Sortition as a tool for democratic innovation: The potential of deliberative mini-publics

Abstract

The sortition, historically used in classical Greece, seems to be facing a process of resurgence, in an attempt to alleviate citizen disaffection and to improve the functioning of representative systems. The main objective of this article is, precisely, to reflect on the use of the sortition and the potential of deliberative mini-publics, and to analyze whether or not they have the capacity to increase the degree of citizens’ in their representatives and institutions. It is concluded that there are certain conditions, which go through the implementation of random deliberative mini-publics, under which sortition could be combined with elections to try to alleviate citizen disaffection and to improve the functioning of representative systems.