By 
Melissa Schwartzberg
 | 
TED-Ed Original

What did democracy really mean in Athens?

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.

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