ReThinking: Taking politicians out of politics with Hélène Landemore

What It Covers

Political scientist Hélène Landemore from Yale presents her proposal to replace elected politicians with randomly selected citizen assemblies for legislative functions. She argues electoral politics suffers from adverse selection of narcissistic personalities, while lottery-based selection produces more humble, representative governance as demonstrated in Iceland, Ireland, and France's climate convention experiments.

Key Questions Answered

• •Random selection advantages: Lottery systems avoid adverse selection problems inherent in elections, which disproportionately attract narcissists, Machiavellians, and psychopaths who excel at manipulation and superficial charm. Research shows randomly assigned leaders demonstrate less hubris and more servant leadership behaviors compared to elected officials who believe they are chosen ones deserving power.
• •Citizen assembly mechanics: Effective deliberation requires diverse representative samples spending weeks learning from experts, discussing with peers, and drafting legislation with professional support. France's Citizens Convention for Climate in 2019-2020 demonstrated ordinary people can propose concrete legislative measures when given time, expert testimony, facilitation, and legal translation assistance to convert ideas into formal bills.
• •Collective intelligence conditions: Assemblies work when experts serve citizens rather than dominate them, requiring both parties to adjust expectations. Experts must simplify presentations and listen actively while citizens learn to trust their judgment. Natural leaders who try asserting superiority get ostracized, maintaining group equality and enabling collective problem-solving that surpasses individual contributions.
• •Demographic representation impact: Including marginalized groups like homeless people fundamentally changes policy conversations beyond their direct contributions. Their presence reminds participants of real consequences from housing policies and humanizes populations that elected assemblies ignore since homeowners dominate traditional politics. Retired members provide emotional support and conflict mediation that heals political divisions.
• •Implementation pathway: Bottom-up multiplication of citizen assemblies at local levels builds demonstrated success in proposing workable solutions and reconciling public trust. Politicians eventually recognize trading some power for increased legitimacy benefits them. Ireland's 2012 hybrid assembly with one-third politicians and two-thirds random citizens on same-sex marriage successfully rebuilt politician-public trust through this gradual approach.