Should we be Lottocrats?
Year: 2025
Type: article
Abstract: This is an accepted article with a DOI pre-assigned that is not yet published.In light of our representative democracy’s failures, from an inability to effectively address pressing problems to the yawning economic inequality and deep polarization that it sustains, the need for reform is obvious and urgent. In the democratic theory literature, there is growing interest in the potential of lottery-based political institutions, either as replacements for, or supplements to, traditional forms of electoral democracy. Alexander Guerrero’s Lottocracy (Oxford University Press, 2024) is among the most interesting, challenging, and provocative arguments for lottery-based political institutions. Engaging with its arguments is a valuable opportunity to assess where the case for such institutions stands. In this critical essay, we review the book, focusing on some general concerns about the critique of representative democracy that has given rise to interest in lottery-based solutions, and on the potential of lottery-based solutions to solve the problems that ail representative democracies.
DOI: 10.16995/fe.23191
Authors: Ryan Pevnick, Dimitri Landa
Institution: New York University
Language: English
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: diamond
OpenAlex ID: W7083624715
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