April 22, 2011

Weird Republicanism

In 1229, there was a fierce rivalry between two powerful Venetian families, both of whom were vying for the office of the Doge, the chief officer in the Venetian state. The 40-man committee that was supposed to elect the Doge was split down the middle. This factionalism caused problems, and a big fear was that one family would monopolize the Dogeship. As Italian cities like Florence, Pisa, etc., turned to monarchy, the Venetians were worried that they might be next. To ensure that didn’t happen, they made this system:

The Great Council, with several hundred members, would cast lots that would choose 30 men from among them.
Those 30 would be reduced by casting lots to 9.
Those 9, as a unanimous group, would name 40 men.
Those 40 would be reduced by lot to 12 men.
Those 12 would name another 25 men.
Those 25 would be reduced to 9 men.
Those 9 would name 45 men.
Those 45 would be reduced by lot to 11.
Those 11 would choose 41 men.
Then, those 41 would elect the next head of state.

This was not some strange system that some eccentric political scientist devised. That in itself would be fascinating. This was the way that the biggest Republic in the world at that time, and the longest lived, chose their head of state for centuries.

I wonder what would happen if we used this system today in electing our president. I wonder if it would improve the quality of our leaders and the character our national dialogue.

History is fascinating.

About Jer Clifton

Look up, friend. The world is too beautiful for my eyes alone. View all posts by Jer Clifton

This entry was posted on Friday, April 22nd, 2011 at 2:15 AM and tagged with aristocracy, democracy, Doge, election system, factionalism, Florence, Head of state, Monarchy, Pisa, politics, Republic of Venice, Venetians and posted in European History, Politics. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.

10 responses to “Weird Republicanism”

Pat Grant
July 4th, 2015 at 2:06 PM

hey jer, could you give me any sources you used? thanks in advance!

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- Jer Clifton
  July 13th, 2015 at 1:06 AM
  
  Sorry, this came from an audio lecture series called great courses. I don’t remember which.
  
  Reply
DB
April 22nd, 2011 at 8:37 AM

Weird spelling of wierd too.

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Teresa (high school teresa)
April 22nd, 2011 at 8:26 AM

Jeremy, I think we should share resources/citations. You seem to be devouring non-fiction. I’m sure you wouldn’t mind if I stuck a title or two in there, would ya?

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- JDW Clifton
  April 22nd, 2011 at 12:26 PM
  
  Absolutely. Go for it.
  
  Reply
  - Teresa (high school teresa)
    April 22nd, 2011 at 1:30 PM
    
    Here are a couple titles. Perhaps you’ve read them?
    
    Is Critique Secular? Blasphemy, Injury and Free Speech by Wendy Brown, Talal Asad, Saba Mahmood and Judith Butler (electronic copy)
    http://berkeley.academia.edu/SabaMahmood/Papers/180362/Book_Is_critique_secular
    
    Precarious Life: The Powers of Mourning and Violence by Judith Butler
    http://books.google.ca/books?id=iXj3rCh9zRwC&printsec=frontcover&dq=precarious+life&hl=en&ei=-LqxTaifIM6jtgeNkcD6Cw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CCkQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q&f=false
    
    I’ve read a chapter out of each Is Critique Secular and Precarious Life. Let me know if you ever get around to them.
    
    Reply
Alexander Lipnicki
April 22nd, 2011 at 3:06 AM

How were candidates available to be reelected into subsequent rounds of counsels?

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- JDW Clifton
  April 22nd, 2011 at 3:51 AM
  
  What do you mean? Once you were out of the selected group you went back into becoming just a regular member of the Great Council.
  
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Cary
April 22nd, 2011 at 2:34 AM

4 cycles of lot-casting. Did the men to be chosen all come from the Great Council? And all this choosing and lot-casting, was it private or done for all the Council to see? Even a system like this could see a lot of finagling and wrangling, and have the atmosphere of a modern day game of Risk or A&A, where you do your strategy but the throw of the dice makes or breaks you. Maybe even a commentator! “The Barbaro faction was looking good at the of round 2, but the Zenos have totally dominated since then!”
I think they definitely wanted to introduce the element of “out of our control”. This put a sense of God’s choosing things into the mix, that both factions could see (and joyfully or grudgingly accept). And there was probably a lot of praying going on for these lots–on both sides!

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- JDW Clifton
  April 22nd, 2011 at 3:50 AM
  
  They call came from the Great Council. I think the lot casting was in public, but I’m not sure about the selection. Remember, as a group they had to decide on all the names, so every single person had to agree.
  
  Commentary would be hilarious.
  
  I think they were trying to use it to ensure that political power would be spread out, and sharp divisive figures were marginalized.
  
  Reply