Videos by Keith Sutherland
Liberal democracies face major structural and normative challenges in the near future that requir... more Liberal democracies face major structural and normative challenges in the near future that require us to look beyond the traditional set of solutions available. <em>Democracy in Crisis</em> points back to the world's first democratic government, Ancient Athens, to see what made that political arrangement durable and resistant to both internal and external threats. The argument focuses on several distinctive Athenian institutions and practices, and considers how we might reimagine them in the modern world. The book addresses questions of civic ideology and institutions, with extended treatment of two distinctive Athenian institutions, ostracism and sortition.
This video is Helene Landemore's introduction -- the full event is archived at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3-PS2wzBIj0 5 views
Papers by Keith Sutherland
Journal of Sortition, 2025
This paper argues that the ‘deliberative turn’ in democracy studies could undermine the very inst... more This paper argues that the ‘deliberative turn’ in democracy studies could undermine the very institution that it seeks to enhance. The model of democratic representation proposed in this paper is (paradoxically) derived from Jean-Jacques Rousseau. Rousseau is best known for his contempt for political representation, arguing instead that popular sovereignty cannot be delegated to representatives without compromising the moral equality of all citizens required by the social contract. This obliged him to propose a system of direct popular sovereignty that was ideally suited for small political communities like Geneva or Corsica and (arguably) of little relevance to large-scale modern states.
This paper proposes a radical alternative for the composition of the sovereign legislature — sortition. Although the mechanism originated in classical Athens, it has potential for application in large modern states. Moreover, unlike electoral representation, a large ‘minipopulus’ would not contravene Rousseau’s strictures on popular sovereignty, so long as the assembly followed his call for inner (silent) deliberation, followed by voting. Active political functions, like policy proposal and advocacy, would be delegated to the physical branch of government, constituted by different principles. This paper argues that a legislature constituted by sortition would enable decision-making without the alienation of popular sovereignty, as the ‘collective being’ of the sovereign would be represented (in microcosm) ‘by himself’ (SC, II:1). The paper is at odds with many deliberative democrats as it agrees with Hobbes and Rousseau that (active) deliberation and sovereignty are antipathetic, and that the former is the prerogative of the delegated government. The paper also considers the argument for a referendum-based ‘sleeping sovereign’ but concludes with Dahl (1989) that an ‘attentive’ minipopulus would be a better alternative.
by Keith Sutherland, Josine Blok, Irad Malkin, Daniela Cammack, Paul Cartledge, Ruth Chang, Barbara Goodwin, Nadia Urbinati, Helene Landemore, Laurence Morel, David Owen, Joanna Podgórska-Rykała, Ben Saunders, Yves Sintomer, Graham Smith, Paolo Spada, and Peter Stone Journal of Sortition, 2025
Since ancient times sortition (random selection by lot) has been used both to distribute politica... more Since ancient times sortition (random selection by lot) has been used both to distribute political office and as a general prophylactic against factionalism and corruption in societies as diverse as classical-era Athens and the Most Serene Republic of Venice. Lotteries have also been employed for the allocation of scarce goods such as social housing and school places to eliminate bias and ensure just distribution, along with drawing lots in circumstances where unpopular tasks or tragic choices are involved (as some situations are beyond rational human decision-making). More recently, developments in public opinion polling using random sampling have led to the proliferation of citizens’ assemblies selected by lot. Some activists have even proposed such bodies as an alternative to elected representatives. The Journal of Sortition benefits from an editorial board with a wide range of expertise and perspectives in this area. In this introduction to the first issue, we have invited our editors (including James Fishkin, Graham Smith, Yves Sintomer, Helene Landemore, Josiah Ober, Paul Cartledge and others) to explain why they are interested in sortition, and to outline the benefits (and pitfalls) of the recent explosion of interest in the topic.
