What if politicians weren't elected but rather drawn by lot?

Modern Western liberal democracies are under criticism: low voter turnout, overrepresentation of political extremists, corruption and polarisation – alongside the absence of a civilised political debate in the context of ‘fake news’ – are some of the symptoms. But what if elections are part of the problem? The core challenge is to guarantee both legitimacy and efficiency in a globalised context, while addressing both the dangers and also profiting from the advantages of the information age. Can the EU lead as an example? And may sortition offer a remedy? In this article, Konstantinos Tsakiliotis offers an insight into the political concept of sortition and discusses possible online public consultations via Random Sample Voting.