Demarchy
Encyclopedia
Demarchy is a form of government in which the state
is governed by randomly selected decision makers who have been selected by sortition
(lot) from a broadly inclusive pool of eligible citizens. These groups, sometimes termed "policy juries", "citizens' juries", or "consensus conferences", deliberately make decisions about public policies in much the same way that juries
decide criminal cases.
Demarchy, in theory, could overcome some of the functional problems of conventional representative democracy
, which is widely subject to manipulation by special interests and a division between professional policymakers (politicians and lobbyists) vs. a largely passive, uninvolved and often uninformed electorate. According to Australian philosopher John Burnheim
, random selection of policymakers would make it easier for everyday citizens to meaningfully participate, and harder for special interests to corrupt the process.
More generally, random selection of decision makers from a larger group is known as sortition
(from the Latin base for lottery). The Athenian democracy
made much use of sortition, with nearly all government offices filled by lottery (of full citizens) rather than by election. Candidates were almost always male, Greek, educated citizens holding a minimum of wealth and status.
In the Canadian provinces of British Columbia
and Ontario
, a group of citizens was randomly selected to create a Citizens' Assembly on Electoral Reform
to investigate and recommend changes to the provinces' electoral systems. The Old Order Amish use a combination of election and sortition to select church leaders; men receiving two or three nominations to fill a vacancy (the number varies by district) are then asked to select a psalm book containing a slip of paper, one of those slips being marked to indicate who will take on the burden of the position.
Contemporary commentators remarked on the efficacy of the system, and foreigners were amazed that participative democracy could not only exist, but also function. This form of democracy occurred in a historic setting markedly different from modern democratic societies. Citizens were male, had performed military service, and were intimately and directly linked to the state. The territory and population were relatively small by modern standards (no more than 250,000), and the citizens were of a single culture. The extension of demarchy to large, diverse democratic societies would open questions of the scope of demarchic powers, the level of implementation, and the scope of the pool of eligible citizens.
. This unity allowed Venice to prosper as an economic city state superpower for several centuries while other nations came and went.
The demarchical mechanism that Venice employed involved the iterative process of electing a large council which was then reduced by lot. This was followed by that smaller council electing another large council which was again reduced by lot; the process continuing several more iterations. By this means, the ruling families
were able to diffuse the influence of competing special interests and reduce the possibility that a rival family would obtain a vice like grip on power.
Ironically, this leveling of the playing field within the commune provided Venice with the opportunity to obtain its own monopolies in trade due to its stability and indivisibility. This immunity to factionalism gave it a resilience in defeat that would in the long run cause other cities, such as Genoa
, to crumble
.
). As a result, much time and money is devoted to political canvassing and advertising — where politicians promote themselves in much the same way as a commercial product.
The result of this is that people vote according to their impressions of the politician and party based upon political advertising, plus any other form of media that has influenced them. The problem with this is that people may not necessarily vote for the best candidate since they have not taken the time to examine whom to vote for. Demarchy eliminates an election process, saving time and money involved in self-promotion. In theory power would be given to a person who has not attempted to promote themselves in this manner and hopefully apply their experience, reason, ideals to represent citizens in the forming policy more fairly than in democracy. As a theory, it has not been proven as it has yet to be acted out at any level, fully, openly, and democratically in known history.
As people would be randomly selected to act as representatives it would be less likely that the person involved would be part of a "party political machine".
The theory says that a randomly selected person as a representative would not have to compromise their own beliefs in order to make political alliances and gain support, nor fear political reprisals in implementing tough or controversial legislation. However, as theory goes, there is no inherent guarantee, nor anything a priori in demarchy which guarantees this.
There is no proven link that long term political representation equals a larger amount of monetary loss through political corruption nor could it be proven that random citizens in office would end or limit corruption nor that corruption would increase.
Demarchy, because it is based upon random selection, does not make a person's career dependent upon popularity, and, because a demarchy is likely to remove the direct influence of political parties, there is no "party line" that the individual must adhere to. This is not to say that political alliances could not be formed after a person's selection—but that the structure of demarchy is less suited to decision-making based upon politics.
