Though considered the most
democratic method of allocating citizens to office in Classical Greece,
sortition (selection by lot) has never been adopted on a large scale by modern
democracies (except for juries) and has fallen into oblivion. Recently,
however, some political theorists, motivated by deep disappointment with
current electoral practices, have been advocating a return to sortition without
being sufficiently aware of the complexities involved in their ancient Athenian
model. This study tries to explain the roots and ideology of sortition, the
ways in which it operated in Athens and the causes of its functional success
there for almost two centuries. Proposals of returning to a similar system
should pay due attention to the significant role played by elections alongside the lottery in Classical Athens and the precautions taken there to prevent
possible harm. In my view, the optimal formula for reform would be a political
compromise combining, in one way or another, elections with sortition among
volunteering candidates from various quarters of the civic society, selected in
due proportions so as to be statistically representative of the demos.
Selection by lottery should apply only to groups of people (e.g., committees
and councils)—never to individual magistrates.
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