Despite this limited franchise, Athenian democracy was certainly the first — and perhaps the best — example of a working direct democracy.

Despite being outscored over the season, the Diamondbacks posted the best record in the NL with 90 wins and 72 losses.

Despite the study of model plants and increasing use of DNA evidence, there is ongoing work and discussion among taxonomists about how best to classify plants into various taxa.

Despite vocal opposition from Contre-Admiral Armand Blanquet, who insisted that the fleet would be best able to respond in open water, the rest of the captains agreed that anchoring in a line of battle inside the bay presented the strongest tactic for confronting Nelson.

Despite being well out of playoff contention the Cubs went 24 – 13 under Quade, the best record in baseball during that 37 game stretch and was hired as manager on October 19.

* Ivan Rodriguez ( 2003 ) — Despite only playing one season with the Marlins, he put up some the of the best offensive and defensive statistics by a Marlins catcher and was a key cog in the 2003 World Championship team.

Despite the best intentions, their guarded editorial and business skills forced the company to close down soon after cancelling Pasolini ’ s project, Accattone ( 1961 ).

Despite this almost exclusive focus, however, Greek fire is best understood as a complete weapon system of many components, all of which were needed to operate together to render it effective.

Despite his reputation as a serious composer of large, complex musical structures, some of Brahms's most widely known and most commercially successful compositions during his life were small-scale works of popular intent aimed at the thriving contemporary market for domestic music-making ; indeed, during the 20th century, the influential American critic B. H. Haggin, rejecting more mainstream views, argued in his various guides to recorded music that Brahms was at his best in such works and much less successful in larger forms.

Despite Ribbentrop's best efforts, Matsuoka was sacked as Foreign Minister later in July 1941, and the Japanese-American talks began.

Despite producing some of the best teams in NFL history over the years, the Vikings have not won a Super Bowl.

The armistice was celebrated in Pyongyang with a military parade in which Kim declared " Despite their best efforts, the imperialist invaders were defeated with great loss in men and material.

Despite their best efforts, many gays and lesbians were still unwilling to come out.

Despite the success of his masterwork Dido and Aeneas ( 1689 ), in which the action is furthered by the use of Italian-style recitative, much of Purcell's best work was not involved in the composing of typical opera, but instead he usually worked within the constraints of the semi-opera format, where isolated scenes and masques are contained within the structure of a spoken play, such as Shakespeare in Purcell's The Fairy-Queen ( 1692 ) and Beaumont and Fletcher in The Prophetess ( 1690 ) and Bonduca ( 1696 ).

Despite trying his best to stop them, La Forge is sympathetic to their actions and even offers a full pardon if they stop.

Despite the technical innovations that have taken place since the start of the series many still consider Super Mario Kart to be one of, if not, the best game of the franchise line.

Despite their defensive flaws, the Dolphins ' powerful offense led the NFL in scoring ( 513 points ) and total yards gained ( 7, 064 ), and helped the team reach an AFC best 14-2 regular season record.

Despite his regular season problems, Elway ended up playing his best during the playoffs.

Despite their defensive problems, the Bills finished the season with an AFC best 13-3 regular season record.

Despite the best efforts of the slaveholders, Tubman was never captured, and neither were the fugitives she guided.

Despite historians ' best efforts to find in it some permanence of character, the exact nature of the witenagemot remains " essentially vague, fluctuating, and incoherent.

Despite the initial mass of < sup > 1 </ sup > H being used as the natural unit for atomic weight, it was suggested by Wilhelm Ostwald that atomic weights would be best expressed in terms in units of 1 / 16 weight of oxygen.

Despite Father Tim's best efforts, Blackie remains a jaunty Barbary Coast atheist.

Despite this, he is considered the greatest chronicler of the crusades, and one of the best authors of the Middle Ages.

Despite his womanizing tendencies Joey is an innocent and caring character with good intentions.

Despite the successes enjoyed by his troops, Germanicus ' German campaign was in reaction to the mutinous intentions of his troops, and lacked real strategic value.

Despite the parties ' ongoing relations, each side was strongly suspicious of the other's intentions.

Despite the good intentions and hardwork of its creator ( as well as the keen interest and support from both amateur and professional 2000 AD contributors ), the fanzine's full potential sadly never was realised.

" Despite Whedon's intentions of not making Buffy about overcoming issues, he said Willow's exploration of her sexuality " turned out to be one of the most important things we've done on the show ".

Despite repeated stated intentions by the world's leaders to end hunger and famine, famine remains a chronic threat in much of Africa and Asia.

” Despite the settlers ’ intentions, towns failed to develop for two reasons: the generally low level of economic activity in the area and the competition from plantation settlements already providing the kind of marketing and purchasing services typically offered by a town.

Despite his preparations and intentions to cow the Jews, Diodotus was entirely unsuccessful, and left the region under the rule of Jonathan's brother Simon, with little gain beyond a minor tribute of 100 talents.

Despite the framers ' intentions in the beginning of the republic, ballot measures and their corresponding referendums have been widely used at the state and sub-state level.

Despite this, Donald usually misinterprets Huey, Dewey and Louie's good intentions for being bad, either by the influence of the unknown bad guy or having nightmares and daydreams about them being destructive.

Despite their intentions, the Lows never returned to live in Savannah during their marriage, though they did visit the United States almost every year.

Despite his best intentions, Tejada seems to have been disdained by the Bolivian military leaders from the very beginning.

Despite her best intentions, Eliza's stubbornness that she's always right leads her strong desire to help to become destructive, she has also been seen to develop brief periods of megalomania on more than one occasion.

Despite the intentions, it took place without success.

Despite Wang Jing's urging for him to dismiss the idea, Cao went to meet Empress Dowager Guo and tell her about his intentions.

Despite being forewarned of U. S. intentions by a tactical mistake, the Mexicans found themselves outgunned by the invading army at Contreras.

Despite the good intentions, efforts, and limited success of the Bureau, medical treatment of the freedmen was severely deficient.

Despite its being realistic and recounting facts, the documentary form itself must still communicate through a sign system ( the aural-visual signs of TV ) that simultaneously distorts the intentions of producers and evokes contradictory feelings in the audience.

Despite her trust in the goodness of people and persistent good intentions, Dharma is not naive.

Despite the intentions behind the 1834 Act, relief of the poor remained the responsibility of local taxpayers, and there was thus a powerful economic incentive to use loopholes such as sickness in the family to continue with outdoor relief ; the weekly cost per person was about half that of providing workhouse accommodation.

Despite his opposition to the treaty and his mistrust of the governments intentions and methods, the dwindling of the buffalo herds ultimately prevented his people from continuing to rely on this traditional food source and pushed the Cree to the point of starvation in less than a decade.

Despite these interpretations, Deodato has said in interviews that he had no intentions in Cannibal Holocaust but to make a film about cannibals.

Despite these intentions, the book has been categorized as " homosexual propaganda " by the tabloid press in the UK, which has led to much of its influence and even notoriety.