Thinking About Democracy?
How do you approach this complex topic?
Case Study: Fair Representation
Political theorists and scholars analyze issues facing democracy to understand the present and help shape the future. For example, a common issue is the problem of “unrepresentative representatives” — politicians who are elected and hold office but do not truly reflect the make-up of society.
“Sortition” is one way of addressing this problem through randomized selection of representatives. The practice traces back to ancient Greece and is garnering renewed attention among political theorists and activists.
Here is a short video explaining the concept.
Questions that might occur to you
Has Sortition been tried anywhere? Has it worked? Are there perverse consequences?
What alternatives address the same problem in different ways?
In a larger sense, what would you want to know about Political Science, Economics, Philosophy, or Social Psychology to really understand democracy in context and evaluate proposals like Sortition?
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