Journal of Sortition, 2025
Introduction to the articles in the launch issue of the Journal of Sortition
Journal of Sortition, 2025
To be launched at the Association for Political Thought Conference, York University, January 2025... more To be launched at the Association for Political Thought Conference, York University, January 2025. For a free inspection copy (printed and bound) register at imprint.co.uk/sortition-hub
Table of Contents
Imprint Academic eBooks, 1999
Journal of Consciousness Studies, 1998
Journal of Consciousness Studies, 2022
This new book by Robert M. Wallace argues that the ‘divine’ is nothing more than the quotidian ex... more This new book by Robert M. Wallace argues that the ‘divine’ is nothing more than the quotidian experience of freedom, truth, love and beauty extrapolated to the nth degree. Drawing, primarily, on his extensive study of Hegel, he argues that reason and love are two sides of the same coin. This review argues that this fits less easily with Plato’s dialogues, as it’s a challenge to reconcile the theia mania (divine madness) of the Phaedrus with the rational skepticism of the other dialogues. (Quentin Skinner’s ‘Cambridge School’ critique in the history of political thought cautions against the temptation of the modern exegete to impose consistency between texts composed at different times and for different rhetorical purposes.) An additional dualism that Wallace strives to overcome is between the ‘Pelagianism’ of the rational path to ascent and the ‘being-beside-oneself’ of the emotional path, which appears to have more in common with the Christian notion of ‘grace’.
Journal of Consciousness Studies, 2022
This new book by Robert M. Wallace argues that the ‘divine’ is nothing more than the quotidian ex... more This new book by Robert M. Wallace argues that the ‘divine’ is nothing more than the quotidian experience of freedom, truth, love and beauty extrapolated to the nth degree. Drawing, primarily, on his extensive study of Hegel, he argues that reason and love are two sides of the same coin. This review argues that this fits less easily with Plato’s dialogues, as it’s a challenge to reconcile the theia mania (divine madness) of the Phaedrus with the rational skepticism of the other dialogues. (Quentin Skinner’s ‘Cambridge School’ critique in the history of political thought cautions against the temptation of the modern exegete to impose consistency between texts composed at different times and for different rhetorical purposes.) An additional dualism that Wallace strives to overcome is between the ‘Pelagianism’ of the rational path to ascent and the ‘being-beside-oneself’ of the emotional path, which appears to have more in common with the Christian notion of ‘grace’.
Democratic norms presuppose that this fundamental problem of governance should be resolved by ‘mu... more Democratic norms presuppose that this fundamental problem of governance should be resolved by ‘mutual coercion mutually arrived at’ and this is normally associated with the consent associated with electoral democracy and majority rule. However, and crucially from the perspective of this paper, Mansbridge claims that ‘legitimacy can be based on representation by lot’. 4 Bernard Manin, however, disagrees with Mansbridge’s claim and argues that the ‘triumph of election’ over sortition at the time of the birth of modern representative government was a consequence of the natural right theory of consent: ‘However lot is interpreted, whatever its other properties, it cannot possibly be perceived as an expression of consent.’ The need to obtain the consent of the governed is Manin’s explanation as to what would otherwise be something of a historical conundrum:
Journal of Consciousness Studies, 2000
... Email: [email protected] ... Let us try to teach generosity and altruism, because we are born s... more ... Email: [email protected] ... Let us try to teach generosity and altruism, because we are born selfish (Dawkins, 1976, p. 3). This denial that evolution can account for ethics belongs to a tradition of thought that goes back to TH Huxley&amp;amp;#x27;s lecture Evolution and Ethics (1894). ...
Journal of Consciousness Studies, 2022
Abstract: The paper opens with a brief overview of ‘limerence’ or obsessive love disorder (OLD) f... more Abstract: The paper opens with a brief overview of ‘limerence’ or obsessive love disorder (OLD) from the perspectives of psychology, neurology, anthropology, and sociology, but concludes that certain unique characteristics of the condition suggest that it is better understood as a form of ‘divine madness’, resulting from the failure of the Platonic ascent of love to follow its natural trajectory. The paper focuses on Plotinus’s model of the erotic ascent from the one to the ONE, drawing parallels with the Indian bhakti tradition and other models derived from transpersonal psychology. The final section explores the distinction between pagan and Christian Platonism and the entailments of the latter for secular perspectives on love.
Keywords: limerence; obsessive love disorder; Platonism; Plotinus; bhakti yoga; transpersonal psychology.
Journal of Consciousness Studies, 2022
Abstract: The paper opens with a brief overview of ‘limerence’ or obsessive love disorder (OLD) f... more Abstract: The paper opens with a brief overview of ‘limerence’ or obsessive love disorder (OLD) from the perspectives of psychology, neurology, anthropology, and sociology, but concludes that certain unique characteristics of the condition suggest that it is better understood as a
form of ‘divine madness’, resulting from the failure of the Platonic ascent of love to follow its natural trajectory. The paper focuses on Plotinus’s model of the erotic ascent from the one to the ONE, drawing parallels with the Indian bhakti tradition and other models derived from transpersonal psychology. The final section explores the distinction between pagan and Christian Platonism and the entailments of the latter for secular perspectives on love.
