Ambitus suffragiorum – predizborne manipulacije u antičkom Rimu u kontekstu savremene političke prakse

Abstract

Rad se bavi fenomenom predizbornih manipulacija u rimskoj republici kroz analizu zakonodavstva koje je tu pojavu želelo da suzbije. Autor konstatuje da su politički život rimske republike obeležavale skoro neprekidne izborne kampanje, praćene lobiranjima, agitovanjem, podmićivanjem, korupcijom – jednom rečju, manipulativnim pridobijanjem naklonosti birača. Analizirajući socijalno-ekonomske uzroke narastanja takvih zloupotreba krajem Republike, autor ih vidi u sve zaoštrenijem sukobu ekonomskih interesa između starih patricijskih porodica (patres) i novoobogaćenog sloja plebejaca (equites). Koliko je u tom periodu ambitus suffragiorum postao učestali oblik devijantnog ponašanja, pokazuje i činjenica da je sredinom II veka pre n. e. za to krivično delo ustanovljen i poseban stalni porotni sud (quaestio perpetua de ambitu). Na kraju, autor zaključuje da se antičko iskustvo o zloupotrebama volje birača ne razlikuje mnogo od savremenog i da, kao i u mnogim drugim oblastima ljudskog života, tako i na planu političkih borbi, moderna vremena nisu unela mnogo inovativnosti u metode manipulacije masama, osim što su sada sredstva daleko više sofisticirana.

The article deals with the phenomenon of pre-election manipulation in the Roman Republic through the analysis of legislation that sought to suppress that occurrence. The author states that the political life of the Roman Republic was marked by almost constant election campaigns, followed by lobbying, agitating, bribery, corruption – in a word, by manipulative persuasion of voters’ favor. Analysing the socio-economic causes that led to the growth of such abuse at the end of the Republic, the author sees them in increasingly difficult conflict of economic interests between the old patrician families (patres) and recently enriched plebeians (equites). How much in this period ambitus suffragiorum became common form of deviant behavior is evidenced by the fact that in mid second century BC a special permanent jury court (quaestio perpetua de ambitu) was established for this criminal act. Finally, the author concludes that the ancient experience of abuse of the voters’ will is not much different from today’s, and that, as in many other areas of human life, as well as in the field of political battles, modern times have not brought a lot of innovation in the methods of mass manipulation, except that now means are much more sophisticated.