STUDENT MOVEMENT AND THE CASE FOR RANDOMLY SELECTED LEGISLATURES
STUDENT MOVEMENT AND THE CASE FOR RANDOMLY SELECTED LEGISLATURES

Summary/Abstract: The student movement in Serbia employs a repertoire of political actions that transcend conventional political participation in electoral democracies, including reliance on direct and deliberative decision-making, active resistance to recognizable leaders, and distancing from political parties. This paper examines the hypothesis that the mode of student organization reflects an implicit aspiration for alternative democratic models at the national level. We present results from a survey (N=274) conducted among students involved in faculty blockades during 2024-2025, measuring attitudes towards representative and direct democracy. Findings show strong criticism of representative democracy, moderately positive perceptions of direct democracy, and recognition of its limitations. We argue that lotacracy, a system of randomly selected legislatures, represents a promising democratic innovation that responds to students’ critique of representative democracy while addressing perceived limitations of direct democracy.

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