“抽选”即以随机抽取的方式选拔代表或官员,原本是古代雅典民主的最重要特征之一,罗马共和国以及文艺复兴时期的意大利城邦共和国也曾在其政治生活中广泛运用抽选,以防止政治权力被少数豪强把持。一直到18世纪末,西方思想家几乎一致认为,抽选是民主制的特征,而选举是寡头制或贵族制的特征。然而,从19世纪开始,抽选与民主绵延两千多年的关系被割断了,取而代之的是选举变成了民主的标志。由于在以选举为特征的代议制民主下,政治权力实际上仍然掌握在少数精英手中,近年来,本已失传的抽选再次引起了人们的兴趣。在世界各地对新型民主的探索中,出现了一系列抽选的实践。 The “lottery”, that is, the selection of representatives or officials in a random fashion, was originally one of the most important features of the ancient Athenian democracy. The Roman Republic and the Renaissance Italian City-states republic also made extensive use of lottery in their political life In order to prevent the political power from being domineered by a few. Until the end of the 18th century, Western thinkers almost agreed that lottery was a characteristic of democracy and that the election was characterized by oligarchy or aristocracy. However, since the nineteenth century, the relationship between lottery and democracy stretching more than two thousand years has been severed. Instead, the election has become a sign of democracy. Due to the fact that under the representative election-based democracy, political power is still in the hands of a few elites, the lost lottery has once again aroused people’s interest in recent years. In the exploration of new democracy around the world, a series of lottery practices have emerged.