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Leaders were usually from the aristocracy, who had popular support of the landowners, big and small, who also made up the citizenry and the citizen army.

When radical democracies were tried, eg in Athens and similar cities, the leaders were chosen by lot, but in sufficient numbers (a council of 500) so that the law of averages would ensure that there were some level-headed people included. However in Athens, any important action decided by the citizen assembly often had a rider 'the generals will see to it'. The generals were separately selected from reliable people (the citizens didn't want to risk being led in battle by a dummy drawn out of the hat), and so the generals were given the implementation of important decisions by the popular assembly to make sure it was done competently.

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11y ago

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