government
The Athenians were the ones who first thought of democracy, the other cities tried the new democracy but did not succeed as much as the Athenians. It was developed in the 5th century BC, were the citizens got to choose and have a say through a majority vote. Not everyone was allowed to vote/participate, only adult males were allowed to vote because only they were considered to be full citizens. At times the votes could be influenced through theatre or speeches. Sometimes it worked, sometimes not, because of this Solon, Cleisthenes, and Ephialtes continued to improve the democracy system.
Each year the citizens had to draw out 500 names, those 500 men had to serve for 1 year and improve the rules. Any new law had to be approved by the citizens by doing a yes or no vote on the law. Unfortunately this new way was ended after Athens lost the war against Sparta.
Work cited:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Athenian_democracy
http://greece.mrdonn.org/athensdemocracy.html
http://www.historyforkids.org/learn/government/democracy.htm