The latest on sortition from Italy. Not sure I see the advantage of having the head of state selected by sortition, and equally unsure why it should be so important to exclude anyone from the draw for such a (largely ceremonial and apolitical) post. More consideration of these topics seems appropriate.
Filed under: Applications, Elections, Proposals, Sortition |
Adam Cronkright
A.R.Teleb
avanderven
avergne
azakaras
Brett Hennig
campbellwallace
Simon Threlkeld
Common Lot Sortitionist
conallboyle
constitutionalism
davidschecter
gtridimas
hjhofkirchner
John Burnheim
jgarry20151
Jonathan Crock
keithsutherland
Jacob Richter
laferrierejc
lukewhito
SimonPek
Nicholas Gruen
Patrick Chalmers
paulnollen
peterstone
qcollective
rcaze
Roger Knights
roslynfuller
shaharavin
tbouricius
Yoram Gat
@Peter
I do understand why it is important to exclude people who are not qualified. The president is the representative of a whole nation. A lot of these “ceremonial” duties are highly publicized. A good president, although not having “real” power can smooth out issues, both within a country as well as with other countries. At the same time, especially in foreign relations, controversial statements by a head of state can lead to a lot of issues, obviously. This is why I think you cannot just pick anyone for the role.
That being said, there is no reason to have sortition in order to get non-politicians with a good record into that job. For Germany, selecting individuals that are often not politicians but have a distinguished record of public service has worked very well in the past.
Especially for Italy I find this notion curious. Isn’t the president currently the least controversial and most “stable” person in what sometimes looks like a circus?
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I like it. A great problem with elected ceremonial presidents is that they often aren’t keen on staying ceremonial. They have a direct mandate and, if they are popular, can often expand the role of their offices leading to semipresidentalism or sometimes even full-blown presidentialism. This is a fine third option.
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