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Against Elections
Against Elections: The Case for Democracy | David Van Reybrouck
4 posts | 4 read
Democracy is in bad health. Against Elections offers a new diagnosis – and an ancient remedy. Fear-mongering populists, distrust in the establishment, personality contests instead of reasoned debate: these are the results of the latest elections. In fact, as this ingenious book shows, the original purpose of elections was to exclude the people from power by appointing an elite to govern over them. Yet for most of its 3000-year history, democracy did not involve elections at all: members of the public were appointed to positions in government through a combination of volunteering and lottery. Based on studies and trials from around the globe, this hugely influential manifesto presents the practical case for a true democracy – one that actually works. Urgent, heretical and completely convincing, Against Elections leaves only one question to be answered: what are we waiting for?
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keithmalek
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The first two-thirds of this book outlined the problems of democracy, and to be honest, it was a little boring at times. However, the last third of the book explored the solutions to the problems, and I found it fascinating. This book also introduced me to the ideas put forth by James S. Fishkin, and now I'm looking forward to reading his books as well.

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ShyBookOwl Bold title 9mo
keithmalek @ShyBookOwl The title is a bit of a misnomer. The author's not calling for dictatorship, but for a system known as "deliberative democracy." 9mo
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keithmalek
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(Continued)...become a relative concept. This means that the great challenges of our day--climate change, banking crises, the euro crisis, economic crises, offshore fraud, migration, overpopulation--can no longer be dealt with adequately by national governments.

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keithmalek
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HillsAndHamletsBookshop
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This slim, powerful volume of political philosophy plumbs the history of democracy to reveal a fresh, inspiring, & simple option for reviving modern democracy. If you find the political news of the day depressing, read this amazing little book & have your understanding of democracy turned upside down in the best way. Sortition, or the drawing of random lots (like juries) offers a viable alternative representative model to broken elections.