An ingenious, heretical and timely argument to save democracy from elections
David Van Reybrouck (Author)
David Van Reybrouck is the author of Congo- The Epic History of a
People, which won twenty prizes, sold over half a million copies
and has been translated into a dozen languages. His book Against
Elections has been translated into more than twenty languages and
has led to the trial use of participatory democracy in numerous
countries, including the Netherlands, Belgium and Spain. His plays
Mission and Para have been performed across Europe, and his novel
Zinc won the European Book Prize 2017. Revolusi was first published
in the Netherlands, where it was a major bestseller. David Van
Reybrouck has been described as 'one of the leading intellectuals
in Europe' (Der Tagesspiegel) and 'one of the most brilliant
European intellectuals of the moment' (Le Soir). He is Belgian,
writes in Dutch and is based in Brussels.
Excellent . . . Why does our system keep electing people whose
incomes, assets, interests and psychology are hugely at variance
with ours? Because that is what it is designed to do
*Guardian*
Very persuasive … There are few new big ideas in politics and few
answers to the serious challenge faced by democratic politics ...
invigorating and advance[s] a promising practical idea … fresh,
challenging and uncomplicated
*The Times*
Riveting
*Irish Examiner*
Van Reybrouck wants to revive a system in which government is not
just for the people, but really by the people … a persuasive
description of a system designed to be soundly based in popular
assent
*Financial Times*
Mounts a convincing case that we have wrongly conflated democracy
with elections
*Observer*
This fine iconoclastic work could not be more timely ...
demonstrate[s] that far from safeguarding our right to
self-determination, elections are actually impeding our
democracy
Choosing our rulers by popular vote has failed to deliver true
democratic government: that seems to be the verdict of history
unfolding before our eyes. Cogently and persuasively, David Van
Reybrouck pleads for a return to selection by lot, and outlines a
range of well thought out plans for how sortitive democracy might
be implemented. With the popular media and political parties
fiercely opposed to it, sortitive democracy will not find it easy
to win acceptance. Nonetheless, it may well be an idea whose time
has come
A sovereign remedy for the raging crypto-oligarchy of our turbulent
times
Very persuasive … There are few new big ideas in politics and few
answers to the serious challenge faced by democratic politics ...
invigorating and advance[s] a promising practical idea … fresh,
challenging and uncomplicated
*The Times*
This fine iconoclastic work could not be more timely ...
demonstrate[s] that far from safeguarding our right to
self-determination, elections are actually impeding our
democracy
*Karen Armstrong*
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