What Sortition Can and Cannot Do

Keith Sutherland, Department of Politics, University of Exeter; In recent years a number of writers have argued that sortition (the random selection of citizens for public office by lot) should augment the institutions of electoral democracy, but there is little agreement on the precise role that it should play. At one end of the spectrum...Continue reading

Lottery Voting: A Thought Experiment

January 1995 Edited by: Akhil Reed Amar, Yale Law School – Faculty Scholarship Series. Paper 987 This proposal outlines a system whereby votes become, in effect, tickets in a lottery to select representatives. While it potentially allows for odd results in single electorates, on a system-wide basis the law of averages suggests it would yield...

Civic Engagement and the Promise of a New Citizenry

Jonathan Rose, Queen’s University. Occasional paper no. 2. State Services Authority of Victoria, Australia and New Zealand School of Government, February 2009. There is a common refrain among policy advocates, politicians and academics that the key to halting the ever-quickening decline of democratic participation is re-engaging citizens in democratic life. Governments typically respond by adding...Continue reading

UTS Luminaries. Interview with Mr Luca Belgiorno-Nettis

“Do you realise there is no arts teaching at the UTS, and yet they sponsor an art gallery?” asks Luca Belgiorno-Nettis – architect, businessman, patron of the arts, philanthropist and passionate political idealist. “I think that’s brilliant,” he continues. “The university sees the worth of having art on the campus for its own sake.” Yes,...Continue reading

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