One benefit of demarchy is that it is more suited to non-party politics which is less prone to consensus building and compromise.
would apply. One of the very few cases of sortition practiced at a political level occurred in Greece where the criteria for being a candidate varied in different times. Examples include only allowing a mixture of the following: local citizens, educated citizens, those who had and or were serving in the military, wealth, land, religious status and level education. They were always male.
Reasons for allowing only certain citizens to apply for or automatically be candidates for sortition include concerns over stability and well-rounded leadership as well as the maintenance of wealth, status and power.
When one considers how much time and effort politicians and bureaucracies expend in gaining or supporting political strength, the practice of demarchy may be quite efficient. Politicians in western governments spend a good deal of their time either influencing others or being influenced by others. The purpose of this influence is that politicians and lobbyists can achieve their political goals. Because demarchy selects decision-makers randomly, the time and effort spent on politician machinations and manipulation is limited. In theory, therefore, demarchy could be a more efficient system of democracy than having elected officials.
article includes a more extensive discussion of the advantages and disadvantages of sortition in a wider range of applications.)
Potential problems and difficulties of demarchy fall into several categories:
of peers in criminal cases. The jury is normally a body of randomly selected citizens who decide the guilty or not guilty verdict, which is a prime example of demarchy.
's science fiction novel The Years of the City, which is set in a near-future New York City. In the novel, all government offices, including the President
, Congress
, and the Supreme Court, are filled by average citizens chosen using a form of selective service. Appointees are aided in their duties by android-like Digital Colleagues, extensive computer databases, and an overall goal of reducing bureaucracy and legislation rather than creating more. The last of the book's five sections (Gwenanda and the Supremes) focuses on the story of a Supreme Court Justice.
In Alastair Reynolds
' Revelation Space
series of novels the concept of demarchy has been used to flatten hierarchies. Here, in one of the human factions—the demarchists—everyone is theoretically equal in the realm of government and all major political related issues are voted upon by everyone via neural implant. The "demarchy" in this society is actually more of a direct democracy
. Joan D. Vinge
also uses demarchy in the sense of electronic direct democracy in her 1978 novel The Outcasts of Heaven Belt (later incorporated into The Heaven Chronicles), perhaps the earliest use of the term.
In Blue Mars, the conclusion of Kim Stanley Robinson
's Mars Trilogy
, the Martian government's lower house is selected by sortition. In Songs of Distant Earth
by Arthur C. Clarke
, the futuristic society on Thalassa is ruled by demarchy.
In Dark Light (the middle of the Engines of Light trilogy) by Ken MacLeod
, a character says:
. Klerostocracy would literally mean, "Rule by random selection". In Book 4 of Aristotle's The Politics,
uses the German term 'Lottokratie' and recommends to test lottocracy at least in town councils. Lottocracy according to Frey will improve the direct involvement of each citizen and minimize the systematical errors caused by political parties
in Europe
.
State (polity)
A state is an organized political community, living under a government. States may be sovereign and may enjoy a monopoly on the legal initiation of force and are not dependent on, or subject to any other power or state. Many states are federated states which participate in a federal union...
is governed by randomly selected decision makers who have been selected by sortition
Sortition
In politics, sortition is the selection of decision makers by lottery. The decision-makers are chosen as a random sample from a larger pool of candidates....
(lot) from a broadly inclusive pool of eligible citizens. These groups, sometimes termed "policy juries", "citizens' juries", or "consensus conferences", deliberately make decisions about public policies in much the same way that juries
Jury
A jury is a sworn body of people convened to render an impartial verdict officially submitted to them by a court, or to set a penalty or judgment. Modern juries tend to be found in courts to ascertain the guilt, or lack thereof, in a crime. In Anglophone jurisdictions, the verdict may be guilty,...
decide criminal cases.
Demarchy, in theory, could overcome some of the functional problems of conventional representative democracy
Representative democracy
Representative democracy is a form of government founded on the principle of elected individuals representing the people, as opposed to autocracy and direct democracy...
