9. Dealing With Regional Factionalism
After he decisively dealt with the oligarchic threat, Cleisthenes enacted reforms that established Athenian democracy. The major reform was the reorganization of the citizen body (demos) of Athens. Before, Athenians had been grouped into four tribes, based on kin groups. Cleisthenes argued that such grouping lent itself too readily to factionalism. Instead, Cleisthenes instituted an artificial classification system that divided the citizen body into ten at-large tribes, with membership drawn at random from all classes and all parts of Attica. Each tribe thus contained a representative sample of the entire population, including all classes and regions. That reduced the incentives for parochialism, as no tribe had cause to act out of geographical or familial loyalties at the expense of Athens as a whole.
