Democracy Without Elections – Audio Version

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Yale political theorist Hélène Landemore made waves on Twitter this week when she published a constitution for an imaginary human settlement on Mars.

At the heart of the document is a powerful idea; one that Landemore says could revitalise our ailing democracies.

So this week, reflections inspired by that: on the states we’re in now, and how Landemore’s system might just be the answer.

If you prefer to read this week’s instalment, go here for the text version of Democracy Without Elections.

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Links in this week’s instalment

1. Yale political theorist Hélène Landemore asked her students to read Red Mars this semester. They complied, and last week Landemore shared the results.

2.

Hélène Landemore @landemore

Students in my #opendemocracy seminar at @Yale wrote an amazing 30-page constitution for #Mars based on a semester of readings and discussions. I would love for them to hear constitutional scholars in particular chime on it. Anyone interested? Or Mars-imperator @elonmusk maybe?

3. John Rawls’s A Theory of Justicefamously attempted to ground liberalism in an ‘original position’.

4. Landemore’s constitution sees Mars governed by mini-publics; assemblies of 250 adult individuals chosen every two years via stratified random sampling.

5. Landemore calls this system open democracy, and it’s the subject of a book she’s just published under that name.

6. I’ve written before on how our political system stymies effective planning for the long-term future.

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A fine balance

Thanks for listening this week.

A sovereign state must always balance a vast range of competing forces. And across the last few years in some liberal democracies, that balance has looked precarious.

In the coming months and years, New World Same Humans will continue to investigate the future for liberal democracy and the nation state.

And there’s one thing you can do to help with that mission: share!

If this week’s instalment resonated with you, why not forward the email to someone who’d also enjoy it? Or share it across one of your social networks, with a note on why you found it valuable. Remember: the larger and more diverse the NWSH community becomes, the better for all of us.

I’ll be back on Wednesday with New Week Same Humans. Until then, be well,

David.

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David Mattin is the founder of the Strategy and Futures Research Unit. He sits on the World Economic Forum’s Global Future Council on Consumption.