Daniel Baron: The Power of the Lot: Are People Obliged to Participate in Political Lotteries?

Posted on November 28, 2011 by Yoram Gat

Daniel Baron of the Institute of Sociology, RWTH Aachen University introduces his article, The Power of the Lot: Are People Obliged to Participate in Political Lotteries? as follows:

While empirical research in the field of aleatoric democracy usually focuses on the deliberative outcomes of these procedures (Fishkin & Luskin 1999; Fishkin et al. 2000), theoretical approaches mainly ask whether political lotteries, compared to traditional ways of recruiting political personnel (esp. elections), are just or not (Stone 2007, 2009). Further discussions broach the subjects of political representation, equality or input- and output-legitimacy (Buchstein 2009a). Down to the present day, a key question to ask when focusing the problem of legitimacy of aleatoric democracy has been most widely ignored: whether laypersons chosen by lot should be compelled to participate in the committee where they have gained a seat, or whether sortition should be founded on the principle of voluntariness.

Continue reading →

Filed under: Juries, Sortition, Theory | 15 Comments »

Advertising campaign

Posted on November 21, 2011 by Yoram Gat

I have created an advertising campaign on Google with the following ad:

Clicking on the ad currently takes you to the home page of this blog, but it would probably be better if the target was an “introduction to sortition” page. Such a page can be created and added to the tabs at the top of the blog (next to the “Home”, “About the Kleroterians”, “Contributors” and “Literature” tabs).

If anyone is interested in collaborating on creating such a page (possibly something along these lines), please let me know. Comments on the text of the ad are also welcome.

Filed under: Sortition | 5 Comments »

French Revolution – Sortition adopted in 2012

Posted on November 16, 2011 by Conall Boyle

This is a fantasy by Yves Sintomer (in French). The Introduction goes as follows (my translation):

Dateline: 2112

To celebrate the centenary of the 6th Republic in 2012, whose creation was due to the introduction of Sortition in the french political procedures, the Minister for Citizenship has asked,  for the benefit of the younger generations, that a group of historians to re-visit this decisive turning point.

Filed under: Fiction, Sortition | Leave a comment »

Select papers for publication by lot

Posted on November 16, 2011 by Conall Boyle

From Switzerland comes a serious suggestion from a well-respected economist, Bruno Frey (and co-author Osterloh). As they say in their abstract,

The process by which scholarly papers are selected for publication in a journal is faced with serious problems. The referees rarely agree and often are biased. This paper discusses two alternative measures to evaluate scholars. Continue reading →

Filed under: Distribution by lot, Initiatives, Proposals | 1 Comment »

Washington state citizens’ commission on salaries for elected officials

Posted on November 12, 2011 by Yoram Gat

Washington law establishes the Washington state citizens’ commission on salaries for elected officials which

[s]tudies the relationship of salaries to the duties of members of the legislature, all elected officials of the executive branch of state government, and all judges of the supreme court, court of appeals, superior and district courts, and shall fix the salary for each position.

Number of appointments by Governor: 16

Term in Years: 4

Compensation: Expenses only

Qualification: Members are selected by lot by the Secretary of State from registered voters in each congressional district, each of which has one representative member. The other members are selected jointly by the speaker of the house and the president of the senate, and their names are submitted to the Governor for appointment. Five members must have experience in personnel management, one each from the following sectors: business, professional personnel management, legal profession, organized labor, private institution of higher education; one recommended by the state Personnel Resource Board; and one recommended by majority vote of the presidents of the state’s four-year institutions of higher education. No member may serve more than two full terms.

Number of yearly meetings: 6

Filed under: Sortition | 12 Comments »