, which is widely subject to manipulation by special interests and a division between professional policymakers (politicians and lobbyists) vs. a largely passive, uninvolved and often uninformed electorate. According to Australian philosopher John Burnheim
John Burnheim
John Burnheim is a former professor of General Philosophy at the University of Sydney, Australia.In his book Is Democracy Possible? John Burnheim utilized the term "demarchy" to describe a political system without the state or bureaucracies, and based instead on randomly selected groups of...
, random selection of policymakers would make it easier for everyday citizens to meaningfully participate, and harder for special interests to corrupt the process.
More generally, random selection of decision makers from a larger group is known as sortition
Sortition
In politics, sortition is the selection of decision makers by lottery. The decision-makers are chosen as a random sample from a larger pool of candidates....
(from the Latin base for lottery). The Athenian democracy
Athenian democracy
Athenian democracy developed in the Greek city-state of Athens, comprising the central city-state of Athens and the surrounding territory of Attica, around 508 BC. Athens is one of the first known democracies. Other Greek cities set up democracies, and even though most followed an Athenian model,...
made much use of sortition, with nearly all government offices filled by lottery (of full citizens) rather than by election. Candidates were almost always male, Greek, educated citizens holding a minimum of wealth and status.
In the Canadian provinces of British Columbia
British Columbia
British Columbia is the westernmost of Canada's provinces and is known for its natural beauty, as reflected in its Latin motto, Splendor sine occasu . Its name was chosen by Queen Victoria in 1858...
and Ontario
Ontario
Ontario is a province of Canada, located in east-central Canada. It is Canada's most populous province and second largest in total area. It is home to the nation's most populous city, Toronto, and the nation's capital, Ottawa....
, a group of citizens was randomly selected to create a Citizens' Assembly on Electoral Reform
Citizens' Assembly on Electoral Reform
Citizens' Assembly on Electoral Reform may refer to:* Citizens' Assembly on Electoral Reform * Citizens' Assembly on Electoral Reform...
to investigate and recommend changes to the provinces' electoral systems. The Old Order Amish use a combination of election and sortition to select church leaders; men receiving two or three nominations to fill a vacancy (the number varies by district) are then asked to select a psalm book containing a slip of paper, one of those slips being marked to indicate who will take on the burden of the position.
Greece
Greek democracy involved comprehensive use of citizens to form policy, choose leaders and make rulings on laws and implementation of laws. There were various levels of government of which at times positions were held for long term or taken by force, however most often there was a large scale and scope of citizen participation. The assembly consisted of up to all citizens (perhaps a quarter of the population being male local citizens completing military service and perhaps other requirements). Administrators and some decision makers in various levels or functions were chosen by lot. At some point most Athenians in their demarchy had to fulfill some role, whether heading a daily meeting or taking part in administration. Those who did not participate were considered selfish and were derisively referred to as idiots (ἰδιώτης). Some of these roles were not voluntary. Foreigners, women and most certainly slaves did not participate. Demarchy was practiced in some form in most areas, including many villages, for nearly a millennium.Contemporary commentators remarked on the efficacy of the system, and foreigners were amazed that participative democracy could not only exist, but also function. This form of democracy occurred in a historic setting markedly different from modern democratic societies. Citizens were male, had performed military service, and were intimately and directly linked to the state. The territory and population were relatively small by modern standards (no more than 250,000), and the citizens were of a single culture. The extension of demarchy to large, diverse democratic societies would open questions of the scope of demarchic powers, the level of implementation, and the scope of the pool of eligible citizens.
Venice
The Venetian Republic was well known for the demarchical aspects of its long standing and stable government. While other Maritime Republics withered under the strain of factionalism, Venice was renowned for its unity under the DogeDoge of Venice
The Doge of Venice , often mistranslated Duke was the chief magistrate and leader of the Most Serene Republic of Venice for over a thousand years. Doges of Venice were elected for life by the city-state's aristocracy. Commonly the person selected as Doge was the shrewdest elder in the city...
