September | 2011 | Equality by lot

List of goods & services from Common Lot Productions

Posted on September 28, 2011 by Common Lot Sortitionist

There is a new list of goods and services from Common Lot Productions:

Interest in the use of sortition continues to grow. We welcome contributors and collaborators.

Filed under: Books, meta, Sortition | Tagged: Citizen Legislature, democracy, Government BY the people, policy makers, random selection, representative democracy, sortition | Leave a comment »

Sortition in France

Posted on September 23, 2011 by Yoram Gat

Gil Delannoi will be presenting a seminar under the title “Sortition and conceptions of equality” on October 11th in Paris (I presume).

The announcement mentions Delannoi and Dowlen’s Sortition: Theory and Practice (Imprint Academics, 2010), Delannoi’s report Le retour du tirage au sort en politique, briefly reviewed in Libération, and a recorded interview with Delannoi:

Filed under: Press, Sortition | 4 Comments »

Seeking sortitionist collaborator-partner-advisors for Sierra Leone

Posted on September 20, 2011 by Common Lot Sortitionist

I recently met a former colleague and friend from Sierra Leone. He is intrigued with the political use of sortition and wants to implement it, beginning with local councils. He says that since Sierra Leone is one of the primary concerns of the UN’s Peacebuilding Commission, it is the perfect place to institute ‘the next step for democracy’.

Mr. Pokawa is a dual citizen of the US and of his birthplace. In Sierra Leone he and his family have prominence and credibility. Mr. Pokawa has been making regular visits and was considering running for political office in his home district.

As we discussed this matter, he and I agreed that we probably would benefit from involving an institution or individual with recognized expertise and credibility in political science. I wonder if any contributor to this blog might be interested or make a recommendation?

I immediately thought of Stanford’s Center for Deliberative Democracy but I’ve had no correspondence with Professor James Fishkin. Besides, they seem to be limiting themselves to short-term sortitionally-selected advisory bodies. Am I correct in that assumption?

Filed under: Initiatives, Sortition | Tagged: councils, Sierra Leone | 17 Comments »

Sortition in Spain

Posted on September 13, 2011 by Yoram Gat

Jorge Cancio writes:

As you perhaps know, Spain is undergoing some difficult times, both economically and politically.

Since May a new social movement, demanding “real democracy now” has taken the streets. Its main focus is to criticize the lack of democratic participation rights and the hegemonic position of the two main political parties.

Some discussions and debates tend to concentrate on possible direct democratic institutions, already present in other countries, such as referenda, recall and legislatitive initiative.

However, discussion of sortition as a democratic tool is for the first time seriously hitting the streets. During the local elections in May a small political party favouring sortition launched its initiative in Galicia (www.sorteopolitico.com).

On November 20th we will have general elections for our parliament and a new initiative to form a party is being launched: www.partidoazar.com. It is worthwhile to spend some minutes visiting the website and reading its well written and argued contents.

Filed under: Initiatives, Sortition | 77 Comments »