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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.