An interesting online discussion of sortition

Posted on November 14, 2015 by Yoram Gat

A fairly interesting discussion of sortition can be found here. The top post makes an argument for sortition which is based on the idea of using randomness to deny an opponent a winning strategy. I pursued a similar line of thought here.

Filed under: Sortition | Leave a comment »

Koop: Allotted assemblies allow the elected to renege on campaign promises

Posted on November 14, 2015 by Yoram Gat

Kevin Mooney wrote to point out an article in the Ottawa Citizen. In the article Royce Koop, an associate professor in the Department of Political Studies at the University of Manitoba, argues against repeating the electoral reform process carried out in British Columbia and Ontario provinces.

Koop makes two arguments. The first is the somewhat tautological point that “tak[ing power] from elected representatives and giv[ing it] to the people […] threatens representative democracy by taking decision-making power from MPs and handing it to citizens, [while] representative democracy is best served by allowing MPs to represent the interests of their constituents through their votes, rather than by seizing MPs’ power and handing it to citizens”.

The more interesting argument (which to a large extent is in fact contradictory to the first one) is a much more practical one:

[T]he use of citizens assemblies and referendums would have the effect of allowing politicians to escape from being accountable to the public for their actions.
Continue reading →

Filed under: Academia, Elections, Press, Sortition | 8 Comments »