Alex Guerrero (Rutgers) visits the Departments of Philosophy and Politics & Government to give a talk, "Lottocracy: Democracy Without Elections".

Abstract: Democracy is in trouble. What is going wrong? What should we do? In this talk, I argue that, perhaps surprisingly, the problem is with the heart of modern democracy: the election. Elections are failing as accountability mechanisms. Elections provide powerful short-term incentives, leading elected politicians to downplay long-term catastrophic concerns. Elections create division where none need exist. The most powerful among us take advantage of this to control who is elected, what policies are enacted, and which problems are ignored. What should we do? I suggest that we should move past the fatalist, Churchillian shrug ("the worst system, except for all the others that have been tried") and try a new form of democracy: lottocracy. Lottocratic systems include many new elements, but the most striking is the shift from using elected representatives to using representatives selected through lottery. The talk presents and defends lottocracy as an alternative political system worth taking seriously.

Hear more on Guerrero’s defense from, "Lottocracy: Democracy Without Elections" on February 27 in Wyatt Hall, Room 109.