"Government of of the people, by the people, and for the people" - so goes Abraham Lincoln's Gettysburg Address. But does that describe 21st century democracy?

"Government of of the people, by the people, and for the people" - so goes Abraham Lincoln's Gettysburg Address. But does that describe 21st century democracy?

2016 caused many people to ask if democracy is the best form of government, or, if as Winston Churchill said, "the worst, except for all those other forms that have been tried."

Megan Whelan leads a discussion about the Ancient Greek idea that led to the governments we have today.

Participants: Megan Whelan, Professor Art Pomeroy; Emeritus Professor Nigel Roberts; Associate Professor Kate Hunter

Modern democracy has its roots in ancient Athens, where on a hill over the city - the Pnyx - assemblies would meet to discuss things like going to war and safeguarding the food supply.

The study of elections is often called Psephology.

"The word 'Psephos' comes from the Greek word for a pebble, and the Greeks used to vote by putting pebbles in a bowl" says Nigel Roberts. "And then they counted the number of pebbles."

" can make any decision they like," says Art Pomeroy. "And what is quite interesting is that once a decision has been made, questioning a decision nowadays is sometimes labelled as anti-democratic.

"But the Athenians were smart enough, actually, to say 'No, that's part of a good democratic process'."

Would the Athenians recognise modern-day parliamentary democracy as the evolution of their system?

"I suspect, they would they would be tempted, at least initially, to think that no, this is some sort of strange government by the few," Art Pomeroy says. "Which in some ways, it is."

But of course, not everyone was involved, even in Athenian democracy - only men over the age of eighteen could vote.

New Zealand has been described as the world's oldest democracy, Nigel Roberts says. "In 1867, of course, Māori males got the vote, and 1867 to 1893, all men had the vote, and then in 1893 when you had female suffrage passed by Parliament, we then had universal adult suffrage.

"It was the first country in the world, men and women, black and white, indigenous and settlers, all having the vote."

It took a long fight for women to be able to break through the idea that citizenship - and therefore voting right - was tied to military service. And Kate Hunter says it was a hard fight…

Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details