WEBVTT

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Hey, congratulations!

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You've just won the lottery,

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only the prize isn't cash
or a luxury cruise.

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It's a position in your country's
national legislature.

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And you aren't the only lucky winner.

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All of your fellow law makers
were chosen in the same way.

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This might strike you as a strange
way to run a government,

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let alone a democracy.

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Elections are the epitome 
of democracy, right?

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Well, the ancient Athenians
who coined the word had another view.

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In fact, elections only played
a small role in Athenian democracy,

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with most offices filled by random lottery
from a pool of citizen volunteers.

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Unlike the representative 
democracies common today,

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where voters elect leaders to make laws
and decisions on their behalf,

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5th Century BC Athens was 
a direct democracy

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that encouraged wide participation


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through the principle of ho boulomenos,
or anyone who wishes.

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This meant that any of its approximately
30,000 eligible citizens

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could attend the ecclesia,

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a general assembly meeting
several times a month.

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In principle, any of the 6,000 or so
who showed up at each session

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had the right to address 
their fellow citizens,

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propose a law,

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or bring a public lawsuit.

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Of course, a crowd of 6,000 people
trying to speak at the same time

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would not have made 
for effective government.

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So the Athenian system also relied on
a 500 member governing council

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called the Boule,

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to set the agenda
and evaluate proposals,

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in addition to hundreds of jurors
and magistrates to handle legal matters.

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Rather than being elected or appointed,

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the people in these positions
were chosen by lot.

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This process of randomized selection
is know as sortition.

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The only positions filled by elections


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were those recognized 
as requiring expertise,

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such as Generals.

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But these were considered aristocratic,
meaning rule by the best,

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as opposed to democracies,
rule by the many.

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How did this system come to be?

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Well, democracy arose in Athens after long
periods of social and political tension

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marked by conflict among nobels.

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Powers once restricted to elites,

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such as speaking in the assembly
and having their votes counted,

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were expanded to ordinary citizens.

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And the ability of ordinary citizens
to perform these tasks

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adequately became a central feature
of the democratice ideology of Athens.

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Rather than a privilege,

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civic participation 
was the duty of all citizens,

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with sortition and strict term limits
preventing governing classes

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or political parties from forming.

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By 21st Century standards,

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Athenian rule by the many
excluded an awful lot of people.

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Women, slaves and foreigners
were denied full citizenship,

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and when we filter out 
those too young to serve,

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the pool of eligible Athenians drops
to only 10-20% of the overall population.

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Some ancient philosophers, 
including Plato,

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disparaged this form of democracy
as being anarchic and run by fools.

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But today the word 
has such positive associations,

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that vastly different regimes 
claim to embody it.

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At the same time, some share Plato's
skepticism about the wisdom of crowds.

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Many modern democracies 
reconcile this conflict

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by having citizens elect 
those they consider qualified

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to legislate on their behalf.

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But this poses its own problems,

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including the influence of wealth,

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and the emergence 
of professional politicians

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with different interests 
than their constituents.

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Could reviving election by lottery
lead to more effective government

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through a more diverse and representative
group of legislatures?

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Or does modern political office,
like Athenian military command,

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require specialized knowledge and skills?

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You probably shouldn't hold your breath

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to win a spot 
in your country's government.

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But depending on where you live,

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you may still be selected 
to participate in a jury,

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a citizens' assembly,

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or a deliberative poll,

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all examples of how the democratic
principle behind sortition

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still survives today.