Politics Without Politicians

Three Books I’m Insufferable About

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(This column is posted at www.StevenSavage.com, Steve’s Tumblr, and Pillowfort.  Find out more at my newsletter, and all my social media at my linktr.ee)

So the last two or three years there are three books that I have gotten into and recommend to others. A lot. Honestly probably too much. So I figured why not write it up to get it out of my system and be insufferable in an organized, planned manner.

Anyway, here in 2026 a lot of us are asking “what happened?” and “what do we do?” about the age we live in. Things feel fractured, things feel broken, but also somehow we keep doing the thing that seems to make things worse. The three books – that my regular readers and friends may have heard of too much – that might give you an idea of how we got where we are and where we might go.

I recommend reading them, in this order, and keeping them. I’ve given copies as gifts, which says a lot about the books, and an equal amount about myself

The Unaccountability Machine by Dan Davies

Ever read a book that explains things and that you relate to? This book was both for me. It mostly asks why big business and our economies seem so insane and how we got there – and does so by a huge tour of cybernetics, business theories, and other things I’m interested in. It is, to paraphrase the author, a murder mystery that spends most of the time asking about the origins of the weapon.

It’s also incredibly compelling.

So the upshot of the book – to spoil – is that a lot of modern business policy (and thus financial and political policy) is focused growth and high stock prices (or related) to the extent of madness. “Number go up” may be an internet meme, but it accurately describes a lot of our economy. We’ve built huge amounts of theory and philosophy and policy to justify it as opposed to ask “hey, should our entire lives be about more than stock price?”

Davies notes it wasn’t a lot like this, and in fact business theory and management ideas didn’t used to be like that. We had ages of business cybernetics and modeling processes, of management as a way to make life better, of the idea of business obligation to community. This is not to idealize things decades in the past, but to note it was different and it was broad. The work of Stafford Beers figures prominently in this work, both in what things were, could be – and how they went wrong.

Ultimately we ended up with the idea that stock price is everything, and organizations and people went out of their way not to think about anything more. You get rich, sure, but you also get to stop thinking about it and deal with the suffering that follows. That trickles into politics and everything else, and madness gets institutionalized.

We exist in the madness of singular focus on a number and a cash count. But that’s just part of the larger dysfunction. For that, let’s get to the next book.

Hyperpolitics by Anton Jäger

This is one of those books that feels disturbingly obvious while leading one to ask “why didn’t see see this” even more than The Unaccountability Machine. Jäger asks why everything is political but nothing gets done or gets better, and he presents a simple model that explains that. It’s also done in a very short book that is refreshing in its focus and clarity. It’s really like two thick zines put together.

Jäger proposes a simple model, that our political culture can be placed on a four-part grid. One scale is Politicization, if people are or are not politically engaged and interested The other is Institutionalization, do people participate in enduring organizations or not. This grid allows you to lay out the politics of the last 120 years or so, then become extremely depressed.

We used to have Mass Politics, both Politicized and Institutionalized, where unions, churches, clubs, etc. were both engaging and worked on things. Somewhere after the 70’s we ended up with Post-politics, where people disengaged from politics and institutions while a more disconnected political elite solidified. People got frustrated, leading to “burn it down” Antipolitics somewhere in the 2000s, politicized times but without larger institutionalization and results. Finally we end up in our age of Hyperpolitics after 2010, which also heavy Politicization without the Institutionalization to solve things and engage people – an age of digital outbursts and performance but with little results.

Having been politically aware since the 80s if not earlier, Jäger’s model hit hard. I’d become politically aware around the time Post-politics manifested, and his timeline of the 80s onward was one I lived, and I saw a great deal of my experience in a new light. I had enough historical awareness to understand his ideas of the earlier Mass Politics period and why it mattered. Finally I understood why I felt like we lived in an age of supercharged tantrums – because that’s where we were.

(This also explained why I was so thrilled to run into people who were politically and socially engaged to improve things – it was too rare.)

It’s a book worth reading. It also ties to the issues of The Unaccountability Machine, of how we got distant and disconnected – the Post-political age – because the madness of “number go up” required disconnection. Jäger also makes some speculation on how to improve things, but I wish there was more.

Politics Without Politicians by Hélène Landemore

This book brings a lot of the above together – and in a surprisingly positive way. Landemore is a big advocate for citizenship and democracy – and for “sortition,” where people participate in government via basically lottery or draft. Imagine being informed your number came up and you’re a Senator or a City Council Member for six months.

Landemore’s ideas come from a mix of past democratic governments or semi-democratic practices, from Athens through use of juries to decide issues throughout various cultures. Landemore more than recognizes such past governments were not as inclusive or open-minded as us, but to her that’s just a reminder to think even more democratically. She is for citizen participation en masse, and avoiding creating new forms of aristocracy.

This may seem distant and ideal, but she explores many ways and modern efforts to create citizen referenda, draft-based leadership, and more. She proposes how societies based on heavy citizen participation may work. She also talks about the psychology of such efforts and why people seem to enjoy it when they try it.

A thing that stands out in her work, again and again, is a focus on what it would be like to have politics be more present along with citizenship and engagement. Being suddenly asked to join thirty random people to develop a sewer proposal is going to lead you to have to get along with twenty-nine other human beings. Having to work with people to do real things brings reality into focus and means you deal with people as people.

