Ideas worth spreading

¿Qué pasaría si reemplazáramos a los políticos con personas seleccionadas al azar?

1,783,931 views | Brett Hennig • TEDxDanubia

Si crees que la democracia está dañada, he aquí una idea: reemplacemos a los políticos con personas seleccionadas al azar. El autor y activista Brett Hennig presenta un argumento convincente para la democracia de insaculación, o selección aleatoria de funcionarios del gobierno, un sistema con raíces en la antigua Atenas que aprovecha la sabiduría de la multitud y confía a la gente común decisiones equilibradas para el bien de todos. ¿Suena loco? Aprende sobre cómo podría funcionar y crear así un mundo libre de política partidista.

Si crees que la democracia está dañada, he aquí una idea: reemplacemos a los políticos con personas seleccionadas al azar. El autor y activista Brett Hennig presenta un argumento convincente para la democracia de insaculación, o selección aleatoria de funcionarios del gobierno, un sistema con raíces en la antigua Atenas que aprovecha la sabiduría de la multitud y confía a la gente común decisiones equilibradas para el bien de todos. ¿Suena loco? Aprende sobre cómo podría funcionar y crear así un mundo libre de política partidista.

This talk was presented to a local audience at TEDxDanubia, an independent event. TED's editors chose to feature it for you.

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About the speaker

Brett Hennig

Author, activist

See speaker profile

Brett Hennig co-founded and directs the Sortition Foundation, which campaigns to institute the use of stratified, random selection (also called sortition) in government.

Brett Hennig | Unbound Digital, 2017 | Book

The End of Politicians: Time for a Real Democracy

Provocative. Succinct. Inspiring. Combining insights from the history of democracy with a critical understanding of the information revolution, this book explains how we can fix democracy by eliminating politicians and replacing them with a representative network of everyday citizens.

David Van Reybrouck | Random House, 2016 | Book

Against Elections: The Case for Democracy

Van Reybrouck argues that to inoculate against "democratic fatigue syndrome," we need a healthy dose of sortition in our politics. This compelling and convincing book is a must-read for everyone who wants to transform democracy and make it responsive to the informed will of the people.

Christopher Achen and Larry Bartels | Princeton University Press, 2017 | Book

Democracy for Realists: Why Elections Do Not Produce Responsive Governments

Do you still believe in the "folk theory of democracy" — that our politicians listen and respond to the public, and that people vote after a careful consideration of policy options and outcomes? This book explodes this popular myth, and explains in an understandable and accessible way the real story about what elections mean and do.

bretthennig.com | Watch

"The 10 best short videos about sortition"

Want to watch more? Check out this list of the 10 best short videos about sortition, including "Lottery vs Election: What did democracy really mean in Athens?" and "When Citizens Assemble" on the recent Irish Citizens’ Assembly — plus many more to keep you engaged and thinking.

sortitionfoundation.org | Explore

"Where is sortition being used around the world today?"

This map, created and maintained by the Sortition Foundation, gives you a graphical view of all the sortition experiments, citizens' assemblies and policy juries happening all around the world.

Learn more

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This talk was presented to a local audience at TEDxDanubia, an independent event. TED's editors chose to feature it for you.

Read more about TEDx.

Sign up to our email list and keep informed about how the campaign for sortition is progressing worldwide.

Support the campaign to institute sortition in government. Become a member of the Sortition Foundation. Yes, we are a nonprofit, member-run organization.