Keywords: limerence; obsessive love disorder; Platonism; Plotinus;
bhakti yoga; transpersonal psychology.
SSRN Electronic Journal, 2011
In recent years a number of writers have argued that sortition (the random selection of citizens ... more In recent years a number of writers have argued that sortition (the random selection of citizens for public office by lot) should augment the institutions of electoral democracy, but there is little agreement on the precise role that it should play. At one end of the spectrum James Fishkin (Fishkin, 2009) has argued that sortive bodies should be limited to an advisory or educative role; whereas radical democrats have argued that sortive bodies can do anything an elected chamber currently does (Callenbach & Phillips, 2008; O'Leary, 2006). In this paper I argue that sortition could only serve an aggregative judgment role and could therefore only ever be one element in a mixed constitution. Any attempt to extend its use beyond this aggregate judgment function undermines any claim that sortition may have to democratic legitimacy. My case is based on fundamental conceptual distinctions derived from (Griffiths & Wollheim, 1960; Pitkin, 1967). The paper concludes with a brief discussion of two additional supposed functions of sortition: the ‘sanitization’ of the political process from corruption and partisanship, and the ‘epistemic’ benefits of a diverse decision-making base.
Studies in Social Justice, Dec 24, 2011
In Federalist 10 James Madison drew a functional distinction between "parties" (advocates for fac... more In Federalist 10 James Madison drew a functional distinction between "parties" (advocates for factional interests) and "judgment" (decision-making for the public good) and warned of the corrupting effect of combining both functions in a "single body of men." This paper argues that one way of overcoming "Madisonian corruption" would be by restricting political parties to an advocacy role, reserving the judgment function to an allotted (randomly-selected) microcosm of the whole citizenry, who would determine the outcome of parliamentary debates by secret ballot-a division of labour suggested by James Fishkin's experiments in deliberative polling. The paper then defends this radical constitutional proposal against Bernard Manin's (1997) claim that an allotted microcosm could not possibly fulfil the "consent" requirement of Natural Right theory. Not only does the proposal challenge Manin's thesis, but a 28 th Amendment implementing it would finally reconcile the competing visions that have bedevilled representative democracy since the Constitutional Convention of 1787.
This paper takes issue with Bernard Manin’s claim that the ‘triumph of election’ and demise of so... more This paper takes issue with Bernard Manin’s claim that the ‘triumph of election’ and demise of sortition (the random selection of persons for public office) was on account of the ‘natural rights’ theory of consent that was dominant at the time of the birth of modern representative government. The paper considers a number of alternative explanations, including institutional path-dependency, geography, the influence of Roman republicanism, class interests, and religion but concludes that the primary reason for the triumph of election was meritocracy. The paper goes on to develop James Fishkin’s argument that sortition can establish a form of ‘consent by proxy’ which is in many respects an improvement on the approximate, tacit and manipulated forms of consent instituted by competitive elections.
Following (Waldron, 2013), this paper draws a distinction between ‘social’ and ‘political’ theori... more Following (Waldron, 2013), this paper draws a distinction between ‘social’ and ‘political’ theories of sortition, focusing principally on the latter. The two leading theories – the ‘blind break’ and the ‘invisible hand’ of descriptive representation – rely on different principles, focus on different levels of analysis (individual and collective) and have little in common. The attempt by epistemic democrats to bridge the gap via small-group face-to-face deliberation fails on account of the lack of concern for statistical representativity and the lack of distinction between the different roles of advocacy and judgment (proposing and disposing) in political decision-making, sortition only being relevant to the latter function.
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Videos by Keith Sutherland
This video is Helene Landemore's introduction -- the full event is archived at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3-PS2wzBIj0
Papers by Keith Sutherland
This paper proposes a radical alternative for the composition of the sovereign legislature — sortition. Although the mechanism originated in classical Athens, it has potential for application in large modern states. Moreover, unlike electoral representation, a large ‘minipopulus’ would not contravene Rousseau’s strictures on popular sovereignty, so long as the assembly followed his call for inner (silent) deliberation, followed by voting. Active political functions, like policy proposal and advocacy, would be delegated to the physical branch of government, constituted by different principles. This paper argues that a legislature constituted by sortition would enable decision-making without the alienation of popular sovereignty, as the ‘collective being’ of the sovereign would be represented (in microcosm) ‘by himself’ (SC, II:1). The paper is at odds with many deliberative democrats as it agrees with Hobbes and Rousseau that (active) deliberation and sovereignty are antipathetic, and that the former is the prerogative of the delegated government. The paper also considers the argument for a referendum-based ‘sleeping sovereign’ but concludes with Dahl (1989) that an ‘attentive’ minipopulus would be a better alternative.
