Instrumental Justifications of Popular Rule
Contributors: Thompson, Dennis F.; Tuck, Richard; Beerbohm, Eric
Published: 2012
Language: eng
Description: Ordinary citizens are rarely charged with making consequential decisions in representative democracies. Almost all consequential decisions are delegated to elected representatives or political appointees. On what basis should we judge whether decisions should be placed in the hands of ordinary citizens or delegated to political elites? I argue that decision-making authority should be allocated in whatever way an assembly of randomly selected citizens would choose, given reasonable beliefs about the consequences of their possible choices.
Notes: Keywords: Citizens' Assemblies, Democratic Theory, Epistemic democracy, Populism, Social choice theory.

Thesis Ph.D. Harvard University 2012