A People's Parliament/A Citizen Legislature (Sortition and Public Policy) - Softcover

Callenbach, Ernest; Phillips, Michael; Sutherland, Keith

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1845401085 ISBN 13: 9781845401085

Publisher: Imprint Academic, 2008

Synopsis

Two essays, printed back to back in a single volume, offer complementary solutions to the democratic deficit in Britain and the USA. In his book The Party's Over: Blueprint for a Very English Revolution (2004), Keith Sutherland questioned the role of the party in the post-ideological age and concluded that it would be better for government ministers to be appointed by headhunters and held to account by a people's parliament selected by lot. This completely revised and updated edition includes a study of the recent literature on deliberative polling. The American founders proposed that their legislature should be 'an exact portrait, in miniature, of the people at large’. Whether or not this was true at the time, the exponential growth of the population, skyrocketing campaign funding, the power of pressure groups, the grease of the pork-barrel and the dominance of charisma and demagoguery means that the US Constitution could now better be described as a kleptocracy. This pioneering essay proposes selecting Congressional members by random lot (leaving the Senate and Presidency unchanged) to 'restore a direct, powerful voice in Washington to the whole of America’. Originally published in 1985, this new edition includes an introduction by political scientist Peter Stone.

About this title

About the Author

Michael Phillips was born in Saskatoon when Cokes were a nickel. He received all his formal education there and articled with a law firm before moving to Ottawa to join the Foreign Service. During his diplomatic career he served in Addis Ababa, Nairobi, Dublin, London, Stockholm and New York. He was Canadian Ambassador to Sweden, Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia during the period 1991 to 1995. He was Ambassador to Ireland from 1996 to 1998 and Consul General in New York from 1998 to 2002. In Ottawa he served twice as an Assistant Deputy Minister responsible for US relations. Early on Michael's artistic life was confined to piano lessons and executing wall drawings using indelible crayons. Later, however, he was much involved in cultural diplomacy, particularly as Minister for Public Affairs in London and as Consul General in New York. Michael retired from the Foreign Service in 2002, and now lives with his wife, Oonagh, in Ireland where she was born.

Review

"[A Citizen Legislature] puts forth substantive proposals that deserve our attention and public debate... [Sutherland's] proposal is unequivocal and straightforward... deserves public debate and consideration."

(Robert Cheeks Metapsychology)

"Sutherland's model of citizen’s juries ought to have much greater appeal to progressive Britain."

(Tim Luckhurst The Observer)

"Keith Sutherland accurately describes 'A People's Parliament' as a 'rant with footnotes'. Yet it would be a pity if it were to be entirely dismissed. For he has drawn attention to a serious problem that confronts representative democracies everywhere... These books raise important issues for the future of our democracy... Their appearance is a sign that the public philosophy which has for so long governed our political arrangements has become outworn."

(Vernon Bogdanor Times Literary Supplement)

"A political essay in the best tradition – shrewd, erudite, polemical, partisan, mischievous and highly topical."

(Contemporary Political Theory)

"Well-presented and argued works and I recommend them to anyone with an interest in democratic governance... the use of the lot in the ways discussed in these books merits more careful consideration than it has received to date." (Also reviewing The Athenian Option by Anthony Barnett and Peter Carty.)

(Andrew Blick Political Quarterly)

"An extremely valuable contribution."

(Graham Allen MP Tribune)

"This book is a fine example of what the times seem to demand, and it warrants a searching, sustained, and fair consideration. It offers within its (attractive) covers two detailed and well-argued blueprints for very consequential political change."

(Arthur B. Shostak The European Legacy)

About this edition

• Publisher: Imprint Academic
• Publication date: 2008
• ISBN 10: 1845401085
• ISBN 13: 9781845401085
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 350