COLLECTIVE DECISION-MAKING PROCESS AND CI VIL-WAR - THE EXAMPLE OF THE ODYSSEY

In archaic Greece the majority rule was known, bur many communities (p oleis) were not able to use it. The poet of the ''Odyssey'' discusses this problem in the 24. chant, where the polls of Ithaka fails to come to an agreement and to act conjointly against the mass murderer Odyss eus. The polls doesn't succeed in acting as a political entity because there is no consensus about fundamental norms: as long as a powerful nobleman asserts his honor without respecting any limits, it is imposs ible to impose collective values. When norm conformity grows and polit ical cohesion gets stronger, the group is able to make collective deci sions, but this doesn't necessarily mean, that the majority rule becom es the dominant mode of decision.