Table of Contents
Keywords: limerence; obsessive love disorder; Platonism; Plotinus; bhakti yoga; transpersonal psychology.
form of ‘divine madness’, resulting from the failure of the Platonic ascent of love to follow its natural trajectory. The paper focuses on Plotinus’s model of the erotic ascent from the one to the ONE, drawing parallels with the Indian bhakti tradition and other models derived from transpersonal psychology. The final section explores the distinction between pagan and Christian Platonism and the entailments of the latter for secular perspectives on love.
Keywords: limerence; obsessive love disorder; Platonism; Plotinus;
bhakti yoga; transpersonal psychology.
This video is Helene Landemore's introduction -- the full event is archived at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3-PS2wzBIj0
This paper proposes a radical alternative for the composition of the sovereign legislature — sortition. Although the mechanism originated in classical Athens, it has potential for application in large modern states. Moreover, unlike electoral representation, a large ‘minipopulus’ would not contravene Rousseau’s strictures on popular sovereignty, so long as the assembly followed his call for inner (silent) deliberation, followed by voting. Active political functions, like policy proposal and advocacy, would be delegated to the physical branch of government, constituted by different principles. This paper argues that a legislature constituted by sortition would enable decision-making without the alienation of popular sovereignty, as the ‘collective being’ of the sovereign would be represented (in microcosm) ‘by himself’ (SC, II:1). The paper is at odds with many deliberative democrats as it agrees with Hobbes and Rousseau that (active) deliberation and sovereignty are antipathetic, and that the former is the prerogative of the delegated government. The paper also considers the argument for a referendum-based ‘sleeping sovereign’ but concludes with Dahl (1989) that an ‘attentive’ minipopulus would be a better alternative.
Table of Contents
Keywords: limerence; obsessive love disorder; Platonism; Plotinus; bhakti yoga; transpersonal psychology.
form of ‘divine madness’, resulting from the failure of the Platonic ascent of love to follow its natural trajectory. The paper focuses on Plotinus’s model of the erotic ascent from the one to the ONE, drawing parallels with the Indian bhakti tradition and other models derived from transpersonal psychology. The final section explores the distinction between pagan and Christian Platonism and the entailments of the latter for secular perspectives on love.
Keywords: limerence; obsessive love disorder; Platonism; Plotinus;
bhakti yoga; transpersonal psychology.
Liberal democracies face major structural and normative challenges in the near future that require us to look beyond the traditional set of solutions available. Democracy in Crisis points back to the world's first democratic government, Ancient Athens, to see what made that political arrangement durable and resistant to both internal and external threats. The argument focuses on several distinctive Athenian institutions and practices, and considers how we might reimagine them in the modern world. The book addresses questions of civic ideology and institutions, with extended treatment of two distinctive Athenian institutions, ostracism and sortition.
When Michael Oakeshott wrote his famous essay Rationalism in Politics, he was out of line with the emerging paradigm of cognitive science, not to mention the general ‘progressive’ zeitgeist of the post-war corporatist-collectivist consensus. However, rather than being a relic of an age of fusty idealist philosophy, Oakeshott was a prophet before his time.
Students from a wide variety of disciplines who first turn to his work at the start of the twenty-first century are likely to be surprised by its freshness and relevance.
The thesis then seeks to clarify the concept(s) of representation – essential to the implementation of the democratic diarchy in modern large-scale societies – and to study how the diarchy has been reincarnated in modern representative democracies, along with an examination of the pathologies thereof. Consideration is given as to what the deliberative style of assemblies selected by lot should be, alongside evaluation of the epistemic potential of cognitive diversity and the ‘wisdom of crowds’. Given the need for both isonomia and isegoria to assume a representative form in large modern states, Michael Saward’s Representative Claim is adopted as a theoretical model to extend the reach of political representation beyond elections.
The thesis concludes with tentative proposals as to how the fourth-century reforms (delegation of the final lawmaking decision to randomly-selected nomothetic courts) might be used as a template for modern institutions to resolve some of the problems of mass democracy.