Hélène Landemore is a political scientist at Yale who studies democracy. She has a radical idea for fixing politics: what if we replaced career politicians with citizen assemblies, filled with people chosen by lottery? In this episode, Hélène and Adam discuss the history of this idea, tracing back to Ancient Greece and the birth of democracy, as well as recent examples of countries and states that have tried this bold method of governance. Hélène responds to some common questions and concerns about citizen assemblies, and Adam breaks down some evidence supporting the notion that ordinary citizens may be more fit to serve and lead than professional politicians.
Host & Guest
Adam Grant (Instagram: @adamgrant | LinkedIn: @adammgrant | Website: https://adamgrant.net/)
Hélène Landemore (Website: https://www.helenelandemore.com/)
Links
Politics Without Politicians: The Case for Citizen Rule - https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0593713982
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Iceland’s citizen-led constitution as a “second shock” in democratic innovation
HLHélène Landemore
I would say I think the second shock was the Icelandic constitutional process. So in 2012 when I went to a conference in Reykjavik and was exposed to this really, to me, a radical way of rethinking the involvement of ordinary citizens in a f- in, in a fundamental thing, which was the writing of the constitution of a country. Well, I was like, "Wow, so we can actually rewrite the constitution of a country involving n- you know, non-professional politicians." And not only that, but they're actually putting their drafts online for
0:30 – 0:48
Publishing draft constitutions online for broad public input
HLHélène Landemore
the rest of the public to contribute and, and, and chip in their ideas and, and thoughts. And they did that on the basis of, like, the first sort of a brainstorming of, of a, of a group of 950 randomly selected citizens. Amazing. And at the end, they put the, the final, uh, document to a referendum
Episode duration: 0:49
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