Lottocracy Versus Democracy
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 12568518 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Stefan Rummen (0000-0001-6813-2585, corresponding author), Raf Geenens (0000-0003-1222-9139) |
| Year | 2023 |
| Volume | 31 |
| Issue | 2 |
| Pages | 339-357 |
| Publication date | 2023-11-22 |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Res Publica. Revista de Historia de las Ideas Politicas (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1576-4184 • E-ISSN: 1989-6115 |
| Publisher | Springer Science+Business Media (PUBLISHER • DE) |
| DOI | 10.1007/s11158-023-09648-6 |
| OpenAlex | W4388900821 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 6 |
| References cited | 32 |
This paper critically compares a deliberative system based on parliamentary elections (an electoral system) and a deliberative system based on sortition (a lottocratic system). Both systems are analyzed in three dimensions. The epistemic dimension concerns the rational quality of the democratic process. The power dimension concerns the distribution of power and the extent to which citizens genuinely control all decisions. The motivational dimension, finally, concerns citizens’ identification with the decision-making process and their willingness to abide by its outcomes. We argue that an electoral system is, in all three dimensions, normatively superior to a sortition-based system. Most prominently, we claim that electoral mechanisms provide visibility to the decision-making process. This enables a form of interactive representation in which citizens and their representatives engage in a joint process of opinion and will formation. Sortition, in contrast, is characterized by a democratically much poorer form of descriptive representation. The selected citizens are a representative sample of the wider citizenry, but they deliberate in a forum that remains mostly disconnected from that wider citizenry and therefore cannot shoulder the process of collective self-government
Deliberative democracy · Democracy · Dimension (graph theory · Epistemology · Government (linguistics · Law and economics · Political science · Politics · Power (physics · Process (computing · Representation (politics · Sociology · Visibility · Computer Science · Electoral Systems and Political Participation · Law · Political Philosophy and Ethics · Social Media and Politics
The Constructivist Turn in Political Representation
Mapping and Measuring Deliberation
Democratic Intentions
Participatory Deliberative Democracy in Complex Mass Societies
Against Anti-Democratic Shortcuts
A Citizen-Centered Theory
Open Democracy
Staging Deliberation
Is Random Selection a Cure for the Ills of Electoral Representation
Survey Article
Political Deliberation & the Adversarial Principle
Democracy and political theory
Can Deliberative Minipublics Address the Cognitive Challenges of Democratic Citizenship
Against Elections
Representation, Bicameralism, Political Equality, and Sortition
Against Lottocracy
Taking Coercion Seriously
Rickety Bridges
Between Facts and Norms
Sortition, Rotation, and Mandate
Should Democracy Work through Elections or Sortition
Intercameral Relations in a Bicameral Elected and Sortition Legislature
From Deliberative to Radical Democracy? Sortition and Politics in the Twenty-First Century
Legislature by Lot
Deliberative Impacts
| Citations per year | 3 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 2024 - 2025 (2) |
| Highly cited | No |