Page 39 - Enabling National Initiatives to Take Democracy Beyond Elections

The principle in each case was to share the decision and do so in a way which involves giving considerable time and access to information for a small random sample of the population picked in a Civic Lottery. Done well, those people will be the ones explaining the reasoning behind their recommendation to the rest of the population. We live in a time when there is a popular trend to disrupt the political order by injecting outsiders and those who are seen (rightly or not!) as the ‘anti-politician’. This handbook offers a series of ways to do that sensibly and constructively and not just as a further exercise in public opinion. 37