Recently, we have seen renewed interest in sortition, as a way to improve the quality of representative democracy. Several pros and cons of this mechanism of selection have been analyzed. Sortition could help resolve the problem of the lack of representativeness; however, sortition presents problems that limit its potential. The main drawback would be the impossibility of setting accountability mechanisms to make this kind of representatives responsible for their performance. For these reasons, while we must rule out the complete disappearance of the elected representatives, the inclusion of randomly selected representatives could be an important element to consider in the institutional design of a representative democracy. More specifically, a percentage of parliamentarians could be elected by sortition, or a chamber of parliament for randomly selected representatives could be established.
We look forward to welcoming you on July 4-6, 2022 for our Annual Conference on Global Problems and Prospects in Public Law.
Check out the preliminary program and register your participation by June 11!