Demarchy facts for kids

Demarchy is a way of organizing a government where important decisions are made by groups of ordinary people. These people are chosen completely by chance, like drawing names from a hat! Each group focuses on a specific area, such as managing parks, planning transportation, or deciding how land is used in a city.

This idea isn't new. Long ago, in Ancient Athens, they used a similar method to pick some of their officials. The main idea behind demarchy is to make sure that everyone has a fair chance to be involved in making decisions, and that power isn't held by just a few people.

How Demarchy Works

In a demarchy, the people who make up these decision-making groups change regularly, often every year. Because members are chosen randomly, no one can plan ahead to be in power. This means that powerful groups or the media can't easily influence who gets to make decisions.

Fairness and Influence

One big advantage of demarchy is that it's hard for special interest groups to control things. These "pressure groups" are organizations that try to influence government decisions to benefit themselves. In a demarchy, since you don't know who will be chosen next, it's very difficult for these groups to bribe or persuade specific people.

No Political Machines

You might have heard about "political machines" in traditional politics. These are groups that work to get certain candidates elected. In demarchy, "political machines" don't really matter. There's no need for special training or campaigns for candidates because anyone could be chosen. This makes the system very different from typical elections where politicians spend a lot of time and money trying to get votes.

Demarchy in History

The idea of choosing officials by lot, or randomly, is very old. It was a key part of the ancient Athenian democracy. They believed that choosing citizens by chance was a fairer way to pick leaders than elections, which could be influenced by wealth or popularity.

The Kleroterion

In Athens, they even had a special machine called a kleroterion. This device helped them pick citizens randomly for different government roles, including juries and councils. It was a stone slab with slots for citizens' identification tokens. They would drop black and white dice into a tube, and depending on which color came out, certain rows of tokens would be selected or rejected. This ensured a truly random selection process.

Why Random Selection?

Choosing people randomly for government roles might seem strange at first. However, supporters of demarchy believe it has several benefits:

• Fairness: Everyone has an equal chance to serve.
• Reduced Corruption: It's harder for powerful groups to influence decisions when they don't know who will be making them.
• Diverse Perspectives: Random selection can bring together a wider range of people with different backgrounds and ideas, leading to more balanced decisions.
• Citizen Engagement: It encourages more citizens to understand and participate in how their community is run.

Images for kids

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  A kleroterion in the Ancient Agora Museum (Athens)

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  USCAR Court select juries by sortition

See also

In Spanish: Insaculación para niños