Las Torres de Lucca. International Journal of Political Philosophy, Vol 3, No 5 (2014)

Democracies and institutionalization of the sortition: is it possible to have complementarity with representation?

Dante Avaro

Abstract


In this article I present democracy as a distributive system containing two basic principles: to elect and to be elected. I call this distributive track system 'local political justice’. From this, I inquire under what circumstances a citizen adhering to these 'tracks' can be perceived as disadvantaged and as a creditor, in the public arena of modern democracies, who can present a claim. I analyze how to handle the situation of the disadvantaged with the institutionalization of the selection by lots. And finally, try to provide exploratory arguments showing that the institutions of the lottery draw (i) is not inconsistent with the preferences of citizens who do not want it, (ii) its adoption does not harm them and finally (iii) its adoption improve the condition of those disadvantaged who propose it.