The Political Potential of Sortition

The central feature of every true lottery is that all rational evaluation is deliberately excluded. Once this principle is grasped, the author argues, we can begin to understand exactly what benefits sortation can bring to the political community. The book includes a study of the use of sortation in ancient Athens and in late medieval and renaissance Italy. It also includes commentary on the contributions to sortation made by Machiavelli, Guicciardini, Harrington and Paine; an account of the history of the randomly selected jury; and new research into lesser-known examples from England, America and revolutionary France.