Sortition on TED-Ed

Posted on March 23, 2026 by Yoram Gat

An animated video named “Could lotteries replace elections?” on the popular channel TED-Ed has amassed almost 100,000 views since it was published a few days ago. The video makes many familiar and incoherent arguments for and against “lottocracy”, with Alex Guerrero, Cristina Lafont and Nadia Urbinati mentioned by name.

Toward the end, the video does come surprisingly close to making the fundamental point that democracy should be about building “institutions that serve everyone and address real problems”. (Unsurprisingly, this is immediately followed by a cliché about it being “up to us to keep experimenting until we find a system that achieves those ideals”.)

Filed under: Academia, Elections, Participation, Sortition, video | Leave a comment »

International Network of Sortition Advocates presents

Posted on March 23, 2026 by richwbrown

The German Lottocracy Party

Losdemokratie

für eine starke

Bürgerschaft

Translating Sortition from Theory into Political Organization

Join sortition advocate and party co-founder Jochen Krattenmacher as he outlines the strategic reasoning behind the German Lottocracy party and shares early experiences and lessons learned. Jochen will reflect on practical challenges such as: collecting ballot access signatures, communicating a critique of “democracy” as electoral aristocracy on social media, and translating sortition from theory into a political organization.

The talk will also offer insights into the internal life of a political party that aims to make itself obsolete.

Continue reading →

Filed under: Action, Elections, meeting, Sortition | Leave a comment »