. This unity allowed Venice to prosper as an economic city state superpower for several centuries while other nations came and went.
The demarchical mechanism that Venice employed involved the iterative process of electing a large council which was then reduced by lot. This was followed by that smaller council electing another large council which was again reduced by lot; the process continuing several more iterations. By this means, the ruling families
Aristocracy
Aristocracy , is a form of government in which a few elite citizens rule. The term derives from the Greek aristokratia, meaning "rule of the best". In origin in Ancient Greece, it was conceived of as rule by the best qualified citizens, and contrasted with monarchy...
were able to diffuse the influence of competing special interests and reduce the possibility that a rival family would obtain a vice like grip on power.
Ironically, this leveling of the playing field within the commune provided Venice with the opportunity to obtain its own monopolies in trade due to its stability and indivisibility. This immunity to factionalism gave it a resilience in defeat that would in the long run cause other cities, such as Genoa
Republic of Genoa
The Most Serene Republic of Genoa |Ligurian]]: Repúbrica de Zêna) was an independent state from 1005 to 1797 in Liguria on the northwestern Italian coast, as well as Corsica from 1347 to 1768, and numerous other territories throughout the Mediterranean....
, to crumble
War of Chioggia
The War of Chioggia was a conflict between Genoa and Venice which lasted from 1378 to 1381, from which Venice emerged triumphant. It was a part of the larger Venetian-Genoese War which began in 1350.-Background:...
.
Modern electioneering and theoretical modern application
Most modern democracies are made up of republics or parliaments. In both cases, citizens participate in the direct election of individuals to represent them. While ideally most citizens would spend the time to adequately study party platforms, history and de-construct their campaigns to see if what they say represents what they will do and if it represents the important elements of their agendas, many citizens do not invest the time nor have the inclination to do so (see rational ignoranceRational ignorance
Rational ignorance occurs when the cost of educating oneself on an issue exceeds the potential benefit that the knowledge would provide.Ignorance about an issue is said to be "rational" when the cost of educating oneself about the issue sufficiently to make an informed decision can outweigh any...
). As a result, much time and money is devoted to political canvassing and advertising — where politicians promote themselves in much the same way as a commercial product.
The result of this is that people vote according to their impressions of the politician and party based upon political advertising, plus any other form of media that has influenced them. The problem with this is that people may not necessarily vote for the best candidate since they have not taken the time to examine whom to vote for. Demarchy eliminates an election process, saving time and money involved in self-promotion. In theory power would be given to a person who has not attempted to promote themselves in this manner and hopefully apply their experience, reason, ideals to represent citizens in the forming policy more fairly than in democracy. As a theory, it has not been proven as it has yet to be acted out at any level, fully, openly, and democratically in known history.
Institutional corruption in political parties
An attractive feature of demarchy is that if political leaders were replaced on a regular basis with randomly selected citizens, it would reduce institutionalised corruption, party apathy and complacency as well as a history of party led entitlement, lack of choice and variety in political ideas in platforms. It could be argued that replacing politicians in this way would solve such problems.As people would be randomly selected to act as representatives it would be less likely that the person involved would be part of a "party political machine".
The theory says that a randomly selected person as a representative would not have to compromise their own beliefs in order to make political alliances and gain support, nor fear political reprisals in implementing tough or controversial legislation. However, as theory goes, there is no inherent guarantee, nor anything a priori in demarchy which guarantees this.
There is no proven link that long term political representation equals a larger amount of monetary loss through political corruption nor could it be proven that random citizens in office would end or limit corruption nor that corruption would increase.
