Fluir nº1 - Renascimentos - 2018
Figure 4 - The Ducal Palace with the
domes of S. Marco in background. The
current aspect is predominantly 14th C
but the building underwent continuous
modifications, restorations, and
renovations throughout its long life.
The table below shows the process for the election of
the Doge where n is the entire membership of the
Great Council. It comprises the successive use of two
mechanisms; (1) random lots to reduce college sizes and
(2) expansion of colleges through elections (candidates
selected in principle from the entire initial pool n). An
article by Miranda and Gollmann makes a mathematical
argument that this process with its successive rounds of
random lots and election is effective in reducing
corruption and could have computer science
applications in the prevention of infection by viruses.
Table: College sizes and minimum approval numbers for election of the Doge of
Venice in 1268
A Modern Perspective
Two observations from the above brief and incomplete
reference to the Venetian Republic are; (a) a system
where only 1% of the population have a voice in
government policy is unpalatable to modern Western
citizens and, (b) a system from a medieval/early
modern city-state is inadequate for a complex modern
state with millions of inhabitants and a large territory.
The question proposed is; are there any underlying
principles that have a modern application? What if the
number n in Round 1 in the above table were the voting
population of a small country, say eight million instead
of a couple of thousand?
The great scientists of history, from Bacon to Bentham,
from Mills to Marx, did not perform experiments to
prove their theories. Human behavioral experiments
with groups of university student volunteers have
statistically quantified selected human behaviors but
credible experiments to assess systems of government
remain lacking. Can we reasonably ignore the
experiment of a regime that governed a city of more
100,000 inhabitants and an empire, through myriad
economic, social and military challenges for century
after century? For in terms of longevity at least the
Venetian Republic was a success and, unlike technology,
human nature has changed little over the last couple of
millennia.
Some of the interesting and distinctive features of the
Venetian government were;
·Extensive use electoral colleges composed of
randomly selected citizens.
·Government by small committees whose members had
short, non-renewable terms of office.
·The electoral colleges were given the time and
opportunity listen, ponder and discuss the competency
of the candidates for the committees.
·Use of complex combinations of random selection
and voting by the electoral colleges to combat
corruption, factionalism and vote buying.
·Mandatory political participation for a large body of
citizens.
·A deep and continual engagement of electors on a
variety of government activities.
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