We may not have sortition like she wants, but we can get off our buts, get engaged, and work with people. All different kinds of people. It’s also a refreshing vision without overblown, posturing political campaigns and everyone trying to act like an internet Influencer.

Landemore is remarkably practical for something that seems idealist and utopian. It’s also a reminder that we can solve problems if we’re engaged with each other.

And there you go, three books that I have insufferably recommended to people, a good order to read them, and why they matter.

There. Now maybe I won’t be telling people to read these all the time.

Oh whom am I kidding. I just did. Again.

Steven Savage

Book Review: Politics Without Politicians by Hélène Landemore

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(This column is posted at www.StevenSavage.com, Steve’s Tumblr, and Pillowfort.  Find out more at my newsletter, and all my social media at my linktr.ee)

A second book review in a row? Well, yes it is! I just finished reading Politics Without Politicians by Hélène Landemore and it’s one you should definitely read. But let’s talk why.

Landemore’s thesis is simple: democracies in history had often used “lotteries” to select people for civic duties, along with citizen councils (often random too), rotating positions, referenda, and so on throughout history. Politics with less politicians or without politicians as we know them. It not will surprise you that someone writing a whole book in this is of course in favor of the idea that we can replace a lot of our politics with random selection and councils/parliaments.

The book is thus a breezy read as Landemore establishes her premise with historical example, then goes into a mixture of actual experience, actual implementations, research, and philosophy to justify her thesis. Her statement is simple – essentially reviving some elements of Athenian Democracy, then examining why she thinks it’d work, when it was tried, and what she’d do.

So spoilers, it’s actually very convincing, and in some ways surprising. If I were to compare it to something, it actually reminds me of my much-beloeved The Unaccountability Machine. It’s both obvious and not, and once you read it, you see things very differently.

Landemore describes our current crises and the idea of more randomized democracies as seen in Athens and in other states and societies, not necessarily democratic ones (a random council of nobles is still random). Random selection requires citizens to step up, reduces corruption, and requires building functional infrastructures to get things done. Our current political crises of modern times are, in her thesis, the result of a kind of “Electoral Aristocracy” that is clearly not responsive to people’s needs and is very disillusioning. And yes, she brings receipts on much of our dissatisfaction in our times.

Despite her cynicism about a lot of our current politics, Landemore is a passionate believer in democracy and citizenship. She wants more democracy, more power in the hands of people, and for voices to be heard. Indeed, ensuring people who are not currently engaged in politics can and will be engaged, is part of her thesis. Even when I find critiques (and I have a few) it’s clear she cares about the results and the people.

Landemore also looks at cases where randomized citizen councils were used in various countries to address issues – some of which she participated in. Coming from this direct viewpoint, she also describes experiences and why things worked – and didn’t – mostly focused on her native France. Landemore takes you into what it would be like, say, for twenty citizens to suddenly be asked to come up with policy for a referendum.

This personal experience, combined with her research, did help me understand why these kind of randomized councils and other approaches can work. If you have a diverse group of people and give them experts who respond as needed you can get a surprising amount of good ideas – something I’ve seen in my own management work. People who are responsible for results and dealing with each other as people will surprise you and probably break more than one of your stereotypes and assumptions.

Landemore did something very effectively – reminding us that our fellow citizens are probably more capable than we give them credit for. It’s just that they may be capable in different ways than us and that people coming together change. Some of her experiences made me understand my gaps, and in a few cases my arrogance. This, again, reminded me of my own worn in Project Management when people came together with just a bit of facilitation – and when I had my own assumptions proven wrong.

All of this of course reminds me of Agile, the productivity/project method I’ve used for years in various forms (sometimes inside other methods). A lot of Agile is “make it obvious, make it visible, make people responsible.” Though Agile usually lacks randomization, I see echos in Landemore’s writing.

It is clear from her writing Landemore has soured on the political classes, and even filtered, both the research she shares and the experience she has make a good case. Attempts at citizens councils often saw career politicians want to put on their own stamp, experts expect to be right all the time (thinking as experts, not impacted citizens), and so on. I finished the book with a better opinion of my fellow citizens, and a worsened one of our political class. Politicians can be distortive people, even if well-meaning, as things warp around them.

Ladenmore finishes with ways to implement more direct Democracy, and her thoughts of were to go next. She’s ready to go, clearly passionate, though I wished she’d done more to provide “next steps” and ‘who to talk to” that was more clearly spelled out. Still, I found some resources to investigate my own interest.

Ultimately, it’s hard to fault her case – we need more citizens and less politicians. Indeed, having more “governing-by-lottery” would mean people have to step up if called – and step up to help neighbors and friends and family who might be called upon. Certainly I’m a believer in her method because I am a believer in citizenship and this is a way to cultivate that.

As for flaws, there are moments her humor or references, especially about American figures, seems a bit off. There are a few cases where I wanted her to address some truly vile things we see like racism and religious fanaticism. But these are minor – she has a thesis, she justifies it well, and she takes us into the experiences and mechanics of it.

Much like The Unaccountability Machine, Politics Without Politicians is about why things are obviously wrong, how we probably had the solution, and what to do next. It’s also about giving a damn, which makes both books passionate. Maybe Landemore and Dan Davies should team up, so I have yet another book to go on about until people are tired of it.

A recommended read. Perhaps you’ll want complete rule-by-lottery, perhaps you’ll become a booster of citizen referendum, but I think you’ll have a lot to think about. Best of all, you’ll become a better citizen, and we need all of those we can get.

Steven Savage