The central feature of every true lottery is that all rational evaluation is deliberately excluded. Once this principle is grasped, the author argues, we can begin to understand exactly what benefits sortition can bring to the political community. The book includes a study of the use of sortition in ancient Athens and in late medieval and renaissance Italy. It also includes commentary on the contributions to sortition made by Machiavelli, Guicciardini, Harrington and Paine; an account of the history of the randomly-selected jury; and new research into lesser-known examples from England, America and revolutionary France.
- ISBN10 1845401794
- ISBN13 9781845401795
- Publish Date 1 July 2009 (first published 18 August 2008)
- Publish Status Active
- Publish Country GB
- Imprint Imprint Academic
- Format Paperback (US Trade)
- Pages 300
- Language English