Democracy Without Politicians

This book explains how electoral “democracy” is inherently un democratic—enshrining rule by elites rather than popular self-rule—and argues that sortition (the use of random selection to form genuinely representative deliberative bodies) is a superior democratic alternative. Making the case that rep...

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Autor Principal: Bouricius, Terry
Formato: Online
Idioma:inglés
Publicado: Taylor & Francis 2026
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Acceso en liña:ONIX_20260429T161217_9781040564936_8
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author Bouricius, Terry
author_browse Bouricius, Terry
author_facet Bouricius, Terry
author_sort Bouricius, Terry
collection Directory of Open Access Books
description This book explains how electoral “democracy” is inherently un democratic—enshrining rule by elites rather than popular self-rule—and argues that sortition (the use of random selection to form genuinely representative deliberative bodies) is a superior democratic alternative. Making the case that representative government can function better without the exclusive reliance on elections, the author sets out the problems with modern elections, the inadequacies of the commonly proposed reforms, and examines the cognitive biases, detrimental psychological effects and societal polarization that elections exacerbate. The book further delves into the progression of democracy and sortition in ancient Greece, and the abandonment of sortition in the framing of the American Constitution and French Republic. Finally, it sets out both immediate and long-term prospects for renewing democracy through the use of multi-body sortition. Written by a former elected politician and policy analyst, this book will be of interest to students, researchers and citizens interested in comprehensive democracy reform.
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spelling doab-20.500.12854ir-1761772026-06-04T05:22:43Z Democracy Without Politicians Bouricius, Terry Political theory Participatory governance Deliberative process Cognitive bias in politics Ancient Greek institutions Multi-body sortition Electoral system psychological effects thema EDItEUR::J Society and Social Sciences::JP Politics and government::JPH Political structure and processes::JPHF Elections and referenda / suffrage thema EDItEUR::J Society and Social Sciences::JP Politics and government::JPH Political structure and processes::JPHV Political structures: democracy thema EDItEUR::Q Philosophy and Religion::QD Philosophy::QDT Topics in philosophy::QDTS Social and political philosophy thema EDItEUR::J Society and Social Sciences::JP Politics and government thema EDItEUR::J Society and Social Sciences::JP Politics and government::JPH Political structure and processes thema EDItEUR::J Society and Social Sciences::JP Politics and government::JPV Political control and freedoms::JPVC Civics and citizenship This book explains how electoral “democracy” is inherently un democratic—enshrining rule by elites rather than popular self-rule—and argues that sortition (the use of random selection to form genuinely representative deliberative bodies) is a superior democratic alternative. Making the case that representative government can function better without the exclusive reliance on elections, the author sets out the problems with modern elections, the inadequacies of the commonly proposed reforms, and examines the cognitive biases, detrimental psychological effects and societal polarization that elections exacerbate. The book further delves into the progression of democracy and sortition in ancient Greece, and the abandonment of sortition in the framing of the American Constitution and French Republic. Finally, it sets out both immediate and long-term prospects for renewing democracy through the use of multi-body sortition. Written by a former elected politician and policy analyst, this book will be of interest to students, researchers and citizens interested in comprehensive democracy reform. 2026-05-05T05:08:02Z 2026-05-05T05:08:02Z 2026-05-04T08:53:21Z 2026 book ONIX_20260429T161217_9781040564936_8 https://library.oapen.org/handle/20.500.12657/112850 9781040564936 9781003665373 9781040749081 https://directory.doabooks.org/handle/20.500.12854/176177 eng open access image/jpeg image/jpeg Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International https://library.oapen.org/bitstream/20.500.12657/112850/1/9781040564936.pdf https://library.oapen.org/bitstream/20.500.12657/112850/1/9781040564936.pdf Taylor & Francis Routledge 10.4324/9781003665373 10.4324/9781003665373 fa69b019-f4ee-4979-8d42-c6b6c476b5f0 9781040564936 9781003665373 9781040749081 Routledge 292 Oxford open access
spellingShingle Political theory
Participatory governance
Deliberative process
Cognitive bias in politics
Ancient Greek institutions
Multi-body sortition
Electoral system psychological effects
thema EDItEUR::J Society and Social Sciences::JP Politics and government::JPH Political structure and processes::JPHF Elections and referenda / suffrage
thema EDItEUR::J Society and Social Sciences::JP Politics and government::JPH Political structure and processes::JPHV Political structures: democracy
thema EDItEUR::Q Philosophy and Religion::QD Philosophy::QDT Topics in philosophy::QDTS Social and political philosophy
thema EDItEUR::J Society and Social Sciences::JP Politics and government
thema EDItEUR::J Society and Social Sciences::JP Politics and government::JPH Political structure and processes
thema EDItEUR::J Society and Social Sciences::JP Politics and government::JPV Political control and freedoms::JPVC Civics and citizenship
Bouricius, Terry
Democracy Without Politicians
title Democracy Without Politicians
title_full Democracy Without Politicians
title_fullStr Democracy Without Politicians
title_full_unstemmed Democracy Without Politicians
title_short Democracy Without Politicians
title_sort democracy without politicians
topic Political theory
Participatory governance
Deliberative process
Cognitive bias in politics
Ancient Greek institutions
Multi-body sortition
Electoral system psychological effects
thema EDItEUR::J Society and Social Sciences::JP Politics and government::JPH Political structure and processes::JPHF Elections and referenda / suffrage
thema EDItEUR::J Society and Social Sciences::JP Politics and government::JPH Political structure and processes::JPHV Political structures: democracy
thema EDItEUR::Q Philosophy and Religion::QD Philosophy::QDT Topics in philosophy::QDTS Social and political philosophy
thema EDItEUR::J Society and Social Sciences::JP Politics and government
thema EDItEUR::J Society and Social Sciences::JP Politics and government::JPH Political structure and processes
thema EDItEUR::J Society and Social Sciences::JP Politics and government::JPV Political control and freedoms::JPVC Civics and citizenship
topic_facet Political theory
Participatory governance
Deliberative process
Cognitive bias in politics
Ancient Greek institutions
Multi-body sortition
Electoral system psychological effects
thema EDItEUR::J Society and Social Sciences::JP Politics and government::JPH Political structure and processes::JPHF Elections and referenda / suffrage
thema EDItEUR::J Society and Social Sciences::JP Politics and government::JPH Political structure and processes::JPHV Political structures: democracy
thema EDItEUR::Q Philosophy and Religion::QD Philosophy::QDT Topics in philosophy::QDTS Social and political philosophy
thema EDItEUR::J Society and Social Sciences::JP Politics and government
thema EDItEUR::J Society and Social Sciences::JP Politics and government::JPH Political structure and processes
thema EDItEUR::J Society and Social Sciences::JP Politics and government::JPV Political control and freedoms::JPVC Civics and citizenship
url ONIX_20260429T161217_9781040564936_8
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