41 lines
1.9 KiB
Markdown
41 lines
1.9 KiB
Markdown
# Sortition
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Sortition is the random selection of people for positions of authority from a general pool. Those selected may serve individually or in juries and typically have the time and resources to become well informed on the questions they are chosen to decide.
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**Input:** census of community members, randomization method, appropriate training
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**Output:** advisory recommendation or binding decision
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## Background
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Sortition was a basic feature of Athenian democracy. During the medieval and early-modern period it was used for governing some Italian city-states, such as Venice and Florence.
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In recent political systems, it is used most commonly for the formation of citizen juries for trials. But it has had [other scattered uses](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sortition#Modern_application) in recent history, from Amish communities to national constitutional reform processes.
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## Feedback loops
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### Sensitivities
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* Encourages deliberation insulated from external pressures
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* Can enable juries to gain a level of focused expertise on the issue at hand greater than what would be possible for the population as a whole or elected representatives
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### Oversights
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* May not be fully representative of the population
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* May enable groupthink and negative internal dynamics among selected juries, especially in the absence of a [secret ballot](secret_ballot)
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## Implementations
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### Communities
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* Citizen juries in judicial trials
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* "[Deliberative democracy](https://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=deliberative democracy china)" processes in China
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### Tools
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## Further resources
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* [Sortition Foundation](https://www.sortitionfoundation.org/)
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* "[Sortition](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sortition)" on Wikipedia
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* Van Reybrouck, David. "[Why Elections Are Bad for Democracy](https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2016/jun/29/why-elections-are-bad-for-democracy)." _The Guardian_. June 29, 2016.
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