Making decisions based upon political expediency
Politicians are often forced to make decisions which compromise their own beliefs and what they may think is best through the pressures of future elections, fitting into their party apparatus, pleasing those who funded their campaigns and vote sharing and voting compromise. The time lost in the voting process, image forming and maintenance and focusing on approval would be better suited to forming good law and policy. Demarchy would eliminate some of these pressures, however these pressures are likely to exist in any political office and there is no guarantee that a randomly selected citizen would adhere to his/her belief system or that he/she would have the political history, knowledge or courage to do so.Demarchy, because it is based upon random selection, does not make a person's career dependent upon popularity, and, because a demarchy is likely to remove the direct influence of political parties, there is no "party line" that the individual must adhere to. This is not to say that political alliances could not be formed after a person's selection—but that the structure of demarchy is less suited to decision-making based upon politics.
One benefit of demarchy is that it is more suited to non-party politics which is less prone to consensus building and compromise.
Areas of thinking and debate
Although this theory of political representation has yet to be popularized, rigorously examined or critiqued, there are three broad areas of concern.Scope
The first area of demarchic theory concerns whether it should supplement or completely replace conventional representative democracy. To supplement popular voting would imply that randomly selected people would serve only in limited levels or types of representation, or make up only a portion of political representatives. For example, all city councils would be made up entirely of randomly selected citizens though the mayor, through popular vote would remain, or one-tenth of a parliament would be formed through sortition while the remaining would be voted for by ballot. Other examples would include a person being selected to make decisions and or offer advice about education or the environment. Complete replacement would entail individuals from a group of randomly selected people being directly appointed into all areas of government, cabinets, parliaments and other forms of leadership.Level of implementation
The second area of thinking concerns the range and extent of decision-making and focuses upon macro- vs. micro-government. Should demarchy be practiced at a federal/national level only, at a local/community level only, or should it be practiced at every level of government? For example, all city councils would be appointed by sortition, however at the national level, normal elections would continue. Allowing sortition in one area of government but not another would imply that sortition is beneficial either for only one level of governance, for instance local implementation of national policy made by elected officials or its opposite, the formation of policy implemented locally by national officials. Other consequences of implementing sortition only at one level include scale of powers, trust and efficacy.Candidates
The third area of thinking concerns whether those randomly selected should first meet some form of minimum criteria (such as level of education, lack of criminal record, age, and so forth) in order to be selected, or whether anyone should be allowed to be represented. In the former case, some form of meritocracyMeritocracy
Meritocracy, in the first, most administrative sense, is a system of government or other administration wherein appointments and responsibilities are objectively assigned to individuals based upon their "merits", namely intelligence, credentials, and education, determined through evaluations or...
would apply. One of the very few cases of sortition practiced at a political level occurred in Greece where the criteria for being a candidate varied in different times. Examples include only allowing a mixture of the following: local citizens, educated citizens, those who had and or were serving in the military, wealth, land, religious status and level education. They were always male.
Reasons for allowing only certain citizens to apply for or automatically be candidates for sortition include concerns over stability and well-rounded leadership as well as the maintenance of wealth, status and power.
Burnheim
Burnheim's model of demarchy involves the partial or complete dissolution of government departments and bureaucracies, which are replaced by citizen's juries. Demarchy as a concept does not necessitate such a radical step as integral to its purpose.When one considers how much time and effort politicians and bureaucracies expend in gaining or supporting political strength, the practice of demarchy may be quite efficient. Politicians in western governments spend a good deal of their time either influencing others or being influenced by others. The purpose of this influence is that politicians and lobbyists can achieve their political goals. Because demarchy selects decision-makers randomly, the time and effort spent on politician machinations and manipulation is limited. In theory, therefore, demarchy could be a more efficient system of democracy than having elected officials.
Oliver Dowlen
In his review of the history of sortition implemented in various degrees in Greece, Florence and during the French revolution in "The Political Potential of Sortition", Dowlen argues that any use of sortition, whether to elect leaders, or to form the body that elects leaders, has helped develop and strengthen inclusion and stability in democratic systems.Criticism
No modern nation has attempted to use demarchy as a primary system for political decision making, so it is difficult to assess problems of transition or shortcomings of the system. (The SortitionSortition
In politics, sortition is the selection of decision makers by lottery. The decision-makers are chosen as a random sample from a larger pool of candidates....
article includes a more extensive discussion of the advantages and disadvantages of sortition in a wider range of applications.)
Potential problems and difficulties of demarchy fall into several categories:
Questions of institution design
- The desirable scope, level and inclusiveness of demarchic institutions
- The choice and implementation of checks and balances
- Whether to allow those in power to stay in power
Difficulties of implementation
- Public uncertainty over adopting an untried system
- The need for amendments to a national constitutionConstitutionA constitution is a set of fundamental principles or established precedents according to which a state or other organization is governed. These rules together make up, i.e. constitute, what the entity is...
(in some applications and contexts) - The difficulty of convincing incumbent politicians and political parties to give up power voluntarily
- Instability through radical change when forming brand new governments (in some systems)
Potential disadvantages
- Inexperienced and or uneducated people forming and implementing policies
- Difficulties in achieving adequate agreement
- The loss of experienced politicians (in some systems)
- The veto power of minority groups over legislation (in some systems)
- Irresponsibility / corruptibility of people who were press-ganged into service
Courts
An example of demarchy is the use of a juryJury
A jury is a sworn body of people convened to render an impartial verdict officially submitted to them by a court, or to set a penalty or judgment. Modern juries tend to be found in courts to ascertain the guilt, or lack thereof, in a crime. In Anglophone jurisdictions, the verdict may be guilty,...
of peers in criminal cases. The jury is normally a body of randomly selected citizens who decide the guilty or not guilty verdict, which is a prime example of demarchy.
Demarchy in fiction
The concept of demarchy played an important role in Frederik PohlFrederik Pohl
Frederik George Pohl, Jr. is an American science fiction writer, editor and fan, with a career spanning over seventy years — from his first published work, "Elegy to a Dead Planet: Luna" , to his most recent novel, All the Lives He Led .He won the National Book Award in 1980 for his novel Jem...
's science fiction novel The Years of the City, which is set in a near-future New York City. In the novel, all government offices, including the President
President of the United States
The President of the United States of America is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president leads the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces....
, Congress
United States Congress
The United States Congress is the bicameral legislature of the federal government of the United States, consisting of the Senate and the House of Representatives. The Congress meets in the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C....
, and the Supreme Court, are filled by average citizens chosen using a form of selective service. Appointees are aided in their duties by android-like Digital Colleagues, extensive computer databases, and an overall goal of reducing bureaucracy and legislation rather than creating more. The last of the book's five sections (Gwenanda and the Supremes) focuses on the story of a Supreme Court Justice.
In Alastair Reynolds
Alastair Reynolds
Alastair Preston Reynolds is a British science fiction author. He specialises in dark hard science fiction and space opera. He spent his early years in Cornwall, moved back to Wales before going to Newcastle, where he read physics and astronomy. Afterwards, he earned a PhD from St Andrews, Scotland...
' Revelation Space
Revelation Space
Revelation Space is a 2000 science fiction space opera novel by Welsh author Alastair Reynolds. It was the first novel set in the Revelation Space universe, although the then-unnamed universe had already been established by several published short stories....
series of novels the concept of demarchy has been used to flatten hierarchies. Here, in one of the human factions—the demarchists—everyone is theoretically equal in the realm of government and all major political related issues are voted upon by everyone via neural implant. The "demarchy" in this society is actually more of a direct democracy
Direct democracy
Direct democracy is a form of government in which people vote on policy initiatives directly, as opposed to a representative democracy in which people vote for representatives who then vote on policy initiatives. Direct democracy is classically termed "pure democracy"...
. Joan D. Vinge
Joan D. Vinge
Joan D. Vinge is an American science fiction author. She is known for such works as her Hugo Award-winning novel The Snow Queen and its sequels, her series about the telepath named Cat, and her Heaven's Chronicles books.-Biography:...
also uses demarchy in the sense of electronic direct democracy in her 1978 novel The Outcasts of Heaven Belt (later incorporated into The Heaven Chronicles), perhaps the earliest use of the term.
