My essay probably wasn't that great. I sorta did a huge paragraph on Pericles' legislation (Payment of the Jurors, Zeigutae to Archonship, reducing power of the areopagus-->Boule, Ecclesia, etc).
Then I tried desperately to link the Delian League --> Athenian Empire to the question since I studied so much on that, so I mostly spoke about how the Delian Leagues transformation to the Athenian empire was key to the preservation of democracy in Athens, since they were facing threats not only from the Persian Empire, but also the oligarchic Peloponnese.
Third one I tried to say that Pericles' development of Athens was crucial to the increasing public participation (thus developing democracy) among the lower classes (building Parthenon required artisans and lower class labourers). The 'Golden Age' of Athens also highlighted the success of a democractic system of government, (idk if that's relevant tho).
I think the question was 'How significant were the key developments of democracy in the Greek World 500-440 BCE'