dealing with the fallout of famous investigations into abuses of presidential power, including Ulysses S. Grant's Whiskey Ring and Warren G. Harding's Teapot Dome scandal.
Description
Presidential lies can undermine our belief in the fairness of our system of government and our faith in its legitimacy. In this lecture, focus on how the president isn't special when it comes to certain matters of law and evidence (lying under oath, obstruction of justice, and grand jury subpoenas) - as well as some key caveats to this view.
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