Hybrid Democracy: Combining Elections, Sortition and Direct Democracy

The representative institutions that we inherited from the past may not be suited anymore to the evolution of democratic societies. They rely on elitist premises that are more and more challenged by citizens and theorists alike. In reaction to what they perceive as failures of representation, many theorists and activists point to the promises of democratic innovations increasing citizens’ involvement beyond elections, such as citizens’ assemblies. In most cases, however, these democratic instruments are not meant to replace electoral institutions. Recent theories of representation provide good reasons to believe that we still need adequate electoral representation. Hence, the future of representative democracies might be forms of hybrid democracies, combining different types of representation, and complementing representation with mechanisms of direct participation. It is the ambition of this postdoctoral research project to build the philosophical foundations of that new democratic model. To that end, I will draw on my previous work to articulate a model of hybrid democracy with three key features: improved representation through elections; partial representation by lot; and a mechanism of citizen initiative and referendum respecting the primacy of representation. This view of democracy takes its roots in non-elitist understandings of democracy that have historically developed in the shadow of representative governments.