Defending Elections Against the Oligarchic Charge
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 10191068 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Palle Bech-Pedersen (0000-0002-3579-2170, Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2025 |
| Volume | 88 |
| Issue | 2 |
| Pages | 000-000 |
| Publication date | 2025-01-29 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | The Journal of Politics (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0022-3816 • E-ISSN: 1468-2508 |
| Publisher | University of Chicago Press (PUBLISHER • US) |
| DOI | 10.1086/735028 |
| OpenAlex | W4406955599 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 2 |
| References cited | 28 |
This article counters the claim, advanced by lottocrats, that elections are inherently oligarchic. I begin by examining the theory of elections that sees them as a superior mechanism for selecting candidates, showing that this implication fails to render elections as inherently oligarchic because superiority is context dependent. Next, I demonstrate that the advantage of wealth arising from the cost of disseminating information is empirically contingent and, thus, not attributable to the nature of elections. I then offer a pathway for the deoligarchization of elections, distinguishing between doxastic and structural obstacles to inclusion. I demonstrate how ideology critique and certain structural reforms offer solutions to these obstacles. I conclude by addressing the rebuttal that elections remain very likely to be oligarchic and that sortition fares comparatively better on this front. I argue that this line of argument overlooks the undemocratic implications and risks of oligarchization that would emerge from adopting sortition.
Charge (physics · Economics · Physics · Political economy · Political science · Electoral Systems and Political Participation · Political Economy and Marxism · Social Policy and Reform Studies
The Principles of Representative Government
Sozialphilosophie
Rethinking Ideology
Against Anti-Democratic Shortcuts
The Price of Democracy
Is Random Selection a Cure for the Ills of Electoral Representation
Lottocracy and deliberative accountability
A militant defence of democracy
Does the Numerical Underrepresentation of the Working Class in Congress Matter
What Voters Want
Against Elections
Representation, Bicameralism, Political Equality, and Sortition
Not just money
Against Lottocracy
Lottocracy or psephocracy? Democracy, elections, and random selection
On Voluntary Servitude and the Theory of Ideology
Lot and Democratic Representation
Careerists Versus Coal-Miners
The Social Background of Political Decision-Makers
Do Voters Dislike Working-Class Candidates? Voter Biases and the Descriptive Underrepresentation of the Working Class
Sortition, Rotation, and Mandate
Random Assemblies for Lawmaking? Prospects and Limits
From Deliberative to Radical Democracy? Sortition and Politics in the Twenty-First Century
| Unique citing works | 2 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 2 |
| Citation span | 2025 - 2026 (2) |
| Citation velocity | current |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 1 |