Böcker i Sortition and Public Policy-serien

In this distillation of a lifetime's thinking about democracy, Maurice Pope presents a new model of governance that replaces elected politicians with assemblies selected by lot. The re-introduction of sortition, he believes, offers a way out of gridlock, apathy, alienation and polarisation by giving citizens back their voice.

From the storming of the Capitol and the rise of authoritarian rhetoric and politicians to the challenge of global warming, liberal democracy faces a twin crisis of legitimacy and efficacy. Democracy in Crisis points to long neglected resources from the world's first democracy - Ancient Athens - prompting us to think beyond our current practices.

Until recently, there was no theory to make sense of lotteries and what they can do. The past few decades have changed that with a veritable renaissance of studies on lotteries. This book collects fourteen of the most important of these papers, and offers a critical introduction tying them together.

This volume reflects the up-and-coming academic interest in sortition. It is based on contributions to the first international conference dedicated to the subject held at the University of Political Science (Sciences-Po) in Paris in November 2008. The papers explore important theoretical questions such as how we should recognise and define differing lottery forms; the relationship between sortition and different aspects and forms of democracy; and its potential benefits to current political and commercial practice. Contributors Hubertus Buchstein, Gil Delannoi Oliver Dowlen, Gerhard G├╢hler Barbara Goodwin, Michael Hein Yves Sintomer, Peter Stone Antoine Vergne Gil Delannoi is Research Director at Sciences-Po Paris (Centre de recherches politiques). Oliver Dowlen is an independent scholar and a founder member of the Society for Democracy including Random Selection (SDRS).

Before New Labour came to power and when even the prospect of reform of Britain's House of Lords was regarded with scepticism, the authors of this book developed the idea of selecting part of a new upper house by lot. This is a new edition of the original proposal.

Two essays, printed back to back in a single volume, offer complementary solutions to the democratic deficit in Britain and the USA.

Thomas Gataker was a disputatious Puritan divine. His The Nature and Uses of Lotteries (1627) was the first systematic exposition of a modern view of lotteries, not just as a form of gambling, but as a fair method of division.

This book is about the virtues and social justice of random distribution. This revised second edition includes a new introduction.