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Lot as a Democratic Device of Selection

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 August 2009

Abstract

Lot is a possible alternative to election as a democratic means of selection. The prime historical instance of its political use is classical Athens. Lot was an important expression of the Athenian democrats' commitment to equality, more egalitarian than election which assumed equality of opportunity rather than desert. Lot also had certain important political effects, such as reducing factionalism and maintaining the authority of the assembly. It helped to make the Council and the courts representative cross sections of the assembly. Election, however, was preferable when important decisions were to be entrusted to only a few people. In modern democratic societies, lot is not uncommon as a distributive device but is rarely used for selecting political officials. Election remains more democratically efficient for large polities, but lot could be seriously considered in communities which approach the small size and intimacy of the Greek city-states.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © University of Notre Dame 1984

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References

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56 Three stages may be identified in this development: (1) election by all citizens of candidates drawn from the wealthiest class; (2) election by all citizens of a panel drawn from the wealthy from which final selection was made by lot; (3) selection by lot from among all citizens (Staveley, , Greek and Roman Voting, pp. 3340Google Scholar). This development might appear to be progression towards greater democracy (Hignett, , Athenian Constitution, pp. 173–92;Google ScholarForrest, W. G., The Emergence of Greek Democracy (London, 1966), pp. 204212Google Scholar). However, the change from the first to the second stage, from direct election to the combined method of lot from a large preselected group, diminished rather than increased the ordinary citizen's control over the archonship. While the archons were elected, the people could guarantee that these magistrates, who still made important legal decisions and who had a significant influence on public policy in general, would be generally sympathetic to a majority of citizens, even if they were all drawn from the wealthy classes. Introduction of the lot, while the archonship remained restricted to the wealthy, would have reduced the likelihood of popular leaders; it would be more likely to have produced a cross section of the wealthy, supporting the interests of the wealthy rather than the poor. This first change, therefore, from election to lot, sometimes seen as part of the inexorable development of the power of the Athenian demos, could have been reactionary in intent, aimed at diminishing the populism associated with the office of archon. If so, the intention was ultimately unsuccessful because the result of introducing lot for the archonship was to reduce the status and importance of the office itself and to transfer popularity and political influence to the elected generals. Indeed, it could be argued that this was the real purpose of the change, to diminish the importance of the archons by altering the method of their selection, from election which confers status and authority, to lot which does not. Whatever the real motives behind this particular reform (and there is no firm historical evidence beyond the bald description of the change in the Constitution of Athens 22.5), we can see that lot is not a democratic method unless all citizens are eligible to be selected.

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