In Blue Mars, the conclusion of Kim Stanley Robinson
Kim Stanley Robinson
Kim Stanley Robinson is an American science fiction writer known for his award-winning Mars trilogy. His work delves into ecological and sociological themes regularly, and many of his novels appear to be the direct result of his own scientific fascinations, such as the fifteen years of research...
's Mars Trilogy
Mars trilogy
The Mars trilogy is a series of award-winning science fiction novels by Kim Stanley Robinson that chronicles the settlement and terraforming of the planet Mars through the intensely personal and detailed viewpoints of a wide variety of characters spanning almost two centuries...
, the Martian government's lower house is selected by sortition. In Songs of Distant Earth
Songs of Distant Earth
The Songs of Distant Earth is a science fiction novel by Arthur C. Clarke, first published in 1986. Clarke has claimed that it is his own favourite novel. He also wrote a short story and a short movie synopsis with the same title.-Plot summary:...
by Arthur C. Clarke
Arthur C. Clarke
Sir Arthur Charles Clarke, CBE, FRAS was a British science fiction author, inventor, and futurist, famous for his short stories and novels, among them 2001: A Space Odyssey, and as a host and commentator in the British television series Mysterious World. For many years, Robert A. Heinlein,...
, the futuristic society on Thalassa is ruled by demarchy.
In Dark Light (the middle of the Engines of Light trilogy) by Ken MacLeod
Ken MacLeod
Ken MacLeod , is a Scottish science fiction writer.MacLeod was born in Stornoway. He graduated from Glasgow University with a degree in zoology and has worked as a computer programmer and written a masters thesis on biomechanics....
, a character says:
Klerostocracy
Demarchy could also be called klerostocracy, as kleros is the Greek word for casting lotsCasting lots
Casting lots may refer to:*Sortition, the casting or drawing of lots to make a fair form of selection*Cleromancy, the casting or drawing of lots as a form of divination...
. Klerostocracy would literally mean, "Rule by random selection". In Book 4 of Aristotle's The Politics,
Lottocracy
The concept of demarchy is similar to but slightly different from L. León's concept of lottocracy. Burnheim ... insists that the random selection be made only from volunteers. In the chapter A Concept for Government, León states: "... that first of all, the job must not be liked". A detailed protocol for lottocracy is described in the same chapter. Christopher FreyChristopher Frey
Christopher Frey was born in 1959 in the former German capital Bonn. He grew up in a political and international environment as his father worked for the US embassy. He received a music education at the school of music of the Regensburger Domspatzen. His early interest in the fine arts was also...
uses the German term 'Lottokratie' and recommends to test lottocracy at least in town councils. Lottocracy according to Frey will improve the direct involvement of each citizen and minimize the systematical errors caused by political parties
Political Parties
Political Parties: A Sociological Study of the Oligarchical Tendencies of Modern Democracy is a book by sociologist Robert Michels, published in 1911 , and first introducing the concept of iron law of oligarchy...
in Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
.
See also
- Citizen oversightCitizen oversightCitizen oversight is the act of an assembly of citizens that come together to review government activities that may be deemed misconduct or to consider possible government solutions...
- Consensus democracyConsensus democracyConsensus democracy is the application of consensus decision-making to the process of legislation in a democracy. It is characterised by a decision-making structure which involves and takes into account as broad a range of opinions as possible, as opposed to systems where minority opinions can...
- Direct democracyDirect democracyDirect democracy is a form of government in which people vote on policy initiatives directly, as opposed to a representative democracy in which people vote for representatives who then vote on policy initiatives. Direct democracy is classically termed "pure democracy"...
- PanarchyPanarchyPanarchy is a conceptual term first coined by the Belgian botanist and economist Paul Emile de Puydt in 1860, referring to a specific form of governance that would encompass all others. The Oxford English Dictionary lists the noun as "chiefly poetic" with the meaning "a universal realm," citing...
- SortitionSortitionIn politics, sortition is the selection of decision makers by lottery. The decision-makers are chosen as a random sample from a larger pool of candidates....
- Friedrich August von Hayek