Selection by Lot and Democracy
New Trend, Ancient Model
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 22105486 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Ephraim David (0000-0002-3582-4312, University of Haifa, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2021 |
| Volume | 10 |
| Issue | 01 |
| Pages | 7-20 |
| Publication date | 2021-01-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Advances in Historical Studies (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 2327-0438 • E-ISSN: 2327-0446 |
| Publisher | Scientific Research Publishing, Inc. (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.4236/ahs.2021.101002 |
| OpenAlex | W3135205173 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 12 |
Though considered the most democratic method of allocating citizens to office in Classical Greece, sortition (selection by lot) has never been adopted on a large scale by modern democracies (except for juries) and has fallen into oblivion. Recently, however, some political theorists, motivated by deep disappointment with current electoral practices, have been advocating a return to sortition without being sufficiently aware of the complexities involved in their ancient Athenian model. This study tries to explain the roots and ideology of sortition, the ways in which it operated in Athens and the causes of its functional success there for almost two centuries. Proposals of returning to a similar system should pay due attention to the significant role played by elections alongside the lottery in Classical Athens and the precautions taken there to prevent possible harm. In my view, the optimal formula for reform would be a political compromise combining, in one way or another, elections with sortition among volunteering candidates from various quarters of the civic society, selected in due proportions so as to be statistically representative of the demos. Selection by lottery should apply only to groups of people (e.g., committees and councils)—never to individual magistrates
Democracy · Political science · Politics · Computer Science · Culture, Economy, and Development Studies · Economic Theory and Institutions · Law · Artificial Intelligence
Random Selection in Politics
La Cite Grecque
The Classical Athenian Democracy
Mass and Elite in Democratic Athens
From the Whole Citizen Body
Democracy Through Multi-Body Sortition
Sortition, its advocates and its critics
Choosing Electoral Systems
Lot and Democratic Representation
Random Assemblies for Lawmaking? Prospects and Limits
From Deliberative to Radical Democracy? Sortition and Politics in the Twenty-First Century
| Citation velocity | historical |
|---|---|
| Highly cited | No |