Jonathan Benson is a Hallsworth Research Fellow at The University of Manchester. His research centers around political and democratic theory and has a strong connection to the interdisciplinary tradition of politics, philosophy, and economics. He has written widely on contemporary challenges to democracy, the role and limits of markets, as well as issues of political knowledge and communication. Benson received a PhD in Politics from The University of Manchester and previously taught at King's College London and Utrecht University.

• Introduction: The new deomcratic scepticism1. Democracy's epistemic problems2. The limits of elections and markets3. Democracy and the division of knowledge4. Bias, misinformation, and the democratic system5. Polycentricity for and against democracy6. Diversity and political problem-solving7. Elections and elite rule8. The sortition branchConclusion: A more intelligent democracy

Benson starts his analysis with an examination of the epistemic shortcomings of regular elections and free markets, given that these 'have become the dominant institutions of liberal democratic societies,' and many democratic sceptics believe that the free market is the best determinant of the desires and needs of any populace...Benson takes a broad view of democracy, emphasizing that it 'in practice extends far beyond any one body or institution'. Thus, the epistemic abilities of democracy are not housed in any one institution.

Jonathan Benson is a Hallsworth Research Fellow at The University of Manchester. His research centers around political and democratic theory and has a strong connection to the interdisciplinary tradition of politics, philosophy, and economics. He has written widely on contemporary challenges to democracy, the role and limits of markets, as well as issues of political knowledge and communication. Benson received a PhD in Politics from The University of Manchester and previously taught at King's College London and Utrecht University.

• Introduction: The new deomcratic scepticism1. Democracy's epistemic problems2. The limits of elections and markets3. Democracy and the division of knowledge4. Bias, misinformation, and the democratic system5. Polycentricity for and against democracy6. Diversity and political problem-solving7. Elections and elite rule8. The sortition branchConclusion: A more intelligent democracy

Benson starts his analysis with an examination of the epistemic shortcomings of regular elections and free markets, given that these 'have become the dominant institutions of liberal democratic societies,' and many democratic sceptics believe that the free market is the best determinant of the desires and needs of any populace...Benson takes a broad view of democracy, emphasizing that it 'in practice extends far beyond any one body or institution'. Thus, the epistemic abilities of democracy are not housed in any one institution.

Jonathan Benson is a Hallsworth Research Fellow at The University of Manchester. His research centers around political and democratic theory and has a strong connection to the interdisciplinary tradition of politics, philosophy, and economics. He has written widely on contemporary challenges to democracy, the role and limits of markets, as well as issues of political knowledge and communication. Benson received a PhD in Politics from The University of Manchester and previously taught at King's College London and Utrecht University.

• Introduction: The new deomcratic scepticism1. Democracy's epistemic problems2. The limits of elections and markets3. Democracy and the division of knowledge4. Bias, misinformation, and the democratic system5. Polycentricity for and against democracy6. Diversity and political problem-solving7. Elections and elite rule8. The sortition branchConclusion: A more intelligent democracy

Benson starts his analysis with an examination of the epistemic shortcomings of regular elections and free markets, given that these 'have become the dominant institutions of liberal democratic societies,' and many democratic sceptics believe that the free market is the best determinant of the desires and needs of any populace...Benson takes a broad view of democracy, emphasizing that it 'in practice extends far beyond any one body or institution'. Thus, the epistemic abilities of democracy are not housed in any one institution.