The Sovereignty of Chance

Bibliographic Data

ID4796579
AuthorsNadia Urbinati (0000-0002-1207-3181, corresponding author)
Year2024
Volume30
Issue2
Pages163-181
Publication date2024-05-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueCommon Knowledge (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0961-754X • E-ISSN: 1538-4578
PublisherDuke University Press (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1215/0961754x-11236649
OpenAlexW4404791554
LanguageEN
Citations received1
References cited23

In the context of the ongoing Common Knowledge symposium "Antipolitics," this article responds skeptically to the numerous contributions calling for the supplanting of elections by sortition. While lottocracy is proposed as a solution to the flaws of electoral democracy - notably, corruption and violent partisanship - this response focuses on a single theoretical issue: the logic of chance or randomness, which, according to its proponents, should rid politics of corruption and relieve representation of partisanship so as to ultimately prevent the formation of a ruling class separate from the rest of society. The problem with the solution, according to this essay, is that, however useful in many ways, the lottery system of lawmaking is not democratic

Political science · Politics · Sovereignty · China's Socioeconomic Reforms and Governance · Housing, Finance, and Neoliberalism · Law · Philosophy · Populism, Right-Wing Movements

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