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Creating Political Presence

The New Politics of Democratic Representation

For at least two centuries, democratic representation has been at the center of debate. Should elected representatives express the views of the majority, or do they have the discretion to interpret their constituents’ interests? How can representatives balance the desires of their parties and their electors? What should be done to strengthen the representation of groups that have been excluded from the political system? Representative democracy itself remains frequently contested, regarded as incapable of reflecting the will of the masses, or inadequate for today’s global governance. Recently, however, this view of democratic representation has been under attack for its failure to capture the performative and constructive elements of the process of representation, and a new literature more attentive to these aspects of the relationship between representatives and the represented has arisen.

In Creating Political Presence, a diverse and international group of scholars explores the implications of such a turn. Two broad, overlapping perspectives emerge. In the first section, the contributions investigate how political representation relates to empowerment, either facilitating or interfering with the capacity of citizens to develop autonomous judgment in collective decision making. Contributions in the second section look at representation from the perspective of inclusion, focusing on how representative relationships and claims articulate the demands of those who are excluded or have no voice. The final section examines political representation from a more systemic perspective, exploring its broader environmental conditions and the way it acquires democratic legitimacy.
 

368 pages | 3 line drawings, 1 table | 6 x 9 | © 2018

Political Science: American Government and Politics, Political and Social Theory

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments

Introduction
Dario Castiglione and Johannes Pollak

Chapter 1. The Logics of Democratic Presence in Representation
Dario Castiglione and Johannes Pollak

Part I. Representation as Democratic Empowerment

Chapter 2. How Representation Enables Democratic Citizenship
Mark E. Warren

Chapter 3. Judgment Alone: Cloven Citizenship in the Era of the Internet
Nadia Urbinati

Chapter 4. Political Parties and Conflict Handling
John Erik Fossum

Chapter 5. Populist Twist: The Relationship between the Leader and the People in Populism
Paula Diehl

Part II. Representation as Democratic Inclusion

Chapter 6. Varieties of Inclusive Representation
Samuel Hayat

Chapter 7. Radical Democracy: The Silent Partner in Political Representation’s Constructivist Turn
Lisa Disch

Chapter 8. Who Counts as a Democratic Representative? On Claims of Self-Appointed Representation
Laura Montanaro

Chapter 9. Future Generations and the Limits of Representation
Kerry H. Whiteside

Part III. Changing Contexts

Chapter 10. Synecdochical and Metaphorical Political Representation: Then and Now
Frank Ankersmit

Chapter 11. Externalities and Representation beyond the State: Lessons from the European Union
Christopher Lord

Chapter 12. Liminal Representation
Michael Saward

Chapter 13. Recursive Representation
Jane Mansbridge

List of Contributors
Index

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