Disclaimer, my knowledge on this subject consists of an undergraduate course on world history.<p>It worked relatively well. The role of government was considerably smaller than it is today. Also, during their term, serving on the council was a citizens full time job [0]. Additionally, their were still career politicians who advised the council; they just did not get a vote. Notably, among the politicians were generals, who were elected and did not have term limits. In addition to being influential with military and foreign policy, they tended to be influential for domestic matters as well.<p>[0] Rather, It was their full-time job for one month out of their one year term. For the rest of their term, they attended monthly meetings.