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Random Selection, Republican Self‐Government, and Deliberative Democracy
Author(s) -
Sintomer Yves
Publication year - 2010
Publication title -
constellations
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 1467-8675
pISSN - 1351-0487
DOI - 10.1111/j.1467-8675.2010.00607.x
Subject(s) - selection (genetic algorithm) , democracy , government (linguistics) , deliberative democracy , political science , public administration , political economy , politics , sociology , computer science , law , artificial intelligence , philosophy , linguistics
In 1439, the humanist Leonardo Bruni (1370–1444), Chancellor of the Florentine Republic and doubtless the most celebrated European intellectual of his time, published a short treatise in Greek: On the Florentine Constitution.1 Florence was at the height of its splendor and power: during this period, it had seen the invention of perspective in art; it had also witnessed the development of new techniques in textile manufacturing and banking and, most important for our purpose, the rise of civic humanism. In this essay, Bruni positively valued Florence, in an Aristotelian vein, as a mixed constitution. The social composition of its citizenry, he claims, results from two principles of exclusion: noble families (the magnates) are excluded from the most important offices (this is the anti-aristocratic principle), and manual workers are excluded from the political life (this is the anti-democratic principle). Three other main elements sustain the democratic dimension: the ideal of liberty (vivere libero, vivere civile, vivere politico) is at the core of its institutions and political system; offices are held for short-term periods, usually two to four months, including the most important of them, the Signoria; those who hold the offices are chosen through random selection (tratta). The executive, legislative councils, and part of the judiciary are chosen in this manner.2 On December 11, 2004, after nearly 12 months of deliberation, a Citizen Assembly, selected by lot from the citizens of British Columbia in Canada, presented its Final Report on Electoral Change to the B.C. Legislature. It proposed to change the electoral system by introducing more proportionality (replacing the existing electoral system, the so-called First-Past-the-Post, with a new Single-Transferable Vote system).3 This recommendation was then put to the electorate-at-large in a referendum held concurrently with the 2005 provincial election. Gordon Gibson, the creator of British Columbia’s Citizen Assembly and councilor of the Prime Minister, justified the initiative in the following manner: