'Zo geldt het bijvoorbeeld als democratisch om bestuursbeambten toe te wijzen door loting (...); als oligarchisch, ze toe te wijzen door verkiezing.'
('It is thought to be democratic for the offices of constitutional government to be assigned by lot, for them to be elected oligarchic.')
Aristoteles, 350 v.C.
'DĂ©mocratie: Gouvernement populaire. Ătat populaire. Forme de gouvernement oĂč les charges se donnent au sort.'
('Democratie: Volksbestuur. Volksstaat. Regeringsvorm waarbij de ambten worden vergeven door het lot.')
uit: woordenboek van Richelet, dat in 1680 voor het eerst verscheen
'Le suffrage par le sort est de la nature de la démocratie; le suffrage par choix est de celle de l'aristocratie.'
('Selection by lot is in the nature of democracy, selection by choice is in the nature of aristocracy';
'Loting is in wezen democratisch; verkiezing aristocratisch.')
Montesquieu, 1748
'Is not representation an essential and fundamental departure from democracy? Is not every representative government in the universe an aristocracy?'
John Adams, tweede president van de VS (1735-1826)
'Having a choice of rulers is not the same as ruling.'
HĂ©lĂšne Landemore, Can âLottocracyâ Save Democracy From Itself?, september 2021
'in the past century, elections have also established a monopoly grip in the minds of many as being the hallmark of democracy. Thatâs ironic, because the ancient Greeks, who invented the word, were always clear that sortition is the essential definition of democracy and that elections only produce oligarchies.'
Hugh Pope, The region thatâs experimenting with government by lottery, februari 2023
'The Greeks recognized that whoever runs for elected office in the first place usually projects a peculiar power-seeking personality type.'
Ansel Herz, the Stranger, februari 2023
'Athenian democracy, though it had the grave limitation of not including slaves or women, was in some respects more democratic than any modern system.'
Bertrand Russell, History of Western Philosophy, 1945
'If you look at the history of our so-called ârepresentative democracies,â they originate in what historians call representative governments, which were designed in opposition to the twin dangers of monarchy and democracy. Democracy back then was identified with mob rule and the tyranny of the majority. So the ancestors of our representative âdemocraciesâ were historically never intended to give the mass of ordinary people actual power. James Madison famously wrote that the American republic is characterized âby the total exclusion of the people in its collective capacity from any share inâ government, and he thought this was a good thing!'
HĂ©lĂšne Landemore, Can âLottocracyâ Save Democracy From Itself?, september 2021
'De grootste verrassing van mijn onderzoek voor dit boek [Tegen verkiezingen] is de ontdekking dat de Founding Fathers in Amerika en de revolutionairen in Frankrijk de democratie niet hebben mogelijk gemaakt, maar juist hebben tegengehouden. (...) Ik citeer James Madison, vader van de Amerikaanse Grondwet, die letterlijk heeft gezegd: "wij willen geen democratie." '
David Van Reybrouck, 'Loten is democratischer dan stemmen', Trouw, 6 oktober 2013
'We can make all the tweaks we want, but as long as we employ voting to choose representatives, we will continue to wind up with a political economy controlled by wealthy elites. Modern liberal governments are not democracies; they are oligarchies in disguise, overwhelmingly following the policy preferences of the rich.'
Nicholas Coccoma, Boston Review, november 2022
'Historians today point out the many anti-democratic mechanisms the Framers built into the Constitution â long terms of office, tiny numbers of representatives, a minoritarian Senate. Yet few note that, in practice, elections themselves make for the chief oligarchic feature.'
Nicholas Coccoma, Boston Review, november 2022
'Thomas Paine proposed a role for lotteries in Common Sense, but his egalitarian radicalism on behalf of democracy made him an outlier among the Founders; by the end of his life he was widely despised and ostracized from circles of influence.'
Nicholas Coccoma, Boston Review, november 2022
'As in France, the ascendant American bourgeoisie instituted voting, not lotteries, upon overthrowing the monarchy.'
Nicholas Coccoma, Boston Review, november 2022
'Lotteries realize the ideal of equality in ways that elections canât even begin to approach. The latter favor the already powerful; lotteries, by contrast, give every citizen the exact same chance at selection.'
Nicholas Coccoma, Boston Review, november 2022
'All obstructions to the execution of the laws, all combinations and associations, under whatever plausible character, with the real design to direct, control, counteract, or awe the regular deliberation and action of the constituted authorities, are destructive of this fundamental principle, and of fatal tendency. They serve to organize faction, to give it an artificial and extraordinary force; to put, in the place of the delegated will of the nation the will of a party, often a small but artful and enterprising minority of the community; and, according to the alternate triumphs of different parties, to make the public administration the mirror of the ill-concerted and incongruous projects of faction, rather than the organ of consistent and wholesome plans digested by common counsels and modified by mutual interests.'
George Washington, Farewell Address, 1796
'However combinations or associations of the above description may now and then answer popular ends, they are likely, in the course of time and things, to become potent engines, by which cunning, ambitious, and unprincipled men will be enabled to subvert the power of the people and to usurp for themselves the reins of government, destroying afterwards the very engines which have lifted them to unjust dominion.'
George Washington, Farewell Address, 1796
'The alternate domination of one faction over another, sharpened by the spirit of revenge, natural to party dissension, which in different ages and countries has perpetrated the most horrid enormities, is itself a frightful despotism. But this leads at length to a more formal and permanent despotism. The disorders and miseries which result gradually incline the minds of men to seek security and repose in the absolute power of an individual; and sooner or later the chief of some prevailing faction, more able or more fortunate than his competitors, turns this disposition to the purposes of his own elevation, on the ruins of public liberty'
George Washington, Farewell Address, 1796
'The question is not whether American democracy will die, but whether it will be instituted for the first time.'
Nicholas Coccoma, Boston Review, november 2022
'The cure for the ailments of democracy is more democracy.'
John Dewey (1859-1952)
'I propose forthwith that the method of choosing legislators now prevailing in the United States be abandoned and that the method used in choosing juries be substituted.'
H.L. Mencken, Amerikaans journalist, A Purge for Legislators, 1926
'The great majority of public problems, indeed, are quite simple, and any man may be trusted to grasp their elements in ten days who may be â and is â trusted to unravel the obfuscations of two gangs of lawyers in the same time.'
H.L. Mencken, Amerikaans journalist, A Purge for Legislators, 1926
'All real democracy is an attempt, like that of a jolly hostess, to bring the shy people out.'
Gilbert Keith Chesterton, Wit and Wisdom of G. K. Chesterton (ed. 1911)
'Now the average CIO bureaucrat or Labor Member of Parliament in Britain would fall in a fit if it was suggested to him that any worker selected at random could do the work that he is doing, but that was precisely the guiding principle of Greek Democracy. And this form of government is the government under which flourished the greatest civilization the world has ever known.'
C.L.R. James, Every Cook Can Govern, 1956
'When you take responsibility away from people you make them irresponsible'
Sir Keith Joseph, speech, 1974
'Parties don't want us to think. They want to win. They want to win the election. And they will do whatever they can to win: negative attack adds, misinformation on social media, whatever. That's what they are: they are machines designed to win elections.'
James Fishkin, TED-talk Democracy When the People Are Thinking, 2018
'Winning the next election has become more important than fulfilling the promises made in the last.'
David Van Reybrouck, Why elections are bad for democracy, 29 juni 2016
'Our country was actually born in a vision not of competing political parties, but if you've read the Federalist Papers, you'll know that Madison had the idea that the representatives were supposed to refine and enlarge the public views. They were supposed to deliberate about the merits of public policy in the Senate. How long has it been since you heard anybody call the Senate the world's greatest deliberative body? That's what they used to try to call it. Right now it's partisanship and deadlock.'
James Fishkin, TED-talk Democracy When the People Are Thinking, 2018
'Electoral chambers are inherently uninterested in deliberation. They have no motivation to figure out solutions. When I was a legislator if opposing party brought forward a bill, our first task was to figure out how we could attack it, how we could smear them, their motivations, their competence; whether they were evil. Elected people come to a body pre-judging just about every policy. There is no give-and-take in a chamber; it is a performance to help win the votes in the subsequent election. Policy is merely the weapons, the tools, the battleground on which we fight for power. And the illusion that we have a genuinely representative group of people is merely an illusion. Elections produce a body that is inherently incapable of democratic government.'
Terry Bouricius, Democracy in Crisis, Part 3: Alternatives to Elections, augustus 2020
'Do you know that the Electoral College was originally supposed to be a deliberative body, where the electors would meet and deliberate about who was the most qualified person to be president? It worked only with one candidate: George Washington. That worked for two elections, and that was the end of that.'
James Fishkin, TED-talk Democracy When the People Are Thinking, 2018
'Who is doing the thinking? People who are trying to influence us are doing the thinking. We've undergone a long journey from Madison, who had this vision of a republic with deliberation in the public interest, to... Madison Avenue. And anybody who's been to New York knows that Madison Avenue is the home of the advertising industry, where people are always trying to influence you, to buy cars, or cigarettes, or whatever it is. The theorists of democracy fully admit that the same techniques used to influence you to buy one brand of soap rather than another, are also used to influence you to vote for one candidate or one ballot proposition, rather than another.'
James Fishkin, TED-talk Democracy When the People Are Thinking, 2018
'Under this model, while elections certainly exist and can change governments, public electoral debate is a tightly controlled spectacle, managed by rival teams of professionals expert in the techniques of persuasion, and considering a small range of issues selected by those teams. The mass of citizens plays a passive, quiescent part, responding only to the signals given them.'
Colin Crouch, The Guardian, 2004
'If youâre looking for an unrepresentative group of Americans, the House of Representatives isnât a bad place to start. Its members are disproportionately old and white. More than 80 percent of them are men. They spend around four hours per day on the phone, asking people for money. Unlike most other telemarketers, they have a median net worth of almost $900,000. More than a third of them hold law degrees.'
Michael Schulson, Is It Time to Take a Chance on Random Representatives?, 2014
'We [in the US] are entrenched in wealth and power, yet it is clear that things are starting to happen. Personal freedom is what is important but it has become all twisted and perverted. We have a lot of education to do in the US. If we have to fight for democracy, letâs fight for a real democracy.'
Wayne Liebman, gepensioneerd arts die activist voor burgerberaden is geworden, The Urban Activist, 2023
'We have a democracy that people have to fit around. I want to create a democracy that fits around people.'
Jacinta Ojevwe, Innovations in Participatory Democracy Conference, maart 2018
'In a democracy elections are supposed to encourage participation, but they don't. They discourage it. Lotteries encourage participation.'
Malcolm Gladwell, The Powerball Revolution, juli 2020
'As a citizen, you have various avenues for engagementâyou can vote, serve on a jury, and advocate for candidates or causes. If youâre interested in business, you join the Chamber of Commerce; for charitable work, there are nonprofits, churches, or Rotary Clubs. But when it comes to collaborating with fellow citizens on public problem-solving in a collaborative, inclusive, and respectful manner, where can most Americans go?'
Harry Nathan Gottlieb (Unify America), New America, april 2024
'Het woord elections en elite hebben dezelfde etymologische wortel. Letterlijk: de uitgelezenen. Er is iets grondig aristocratisch in het electorale proces.'
David Van Reybrouck, Nooit meer slapen, juni 2024
'itâs no coincidence that elect and elite derive from the same etymological root.'
Nick Coccoma, Why Greece Was Great, april 2025
'Niets is schadelijker dan een elite die zijn eigen elitarisme niet ziet.'
David Van Reybrouck, Het Financieele Dagblad, maart 2025
'De verkiezingen zijn begonnen als een instrument om consensus te vinden onder de elite. Vandaag is het een element om dissensus te stimuleren onder de massa.'
David Van Reybrouck, Nooit meer slapen, juni 2024
'Fifty years ago, we lived in a world of greater political apathy and yet greater trust in politics. Now there is both passion and distrust. These are turbulent times, as the events of the past week demonstrate all too clearly. And yet, for all this turbulence, there has been little reflection on the tools that our democracies use. It is still a heresy to ask whether elections, in their current form, are a badly outmoded technology for converting the collective will of the people into governments and policies.'
David Van Reybrouck, Why elections are bad for democracy (The Guardian), 29 juni 2016
'When economies weaken the weak and politics humiliate the humble, people flock towards those that make them feel proud. But most populist voters are not fascists -- not yet. They may become so if democracy finds no ways to include them.'
David Van Reybrouck, Keynote, Hannah Arendt Conference, New York, oktober 2021
'Research also suggests that when citizens with populist views take part in assemblies they turn out to be equally motivated by the common good as other citizens. Echo chambers that intensify polarization do not operate in deliberative conditions. Assembly members become less extreme as deliberation reduces biases in information processing and reasoning.'
Ieva ÄesnulaitytÄ, Democratic Innovation: A Matter of National Security, december 2023
'People are not rejecting democracy as an ideal but simply rejecting a system that claims to be a democracy but really isnât.'
HĂ©lĂšne Landemore, Can âLottocracyâ Save Democracy From Itself?, september 2021
'I learnt a lot of things. I learnt about the environment. I learnt how to listen to other people. I learnt how to debate. But the most important thing I learnt was the force of collective intelligence. We must invest in it.'
ĂloĂŻse, 17 jaar, uit Duinkerken, een van de 150 gelote Franse burgers voor het Franse klimaatberaad, The Guardian, november 2020
'It was an extraordinary feeling to be standing in a room with people who were from all over France and its outre-mer departments, and from all social classes and all levels of education. There was an accidental discussion at one point with the president of the National Assembly about whether politicians or the assembly represented the people, and she replied sharply: âthe one thing youâve got to realize is that random selection will never take over government.â And the whole room went silent as it sank in that she had vocalized something which no one had even thought of, maybe suddenly thinking, âOh! It might one day be like that.â '
Hugh Pope, The best books on Citizensâ Assemblies, oktober 2023
'Le dĂ©clic sâest produit dans lâisoloir, la premiĂšre fois que je suis allĂ© voter. Au fond, on me posait une question simple : quel est le meilleur candidat ? CartĂ©sien de nature, je me suis mis Ă douter : suis-je vraiment capable de rĂ©pondre Ă cette question ? Jâai regardĂ© les candidats dĂ©battre, mais sans les connaĂźtre. Certains Ă©taient plus charismatiques que dâautres, mais est-ce vraiment un critĂšre pertinent ? Quant aux idĂ©es quâils dĂ©fendaient, je ne pouvais les Ă©tudier avec exhaustivitĂ©, en dĂ©pit de mes connaissances en Ă©conomie. De plus, rien ne garantissait quâelles soient un jour appliquĂ©es. Incapable de choisir, jâai votĂ© blanc Ă cette Ă©lection, puis je me suis abstenu Ă toutes les autres. Depuis, je cherche Ă savoir ce quâest vraiment la dĂ©mocratie.'
Arthur Massicot, DĂ©mocurieux, 2021
'democratic fatigue syndrome is not so much caused by the people, the politicians or the parties â it is caused by the procedure. Democracy is not the problem. Voting is the problem. Where is the reasoned voice of the people in all this? Where do citizens get the chance to obtain the best possible information, engage with each other and decide collectively upon their future? Where do citizens get a chance to shape the fate of their communities? Not in the voting booth, for sure.'
David Van Reybrouck, Why elections are bad for democracy, 29 juni 2016
'It would appear that the fundamental cause of democratic fatigue syndrome lies in the fact that we have all become electoral fundamentalists, venerating elections but despising the people who are elected.'
David Van Reybrouck, Why elections are bad for democracy, 29 juni 2016
'If you look at the recommendations of western donors, it is as if democracy is a kind of export product, off the peg, in handy packaging, ready for dispatch. âFree and fair electionsâ become an Ikea kit for democracy â to be assembled by the recipient, with or without the help of the instructions enclosed. And if the resulting piece of furniture is lopsided, uncomfortable to sit on or falls apart? Then itâs the fault of the customer.'
David Van Reybrouck, Why elections are bad for democracy, 29 juni 2016
'That elections can have all kinds of outcomes in states that are fragile, including violence, ethnic tensions, criminality and corruption, seems of secondary importance. That elections do not automatically foster democracy, but may instead prevent or destroy it, is conveniently forgotten. We insist that in every country in the world people must traipse off to the polling stations. Our electoral fundamentalism really does take the form of a new, global evangelism. Elections are the sacraments of that new faith, a ritual regarded as a vital necessity in which the form is more important than the content.'
David Van Reybrouck, Why elections are bad for democracy, 29 juni 2016
'Imagine having to develop a system today that would express the will of the people. Would it really be a good idea to have them all queue up at polling stations every four or five years with a bit of card in their hands and go into a dark booth to put a mark next to names on a list, names of people about whom restless reporting had been going on for months in a commercial environment that profits from restlessness?'
David Van Reybrouck, Why elections are bad for democracy, 29 juni 2016
'A cross-section of society that is informed can act more coherently than an entire society that is uninformed.'
David Van Reybrouck, Why elections are bad for democracy, 29 juni 2016
'If many countries rely on the principle of sortition in the criminal justice system, why not rely on it in the legislative system? We already use a lottery like this every day, but we use it in the worst possible form: public opinion polling. As the American political scientist James Fishkin famously remarked: âIn a poll, we ask people what they think when they donât think. It would be more interesting to ask what they think after they had a chance to think.â '
David Van Reybrouck, Why elections are bad for democracy, 29 juni 2016
'The arguments put forward against sortition are often identical to the reasons once put forward for not allowing peasants, workers or women to vote. Then, too, opponents claimed it would mark the end of democracy.'
David Van Reybrouck, Why elections are bad for democracy, 29 juni 2016
'Ordinary citizens, once empowered, are very protective of their prerogatives and will actively and vocally resist perceived attempts at manipulating them.'
HĂ©lĂšne Landemore, Open Democracy (blz 197), 2020
'I would also say, watching the French assembly at work and also remembering my experience as a journalist, that ordinary people may not always understand what someone is saying but they can sense when someone is lying to them.'
Hugh Pope, The best books on Citizensâ Assemblies, oktober 2023
'Maybe in a hundred years we will look back and think that this was really crazy that we thought elected parliaments were more legitimate than randomly selected ones.'
HĂ©lĂšne Landemore, 2021
'Vernedering leidt tot ressentiment, leidt tot agressie, leidt tot onredelijkheid. Niet meer willen praten met mekaar. Maar neem die vernedering weg, neem die individuele burger au sérieux, behandel hem niet enkel als kiesvee, of als referendumvee. Vraag dóór. Laat je niet afschrikken door die woede. Zie die woede als een cadeau. Populistische woede is een cadeau in prikkeldraad gewikkeld. Het gaat om betrokkenheid. Het gaat om een verlangen naar betrokkenheid. Erken dat. En besef dat er misschien één principe is, dat ongelooflijk van belang is, en dat voortdurend wordt vergeten, en dat is mogen meedoen, mogen meetellen. En dat geldt zowel voor een derde generatie migrant, als voor een blanke fabrieksarbeider, als voor een gepensioneerde, of wat dan ook. Mogen meetellen is het essentiële principe in een samenleving die zich democratisch wenst te noemen. En dat principe hebben we met voeten getreden. We vernederen mensen door hun woede vervelend te vinden en dan maar weg te moffelen. Wat mij verbaast is hoe weinig emotionele intelligentie er bij de politieke bestuurslaag zit. Het verlangen om mogen mee te tellen is een emotioneel verlangen, het is een essentieel verlangen, overal ter wereld.'
David Van Reybrouck, Bas Heijne interviewt Van Reybrouck (1:14:26), HUMAN, mei 2018
'There is this argument saying that "well, so many people are so angry, so lets keep them out. Let's make sure that they do not become participants in the deliberative process". I think that's the worst possible idea. It's precisely because people are angry, that you should invite them, and make sure they become part of the dialogue. There is this idea like "ooh, if you get the mob in, it's the beginning of fascism". Now, anger is anger. And many people who are nationalist or populist, they are nog fascist yet. They may become fascist, and that depends to the extent they are being ignored, and continue to be ignored. So anger is not something to be avoided. For me, the populist anger, it's a gift! It's a gift wrapped in barbed wire, bit it's still a gift. So you can run away from the barbed wire, or you can say like "Well let us try to create a space where we can unwrap and see what's behind this anger, and take this anger very seriously". I think in the long run that might be more beneficial for a healthy democracy than ignoring those who are angry and mad right now.'
David Van Reybrouck, Revitalizing Democracy (Part 2, 1h02m), oktober 2020
'De enige partijen waar hoogopgeleiden nog met laagopgeleiden praten, zijn populistische partijen. Professor Pim. En dat hebben we verleerd. We hebben verleerd dat mensen die minder symbolisch kapitaal hebben, die minder hoogopgeleid zijn, toch de moeite waard zijn. De enige laagopgeleiden waar links zich over bekreunt, zijn allochtonen. En degenen die er het meest last van hebben, degenen op wiens schouders de lasten van de globalisering vallen, namelijk blanke laagopgeleiden, die noemen we vervolgens racisten. Dat is nĂet juist.'
David Van Reybrouck, Freek de Leek - 'Democratie' - Workshop, 2015
'Ik vind dat de stem van laagopgeleiden in onze samenleving, dat die erg gedemoniseerd wordt. Dat die bijna enkel wordt gehoord, en misbruikt, door populistische leiders, die daar natuurlijk garen bij spinnen, en ik vind dat we weinig relevante manieren hebben om die aan het woord te laten.'
David Van Reybrouck, MO*Q&A, april 2018 (6m58)
'Duitsland herhaalt vandaag de Belgische fouten van de jaren negentig, in die zin dat het onderscheid niet wordt gemaakt tussen populistische leider en populistische kiezer.'
David Van Reybrouck, MO*Q&A, april 2018 (8m57)
'Er zijn geen plekken waar burgers vandaag in een sfeer van vertrouwen en constructief met mekaar praten en luisteren meningen uitwissel met mekaar. Onze democratie is een zeer stille democratie geworden. Wij móéten zwijgen in het stemhokje. Leg dat eens uit in een dorp in Congo waar mensen met dorpsberaad proberen die gemeenschap een beetje bestuurbaar te maken. Dat is geen makkelijke klus in Congo vandaag. Maar leg daar eens uit dat wij op de hoogdag van de democratie moeten zwijgen. Het is onwettig om te praten in het stemhokje.'
David Van Reybrouck, MO*Q&A, april 2018 (9m46)
'Ik blijf erbij dat in een samenleving zoals de onze, waarbij sinds de Tweede Wereldoorlog onderwijs gedemocratiseerd is; informatie is met de komst van internet gedemocratiseerd, communicatie is met komst van sociale media enorm gedemocratiseerd; al dat soort factoren zijn gedemocratiseerd. Het enige wat niet gedemocratiseerd raakt, is de democratie zelf. En dat vind ik extreem problematisch. Hoe kan het dat wij decennia investeren in het opkrikken van het opleidingsniveau van onze burgerbevolking en dat vervolgens die burgerbevolking nog enkel mag meepraten door dat bolletje te kleuren een keer om de vier, vijf jaar. Ik vind dat hallucinant. En dus de opkomst van het populisme vandaag in Europa, lijkt mij een zeer normaal gevolg van een democratie die zich mordicus blijft beperken tot een electorale democratie.'
David Van Reybrouck, MO*Q&A, april 2018 (13m22)
'Ja, vrijheidsstrijders streden voor een progressief ideaal en de meeste populisten zitten aan de andere kant van het politieke spectrum, maar de processen zijn vergelijkbaar: het gaat om een grote groep die zich vernederd voelt en de dominantie van de elite niet meer pikt. Daarvan wegkijken en de maatschappelijke onvrede demoniseren lijkt me ongelooflijk onverstandig.'
David Van Reybrouck, Trouw, maart 2025
'Politische Ungleichheit hat viele Aspekte. Eine minimale liberale Definition von Gleichheit in der Demokratie geht vom gleichen Recht aller Menschen aus, zu wĂ€hlen und sich wĂ€hlen zu lassen. Gehen wir darĂŒber hinaus und nehmen an, zur Demokratie gehöre auch, dass alle Menschen die gleiche Chance haben, politische Entscheidungen zu beeinflussen, mĂŒssen wir fragen: Wer partizipiert in der RealitĂ€t tatsĂ€chlich? Und wessen Anliegen werden reprĂ€sentiert? Und ĂŒber welche KanĂ€le funktioniert das? Damit sind wichtige Aspekte politischer Ungleichheit angesprochen. Die tatsĂ€chliche Partizipation und das politische Engagement sind in der Wirklichkeit zunehmend ungleich. Nicht nur in Deutschland, auch in anderen europĂ€ischen Staaten und in den USA beobachten wir die bereits angesprochene Verzerrung in den Entscheidungen â die Anliegen derer mit weniger Ressourcen werden seltener berĂŒcksichtigt. Zudem existiert Ungleichheit in den ReprĂ€sentationsorganen selbst, in den Parteien wie in den Parlamenten.'
Lea ElsÀsser, Leute ohne akademischen Hintergrund sitzen kaum noch mit am Tisch, december 2024
'De Atheense democratie kwam niet voort uit een strijd tussen een tirannie en het volk, maar tussen een steeds rijkere bovenklasse en kwetsbare armen. Het oude Athene was een plutocratie waarbij grondbezitters profiteerden van de pacht en leningen die afkomstig waren van de klasse die op het land werkte. Wie zijn schulden niet kon betalen was tot slavernij veroordeeld. Dit leidde op den duur tot opstanden. Het idee om alle vrije mannen inspraak te geven en deel te laten uitmaken van het politieke bestuur, was een manier om de onvrede te beteugelen. Het uitgangspunt was praktisch: hoe kun je een einde maken aan de constante strijd tussen burgers als gevolg van grote verschillen in welvaart? Uiteindelijk concludeerde de elite dat instabiliteit slecht is voor productiviteit. Met hoogdravende idealen over bescherming tegen onderdrukking had het allemaal weinig vandoen.'
Erica Benner, politiek filosoof, De Groene Amsterdammer, juni 2024
'We need to make our democracies more inclusive. This requires bold and innovative reforms to bring the young, the poor, and minorities in the political system. An interesting idea put forward by Mr. Van Reybrouck, would be to select parliaments by lot instead of election, in the way many jury systems work. This would prevent the formation of self-serving and self-perpetuating political classes.'
Kofi Annan, voormalig secretaris-generaal van de Verenigde Naties, The Crisis of Democracy, 13 september 2017
'We in Germany can in turn take inspiration from Ireland â for example, when it comes to strengthening our democracy for the future, for instance with new forms of civic participation. I have followed the work of the Irish Citizensâ Assembly with great interest (...) I am convinced that democracy needs such impetus for renewal. This is something we are sensing throughout Europe, including here in Germany. Democracy is changing. (...) And so I wish those in positions of responsibility today â in political parties, parliaments, governments â the necessary confidence and openness not to regard what is new as a threat, but to dare to introduce new forms of participation and to chart new courses in politics and political institutions. To put it simply: I wish everyone, including us here in Germany, a touch of the Irish courage'
Duitse president Frank-Walter Steinmeier, toespraak staatsbanket, 3 juli 2019
"The Citizensâ panel have proven that this form of democracy works. It should become part of the way we make policy. I will propose to give Citizens Panels the time and resources to make recommendations before we present certain key legislative proposals."
Ursula von der Leyen, Twitter, 9 mei 2022
"Ik vind het principe van een burgerberaad inspirerend. Het is veel eerlijker om een willekeurige groep burgers over beleid te laten discussiĂ«ren en tot besluiten te laten komen. De grote belemmering om dit te regelen zijn de gekozen politici. Zij zien zoiets als bedreiging. âHeb je ooit een kiezer ontmoetâ, zullen ze zeggen. âZe zijn echt achterlijk. Hoe kun je beslissingen aan hĂ©n overlaten?â "
voormalig Brits politicus Rory Stewart, NRC Handelsblad, 3 maart 2024
'When you talk about a group of random people, a lot of folks say "Oh, well, they don't know anything, they're not competent", and I really want to stress that I know legislators: they are not better than the rest of the population. They are different in that they tend to be ego-driven males, but they are not more competent. And the fact is: we don't really care about the individual competence of each individual member. We care about the competence of the group as a whole. And the fact is, by having a diverse group, you create a more competent overall group.'
Terry Bouricius, Democracy in Crisis, Part 3: Alternatives to Elections, augustus 2020
'I would like to have a final authority. Not throwing it to a referendum, or throwing it to an elected body, but instead throwing it to a compulsary jury, a large jury, maybe five-hundred, maybe a thousand people, where it's compulsary service, unless you have a good excuse to get out of it. For two weeks you are going to listen to the pro and con arguments, and then you're just going to vote, and that body should by fully representative of the entire population. And the only way you can really do that, is through some sort of mandatory service.'
Terry Bouricius, Democracy in Crisis, Part 3: Alternatives to Elections, augustus 2020
'If citizens do not have genuine agency and voice in deciding the big issues facing us in this age of turbulence, our political system will be choked by apathy and cynicism and further lock us in a downward spiral of democratic decline.'
Claudia Chwalisz, Democracy par excellence, december 2023
'An allotted body is uniquely competent in the way that matters: it is competent to determine what are the values and interests of the sampled population. It is competent to take decisions that would represent those values and interests, while individuals [in] bodies that are constituted in other ways are not.'
Yoram Gat, EqualityByLot.com, september 2020
'Elections reliably and predictably select an elite, non-representative group to rule over us. Our candidates and elected representatives are much wealthier, much more likely to have attended elite schools (often simply because of their greater family wealth), much more likely to be lawyers or businesspeople, much less likely to have been homeless, unemployed, incarcerated, or to have raised children as a single parent. This affects what they know and care about.'
Alex Guerrero, The Institute of Art and Ideas, november 2024
'While elections have a democratic face, to the extent that everyone gets an equal vote, they also have an oligarchic face, because of this principle of distinction, which means that only some people have access to political office. More often than not, the implications of election-based selection of rulers are largely plutocratic, bringing to power those who can finance expensive political campaigns. If we distribute power unequally, we shouldnât be surprised if, in the end, the people in power are taken from a narrow socioeconomic elite and if, as a result, governance outcomes are unrepresentative of what most people want.'
HĂ©lĂšne Landemore, Can âLottocracyâ Save Democracy From Itself?, september 2021
'The parties, because of their monopoly of nomination, cannot be regarded as popular organs, but that they are, on the contrary, the very efficient instruments through which the power of the people is curtailed and controlled. That representative government has in fact become oligarchic government is true enough, though not in the classical sense of rule by the few in the interest of the few; what we today call democracy is a form of government where the few rule, at least supposedly, in the interest of the many.'
Hannah Arendt, On Revolution, 1963
'the dominant narrative today is these Citizens' Assemblies are just something that could or should complement our existing institutions and it's something that might enhance or help strengthen representative democracy as we know it today, and I feel like that actually has been detrimental to making the real fundamental change happen. And that's why we're trying to shift the narrative and open up an imagination that actually another democratic future is possible, and that we could be shifting power to Citizens' Assemblies. And this could eventually really be the heart of a democratic system, if we start to make those steps, taking us in that direction. And it means questioning the premise of elections. It means really bringing up our history of philosophy, and thinking like actually elections are not a democratic form of governing ourselves and this is not the only way of doing things. And it seems radical I think to some people to say these things today. And I think it's only when we start to question our own assumptions in this time of deep crisis, and open up an imagination that another way could be possible, that we're going to start seeing the real shifts of power.'
Claudia Chwalisz, Democracy without Politicians, maart 2023
'Years of speaking to politicians about citizensâ assemblies have shown us that the majority do not think there is a serious democratic crisis. And why would they? They have committed their lives to making representative democracy work; they are in a way the ultimate political insiders. They tend to see citizensâ assemblies as just another lobby trying to get their attention, so it is no surprise that they do not listen.'
Rich Wilson en Claire Mellier, Getting Real About Citizensâ Assemblies, oktober 2023
'I once viewed citizensâ assemblies as a necessary complement to strengthen representative democracy as we conceive of it today. However, conducting a deeper analysis of hundreds of assemblies when I was at the OECD, and being involved in the design of the worldâs first permanent citizensâ chambers with people selected by lot, changed my perspective. The more fundamental issue is that a system defined by elections, with political parties and politicians, is designed for short-termism, for debate, for conflict and for polarisation. It puts re-election goals and party logic ahead of the common good. Adding on new forms of democratic institutions like citizensâ assemblies to an electoral system does not address the underlying democratic problems of an elections-based system.'
Claudia Chwalisz, Assembly Required, juni 2023
'The current wave of deliberative processes focuses on helping governments increase their legitimacy and pays too little attention to helping citizens achieve the change they want to see. These often top-down invited spaces end up depoliticizing citizen engagement at best, and at worst they provide legitimacy for governments that are in effect opposed to the changes citizens want.'
Rich Wilson en Claire Mellier, Getting Real About Citizensâ Assemblies, oktober 2023
'We have a wealth of evidence today that citizensâ assemblies are effective and democratic â leading to better decisions by leveraging our collective intelligence â and that they are fair and legitimate, recognising peopleâs agency and establishing political equality. But one-off assemblies are not changing the system. There is a need to shift political and legislative power to institutionalised citizensâ assemblies so that they can eventually become the heart of our democratic systems, defining a new democratic paradigm.'
Claudia Chwalisz, Assembly Required, juni 2023
'Democracy using sortition needs decision-making power. But it is not so simple as having a citizens' assembly proposal being enacted. There is always a risk that any group, even with good deliberative process, may go "off track" due to groupthink, information cascades, corruption, or deferral to a uniquely influential member. So, every citizens' assembly proposal needs a check and balance. But letting politicians do that is very bad process (as it undoes the benefit of non-partisan deliberation). Ideally, a second much larger (perhaps 1,000) random sample jury would hear testimony about the proposal, hear pro and con arguments from a wide range of experts, and vote. That would be well-informed, non-tribalism democracy.'
Terry Bouricius, DemocracyNext Newsletter, april 2024
'Citizensâ Assemblies only make sense if they are able to DECIDE, not if they return their results to the parliaments who follow their proper logic of power by trying to be (re-)elected by any means (#PowerApriori: winning elections is the a priori of power in democracies, so it always comes first, rest: second, thirdâŠ). The logic of citizens assemblies is completely different: without any need to please some interest groups, deliberation results in wise decisionsâunless decisions are taken away from them under the pretext of âlegitimacyâ.'
Hanspeter Rosenlechner, DemocracyNext Newsletter, april 2024
'Google tried to find out which groups cooperate the best. Surprisingly they discovered that it's not groups with the smartest members, or the closest friends, or for instance containing women. No, successful groups are those in which the members experience a high degree of psychological safety.'
Claudine Nierth, German More Democracy Association, 2021
'the best decisions are likely to be taken by those who can consult expert advice without themselves being liable to the dangers of prejudgment that fixed habits and specialized knowledge inevitably bring'
Maurice Pope, The Keys to Democracy (blz 128), 2023
'What [the Citizensâ Assembly] has done is provide a safe, respectful, and equal environment in which to have a conversation about things that governments, our political system, and our society find difficult to talk about . . . we now trust the [Citizensâ Assembly] system, and we have the spectacle right now of the political system fighting amongst themselves to have the next issue to be discussed by the next Citizensâ Assembly.'
Art OâLeary, the chief executive of Irelandâs Electoral Commission, DemocracyNext Launch Event, 2022
'This philosophic and intellectual approach, which underpins assemblies, has had a healing effect on me. It is a welcome rupture in the world that often tells us we are not worthy the way we are â that we need to be constantly productive to be valuable, that if weâre not successful in a conventional sense, we can only blame ourselves, that we need to argue, compete, constantly fight to have a seat at the decision making table. That we cannot trust each other. That less than perfect is not acceptable.'
Ieva ÄesnulaitytÄ, DemocracyNext Newsletter, juli 2024
'To me, making assemblies an important part of how we do democracy is an invitation to shift our values away from a meritocratic, elitist, highly competitive, winner-takes-all spirit that is so clearly detrimental not just to our democratic systems, but to our psyches and well-being. They can help shift how we perceive ourselves, talk to ourselves, and how we perceive others.'
Ieva ÄesnulaitytÄ, DemocracyNext Newsletter, juli 2024
'how do you create responsible citizens in the long term without giving citizens responsibility?'
Verena Friederike Hasel, Germanyâs democracy problem, 2019
'There are times when I think one could replace our leaders with citizens chosen at random and get a better result.'
Andrew Yang, kandidaat bij de presidentiële voorverkiezingen van 2020, Twitter, juli 2020
'The idea of a lottery is at first thought absurd, and at second thought obvious. It raises fundamental questions in new ways. It ought to be part of the public debate on retaining a vigorous democracy in the United States. It might work.'
Loni Hancock, voormalig staatssenator van Californië, A Citizen Legislature
'Loting is een cruciaal onderdeel van een burgerberaad, zonder loting geen burgerberaad.'
dr. Christine Bleijenberg en dr. Kristof Jacobs, Evaluatiekader Lokale Burgerberaden, februari 2025
'As long as we give power to those who seek it, the righteous ones, the good ones, who don't seek power, will not be included.'
Ătienne Chouard, TEDx Talks, 2012
'Because it is not the role of the people in power to write the rules of their own power, we want a democratic Constitutional Assembly, therefore randomly drawn.'
Ătienne Chouard, Le Message, 2015
'We feed our political impotence by allowing ourselves to call democracy that which is the very negation of our rights. When we call it democracy, we can't even express the solution. We need democracy, but we cannot say it: the word is hijacked by its opposite.'
('Nous participons Ă notre impuissance politique en acceptant d'appeler dĂ©mocratie ce qui est la nĂ©gation mĂȘme de nos droits. Quand on accepte d'appeler ça dĂ©mocratie, on n'arrive mĂȘme pas Ă formuler la solution. On a besoin de la dĂ©mocratie, mais on n'arrive pas Ă le dire. Puisque le mot est pris par son contraire.')
Ătienne Chouard, TEDx Talks, 2012
'Why do we value elections so much? It's not due to reason, because the facts show that it's not in our interest. But we have myths. The so-called 'Republican school' has been teaching us since we were toddlers: elections = democracy = elections, etc. We believed it since childhood. We need a detoxification from the lies of these robbers of power. Turn the words the right side up. We are not a democracy. We need one with designation by sortition, one that would free us from power-seekers.'
Ătienne Chouard, TEDx Talks, 2012
'I can only point out that even today, in common-law systems, sortition is used to select prospective jurors who have a say over life-and-death decisions. Today, it is a life and death instance for Pakistan, and citizens need to take their governance in their own hands.'
Dr. Anjum Altaf, Getting out of the mess, 20 november 2022
'Every time you hear that public trust in government is declining, flip it around. The real issue is that governments donât trust or work to empower people. Until this is acknowledged and addressed, the democratic crisis will persist.'
Peter MacLeod, 14 oktober 2022
'Shouldnât the citizens be the ones determining the power structure rather than those who are in power?'
Yoram Gat, Equalitybylot.com, januari 2023
'Iâm sometimes shocked at how sharply public intellectuals can criticize todayâs broken politics and yet so rarely consider democratic alternatives to elections.'
Hugh Pope, The best books on Citizens' Assemblies, oktober 2023
'De grootste weerstand voor nieuwe democratie komt van oudere politici en oudere journalisten.'
David Van Reybrouck, Bas Heijne interviewt Van Reybrouck, HUMAN, mei 2018
'Maar ik wil ook geen meninkjesautomaat over de actualiteit worden. Ik zie het als een vorm van verzet mijn denken niet uitsluitend te laten bepalen door wat anderen aan het doen zijn.'
David Van Reybrouck, Denker der Nederlanden (2025), de Volkskrant, maart 2025
'Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed it's the only thing that ever has.'
Margaret Mead (1901-1978)
'Emancipatie zonder participatie leidt altijd tot frustratie.'
David Van Reybrouck, Bas Heijne interviewt Van Reybrouck, HUMAN, mei 2018
'We have democratized a regime that is fundamentally elitist and we've reached the limit of what it can do. So maybe it's time to imagine something more radically democratic which is centered around ordinary citizens rather than socio-economic elites.'
HĂ©lĂšne Landemore, 2021
'If we are honest with ourselves, we should admit that our so-called ârepresentative democraciesâ are really at best liberal-republican-elected oligarchies, and sometimes downright plutocracies.'
HĂ©lĂšne Landemore, Can âLottocracyâ Save Democracy From Itself?, september 2021
'Sortition, it's a form of like relational therapy for a nation state (...) It's probably the best way to channel a lot of dark energy which is around now.'
David Van Reybrouck, Revitalizing Democracy (Part 1, 32m41), oktober 2020
'It is African therapy for western democracies gone astray.'
David Van Reybrouck over deliberatieve democratie, februari 2023
'Living in a democracy is not about solving conflict. It's about learning how to live with conflict.'
David Van Reybrouck, Revitalizing Democracy (Part 1, 35m46), oktober 2020
'We should not be trying to reach heaven. We should try to avoid hell'
David Van Reybrouck, Revitalizing Democracy (Part 1, 48m37), oktober 2020
'A lot of our democracy today is talking *about* people with whom you never talk. Deliberative democracy is talking *with* people.'
David Van Reybrouck, Revitalizing Democracy (Part 2, 29m24), oktober 2020
'Mit dialogorientierter BĂŒrgerbeteiligung erfahren Politik und Verwaltung viel frĂŒher, was die BĂŒrger bewegt.'
('With dialogue-oriented citizen participation, politics and administration learn much earlier what moves the citizens.')
Barbara Bosch, BĂŒrgerrat.de, oktober 2022
'You may have a parliament with 150 brilliant lawyers, they still are going to know less than a random sample of 150 citizens. What they bring in, in terms of experience âlived experienceâ is priceless.'
David Van Reybrouck, Revitalizing Democracy (Part 2, 28m27), oktober 2020
'The hardest part in deliberative democracy is making people enter that room. But once they're inside, they become the biggest ambassadors of how you can do democracy differently.'
David Van Reybrouck, Revitalizing Democracy (Part 2, 28m50), oktober 2020
âIf you are a lobbyist, you are going to have a much harder time dealing with a parliament drafted by lot, than a parliament that has been elected traditionally. (...) A random sample of citizens is a lobby of itself: itâs a lobby of the people.â
David Van Reybrouck, Revitalizing Democracy (1:13:22), oktober 2020
'An even more advanced solution that we should explore, as strange as it might sound the first time you hear it, would be to select citizens in a controlled, random manner and draft them into service as House representatives and senators, while still keeping them at home. Assign them to limited terms of office, as a form of national service, an exercise of their civic duty. Their reluctance to serve could be viewed as an asset.'
Jim Rogers, Street Smarts, blz. 243, 2013
'I would sooner live in a society governed by the first two thousand names in the Boston telephone directory than in a society governed by the two thousand faculty members of Harvard University.'
William F. Buckley, Jr, AZquotes.com | YouTube, 1961
'I would rather be governed by the first 2,000 people in the telephone directory than by the Harvard University faculty.'
Marc Andreessen, X post, augustus 2024
'Only those who do not seek power are qualified to hold it'
Plato, AZquotes.com
'What didnât Athens do? Hold elections. Except for choosing generals, they forbid the use of voting. Why? Because elections do not produce rule by everyday people. Rather, theyâre aristocratic devices, used by the upper class to entrench their hold over the body politic. Elections favor well-positioned insiders who have the resources and connections to wage a campaign. They tend to attract power-hungry individuals with narcissistic tendencies, not to mention outright demagogues.'
Nick Coccoma, To Save America, We Need Democracy by Lottery, 1 februari 2022
'Perhaps the greatest and most egregious example of this powerhungry de-randomizing of the world is our so-called democratic system. The apparent freedom of individual voting, our voice and agency in the political process, is in fact so hedged around by institutions such as parliamentary parties, voting regulations and voter suppression, constituency boundaries, electoral colleges, the influence of polling and the media, political funding, corporate lobbying and a general lack of meaningful consultation, engagement or sufficient education, that it amounts to a charade. The ongoing collapse of this system is evidenced by the general and increasing global dissatisfaction and distrust in government, the rise of charismatic and authoritarian leaders, and an apparent inability to address widespread and systemic issues such as poverty and healthcare, climate change and a global pandemic. That it continues to function is largely and inescapably because we are in thrall to its central mechanism â voting â which the very originators of democracy, the ancient Athenians, viewed as inherently corrupting.'
James Bridle, Ways of Being, juni 2022
'What was the importance of randomness in all this? I think its effects are twofold. First of all, random selection â sortition â returns to the democratic process something which its supporters often claim for it, but which has been largely lost: the approval and consent of the population. Sortition is transparent and verifiable. It bypasses the widely distrusted political class, and it allows each of us to imagine ourselves â even if not one of the ninety-nine â in a position of power and agency. Its legitimacy is founded in equality, and it places power directly in the hands of the population â but not mindlessly. This is not mob rule, or the tyranny of a vocal minority. Randomness is tempered by deliberate process. In its insistence on testimony, debate and consensus-building, the assembly returns to the people not only power, but also trust, clear communication, vital information and education â but not domination â by experts.'
James Bridle, Ways of Being, juni 2022
"The mechanism which underlies this effect is called âcognitive diversityâ, and is often summed up as âdiversity trumps abilityâ. This is the theory, backed up by social and mathematical research, that the best solutions to knotty, complex problems are best found by starting from the greatest number of different viewpoints and experiences â that is, from as wide a selection of people as possible.
This is notably counter to the belief â dominant in electoral systems, laboratories, corporations and social organizations â that there exists a mythical best person for the job, capable of engaging with any number of different areas of policy; or some group of ordained experts to whom those of lesser knowledge and experience must defer. It has been found, in study after study, that random selection from a sufficiently large group of people â given the appropriate contextual knowledge â produces better answers to complex problems than the appointment of a narrow group of experts."
James Bridle, Ways of Being, juni 2022
'They are prepared to engage very intensively, very occasionally, if they believe that their time and energy has a chance of making a difference. When there's something real on offer, they will step up.'
Peter MacLeod, Revitalizing Democracy, oktober 2020
âThis assembly is unusual for me. Usually, I am facilitating for people who are experts. But here I found that amateurs are really good at deliberating things. They bring such a variety of real-life experience.â
Gespreksbegeleider bij het Franse burgerberaad over euthanasie, Nieuwsbrief DemocracyNext, januari 2023
'Normally, I help people in making presentations to boards. But I find thereâs no real difference between citizens, professionals and experts, except that the citizens tend to feel freer to express what they actually think⊠This kind of democracy has a future.'
Gespreksbegeleider bij het Franse burgerberaad over euthanasie, Nieuwsbrief DemocracyNext, januari 2023
'Ik sprak verschillende burgers die sceptisch stonden tegenover wetenschap, maar welwillend genoeg waren om het gesprek aan te gaan. Superinteressant, want dit soort mensen kom je als wetenschapper te weinig tegen en het was goed om hun visie te horen. Zo leer je als uitgenodigde deskundige ook iets van het burgerberaad.'
hoogleraar wetenschapscommunicatie Ionica Smeets over het Nationaal Burgerberaad Klimaat, de Volkskrant, maart 2025
'Another surprise bonus from one citizensâ assembly? A woman who thanked the organisers for choosing her husband for a group â heâd started watching the news and reading the papers and they were having much more interesting conversations at dinner.'
Peter Hartcher, The Sydney Morning Herald, oktober 2022
'Elections are the fossil fuel of politics. Whereas once they gave democracy a huge boost, much like the boost oil gave the economy, it now turns out they cause colossal problems of their own.'
David Van Reybrouck, Against Elections, 2016
'If we donât urgently reconsider the nature of our democratic fuel, a systemic crisis awaits. If we obstinately hold on to a notion of democracy that reduces its meaning to voting in elections and referendums, at a time of economic malaise, we will undermine the democratic process.'
David Van Reybrouck, Why elections are bad for democracy, 29 juni 2016
'Le peuple anglais pense ĂȘtre libre, il se trompe fort : il ne lâest que durant lâĂ©lection des membres du parlement ; sitĂŽt quâils sont Ă©lus, il est esclave, il nâest rien.'
('The people of England deceive themselves when they fancy they are free; they are so, in fact, only during the election of members of parliament: for, as soon as a new one is elected, they are again in chains, and are nothing.')
('Het Engelse volk denkt dat het vrij is, maar het vergist zich deerlijk: het is alleen vrij tijdens de verkiezingen van de leden van het parlement. Zodra zij gekozen zijn, is het slaaf, is het niets.')
Rousseau, Du contrat social ou principes du droit politique, 1762
'De dag dat je macht hebt, is eigenlijk de dag dat je hem weggeeft.'
('The one day you're in power, is in effect the day you give it away')
David Van Reybrouck over verkiezingen, NRC Handelsblad, oktober 2021
'Voting to elect a representative is essentially voting to abdicate your right to participate in law- and policy-making.'
HĂ©lĂšne Landemore, Can âLottocracyâ Save Democracy From Itself?, september 2021
'Alles wat je voor mij doet zonder mij, doe je tegen mij.'
Centraal Afrikaans spreekwoord, Tegen Verkiezingen, bladzijde 101
'If voting changed anything, they'd make it illegal.'
Emma Goldman (1869-1940)
'The accountability is interpersonal. It is based on the desire to be recognized by one's peers to contribute to the common good. The care, the affection, the group dynamics, that's what keeps these people motivated, but that's also what keeps these people accountable, to each other and to the larger group. People who object to these bodies always bring this up as the slam-dunk objection: "Ah, these were non-elected therefore they are not accountable." Accountability is a complex notion. It can be achieved through many, many means.'
HĂ©lĂšne Landemore, Democracy in Crisis, Part 3: Alternatives to Elections, augustus 2020
'Accountability doesn't really even perfectly apply to a democracy constructed out of randomly selected mini-publics, because each person is just representing themselves, they have no constituents, they are just going with what they think is best. But with elections there is absolutely no accountability, because of rational ignorance: there is no reason or no possibility for the average voter to monitor all the things, dozens and dozens of different things that politicians are dealing with. Therefore they cannot hold them accountable. The accountability that elections do offer, is false accountability.'
Terry Bouricius, Democracy in Crisis, Part 3: Alternatives to Elections, augustus 2020
'If history teaches us nothing else, it teaches us this: what appears undisputed today will look very different tomorrow. The most stable and predictable societies have undergone major upheavals. (...) Pick the first year of any decade in the past fifty years, 1960, 1970, all the way through the millennium. The conventional wisdom that existed at the start of each decade was shattered over the following ten or fifteen years.'
Jim Rogers, Street Smarts, blz. 29-30, 2013
"Sortition really is a distinctly under-studied feature of even professional/specialist democracy studies of Classical or Hellenistic Greek history (roughly the last seven centuries BCE), and this despite an emblematic, foundational passage in Herodotus' famous 'Persian Debate' (3.80) wherein his 'Otanes' discussant prescribes as a defining feature of isonomie that all offices shall be selected by lot."
Paul Cartledge, Journal of Sortition No. 1, 2025
'The president of the French National Assembly said [to the citizens drawn by lot]: "You have to realize that sortition will never replace elections." And the whole 200 people fell silent. It was like a penny dropping. And everyone suddenly thought: "Oh gosh, you mean that *could* happen?" '
Hugh Pope, The Keys to Democracy: A Conversation with Hugh Pope and Yves Sintomer, maart 2023
'De politiek is niet bij machte om op eigen kracht te veranderen.'
Herman Tjeenk Willink, NRC Handelsblad, 9 september 2021
'Ik denk dat we onszelf structureel onderschatten. We hebben het idee dat de grote verandering bij de politiek ligt, terwijl die kracht bij ons ligt en zich niet beperkt tot het stemhokje of de aankopen die we doen.'
Eva Rovers, kunsthistorica en schrijver, Nooit Meer Slapen, april 2022
'Les sciences politiques dĂ©montrent qu'il n'y a pas de correlation entre ce que la majoritĂ© des gens veulent et ce qu'ils obtiennent, sauf qu'ils ont les mĂȘmes prĂ©fĂ©rences que le 10 pourcent le plus riche de la population. Qu'est-ce que ça veut dire? Ăa veut dire qu'on est gouvernĂ© par des gens qui ne sont intĂ©ressĂ©s que par ce que veulent les corporations (...). Ce systĂšme ne marche plus, ne marche pas, et on va dans le mur.'
HĂ©lĂšne Landemore, november 2022
'On ne peut pas savoir si un Ă©lu est vĂ©ritablement compĂ©tent au poste oĂč on lâa nommĂ©. La seule chose dont on est sĂ»r, câest sa compĂ©tence Ă se faire Ă©lire.'
Arthur Massicot, Le modĂšle du Tribunat, DĂ©mocurieux, augustus 2023
'Seuls ceux qui estiment avoir ces qualitĂ©s supĂ©rieures vont se porter candidats Ă lâĂ©lection. Les Ă©lecteurs font donc leur choix parmi des Ă©lites qui se considĂšrent elles-mĂȘmes comme supĂ©rieures au reste de la population. Ce nâest pas pour rien si « Ă©lite » et « Ă©lection » ont la mĂȘme Ă©tymologie.'
Arthur Massicot, LâĂ©lection est-elle aristocratique ?, DĂ©mocurieux, oktober 2023
'Les citoyens peuvent consentir Ă la procĂ©dure de tirage au sort de la mĂȘme maniĂšre quâils consentent Ă celle de lâĂ©lection, mĂȘme si cela se traduit par une incapacitĂ© Ă choisir directement leurs dirigeants.'
Arthur Massicot, Voter nâest pas consentir, DĂ©mocurieux, november 2022
'I do not want to live in a country that would turn overnight into a purely lottery-based democracy. But I don't wan't to live in a country either where no innovation is being tried.'
David Van Reybrouck, Revitalizing Democracy, (Part 2, 1:05:03), oktober 2020
'Ik hoop dat de democratische vernieuwing zal komen vóór de crisis, en niet erna. Want het zou wel eens heel erg mis kunnen lopen.'
David Van Reybrouck, 'Loten is democratischer dan stemmen', Trouw, 6 oktober 2013
'While many are fighting to âsaveâ or ârenewâ democracy in light of its potential demise and the increasingly likely threat of an authoritarian future in many parts of the world, I do not find it an inspiring clarion call to try and save the status quo. It is precisely because the risk of authoritarianism is so strong that we need a compelling and hopeful alternative.'
Claudia Chwalisz, Moving Beyond the Paradigm of âDemocracyâ, maart 2024
'Only a crisis â actual or perceived â produces real change. When that crisis occurs, the actions that are taken depend on the ideas that are lying around. That is our basic function: to develop alternatives, to keep them alive and available until the politically impossible becomes politically inevitable.'
Milton Friedman (1912-2006)
'(...) the democratic appearance of our governance systems is like a vanishing optical illusion. However, once it sinks in, it gives ground for hope that another, genuinely democratic, political system could be possible. (...) With my team at the OECD, we have documented around 600 examples since the 1980s, calling this trend the âdeliberative waveâ. We have a fair deal of modern evidence that sortition allows for real democracy to be possible.'
Claudia Chwalisz, Reclaiming democracy: The deliberative wave, juni 2022
'Whoever believes that our present society is successful and that its success depends on the rule of an expert elite over the masses who are largely ignorant and apathetic may be right or may be wrong, but he is hardly a democrat. He is an oligarch and what he is championing is oligarchy.'
Maurice Pope, The Keys to Democracy, jaren 80/90 van de twintigste eeuw
'At the moment, the fields of democratic innovation and deliberative democracy are really dominated by the idea of complementarity: Citizens assemblies are not there to replace elections, they complement our existing institutions. From all the work I have done in this field, I am not convinced by this approach. We have been misnaming the system that we have today as democracy. It is actually an elected oligarchy, and was designed as one.'
Claudia Chwalisz, DemocracyNext: Replacing Elections with Deliberation, september 2022
'While citizensâ assemblies today are largely advisory and complementary to our existing electoral institutions, it is not impossible to imagine a future where binding powers shift to these institutionsâ or where they perhaps even replace established governing bodies in the longer term.'
Claudia Chwalisz, A Movement Thatâs Quietly Reshaping Democracy For The Better, mei 2022
'The 1948 UN Declaration on Human Rights anchored the idea that democracy = elections. (...) We should update the Declaration of Human Rights to redefine democracy beyond elections. Letâs do it with a Global Citizensâ Assembly.'
Claudia Chwalisz, Twitter thread, 25 november 2022
'De taakverdeling tussen gekozen en gelote vertegenwoordigers lijkt me de grootste theoretische en praktische uitdaging voor de komende jaren.'
HĂ©lĂšne Landemore, 2020
'We need political theorists to think up worlds that donât exist yet, in order to expand our imaginations. All I claim to do is provide a new lens through which to see the world. In order for things to happen, in life and in politics, you first need to visualize them.'
HĂ©lĂšne Landemore, Can âLottocracyâ Save Democracy From Itself?, september 2021
'Is it really so radical to imagine a system where everybody has equal political power? Is it so radical to imagine a new set of democratic institutions, that are designed to recognize that everybody has agency and dignity, that are designed to channel our collective wisdom, and that are designed to help us find common ground on the issues that we are collectively facing in society?'
Claudia Chwalisz, toespraak op bijeenkomst RadicalxChange, oktober 2022
'Itâs not just about mobilizing the wisdom of the crowd. Itâs also about making the crowd feel as though itâs part of the process.'
Hugh Pope, The best books on Citizensâ Assemblies, oktober 2023
'I believe the challenge over the next four years will be twofold: protecting democratic institutions from authoritarian tendencies while simultaneously renewing our vision of democracy.'
Marjan Horst Ehsassi, Missions Publiques, november 2024
'We need to offer Americans a vision of institutional democratic reform that works for them. Talking about âsaving democracyâ without addressing citizensâ disillusionment and deep frustrations wonât be enough. Holding these two objectivesâprotection and renewalâsimultaneously will be critical for the future.'
Marjan Horst Ehsassi, Missions Publiques, 27 november 2025
'The endless train of academics were also called upon to contribute to the nationâs growing number of periodicals. In 1937, The New Republic, arguing that âat no time since the rise of political democracy have its tenets been so seriously challenged as they are today,â ran a series on âThe Future of Democracy,â featuring pieces by the likes of Bertrand Russell and John Dewey. âDo you think that political democracy is now on the wane?â the editors asked each writer. The seriesâ lead contributor, the Italian philosopher Benedetto Croce, took issue with the question, as philosophers, thankfully, do. âI call this kind of question âmeteorological,â â he grumbled. âIt is like asking, âDo you think that it is going to rain today? Had I better take my umbrella?â â The trouble, Croce explained, is that political problems are not external forces beyond our control; they are forces within our control. âWe need solely to make up our own minds and to act.â '
Jill Lepore, The Last Time Democracy Almost Died (The New Yorker), 27 januari 2020
'Given the massive disrepute into which institutional politics has fallen, preserving the status quo is neither realistic nor sufficient. A "real utopia" is needed, and randomly selected assemblies and other mini-publics must be part of this new landscape. The changes to come are huge, and even revolutionary.'
Yves Sintomer, The Government of Chance, februari 2023
'Ultimately, if implemented well, citizensâ assemblies are about hope. They are about people coming together across party lines and divisions, and experiencing a new kind of democracy that bridges and empowers.'
Ieva ÄesnulaitytÄ, Democratic Innovation: A Matter of National Security, december 2023
'Bedrijven zijn er om geld te verdienen, de politiek is er... voor het amusement, en als we echt iets voor mekaar willen krijgen, dan doen we dat gewoon lekker zelf.'
Pieter Derks, Oudejaarsconference 2024, 1:16:53
'If you are not at the table then youâre probably on the menu.'
herkomst onbekend, QuoteInvestigator.com