View full lesson: ↵↵While we might consider elections to be the cornerstone of democracy, the Athenians who coined the term actually employed a lottery system to choose most of their politicians. Melissa Schwartzberg describes the ins and outs of the Athenian democracy, and addresses some ways in which a lottery system might benefit us today. ↵↵Lesson by Melissa Schwartzberg, animation by TED-Ed.

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