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Introduction: Abortion, Women's Movements, and Democratic Politics

Dorothy McBride Stetson

in Abortion Politics, Women's Movements, and the Democratic State: A Comparative Study of State Feminism

The introduction describes in full the comparative politics research design developed by the Research Network on Gender Politics and the State and used to study the role of women's policy agencies as ... More

The introduction describes in full the comparative politics research design developed by the Research Network on Gender Politics and the State and used to study the role of women's policy agencies as allies or adversaries of women's movement activists in influencing abortion policy and politics. The theoretical foundation integrates several theoretical strands: democratic representation, new institutionalism, and social movement impact. The chapter describes the network's theory of state feminism and provides a primer on the comparative method in policy research.Less

The Crisis of Democratic Representation in the Andes: An Overview

Scott Mainwaring, Ana María Bejarano, and Eduardo Pizarro Leongómez

in The Crisis of Democratic Representation in the Andes

This introductory chapter discusses the theme of this volume which is about the crisis of democratic representation in Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and Venezuela. It explains the concept of the ... More

This introductory chapter discusses the theme of this volume which is about the crisis of democratic representation in Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and Venezuela. It explains the concept of the crisis of democratic representation and its manifestations and highlights the intellectual and political importance of studying the crisis of democratic representation in the Andes. This volume explores the factors that affect democratization including party systems, political outsiders, political decentralization and legislatures.Less

Legitimacy and Representation beyond Elections (Part One)

Hélène Landemore

in Open Democracy: Reinventing Popular Rule for the Twenty-First Century

This chapter describes a non-electoral form of democracy that is both representative and deliberative. It first questions the tight identification between democratic, legitimate, and electoral ... More

This chapter describes a non-electoral form of democracy that is both representative and deliberative. It first questions the tight identification between democratic, legitimate, and electoral representation, briefly exploring the historical and conceptual reasons behind this intuitive identification. The eighteenth-century electoral theory of consent is, despite its intuitive appeal, confused and sufficiently unsatisfactory to justify trying to move past it conceptually. The chapter then defends its use of a new concept of “democraticity” as distinct from legitimacy. It also looks at a form of democratic representation that is the most promising alternative to electoral representation, namely “lottocratic representation.” Finally, it considers another alternative — self-selected representation — whose democratic credentials come from its spatial openness to all, which renders it all-inclusive by default, and from the (formal) equality of opportunity to participate that characterizes it.Less

State Deficiencies, Party Competition, and Confidence in Democratic Representation in the Andes

Scott Mainwaring

in The Crisis of Democratic Representation in the Andes

This chapter addresses the causes of low confidence in political parties and assemblies in the Andes. It argues that state deficiencies and the politicization of these shortcomings by competing ... More

This chapter addresses the causes of low confidence in political parties and assemblies in the Andes. It argues that state deficiencies and the politicization of these shortcomings by competing parties are the primary causes of the crisis of democratic representation and contends that state deficiencies are central to understanding failures of democratic representation well beyond this region. This chapter also investigates why some agents of democratic representation have become discredited in the Andes.Less

: Representation and Democracy

in Representative Democracy: Principles and Genealogy

This chapter sets out the normative guidelines of a democratic theory of representative government, which the ensuing chapters are meant to elucidate. It argues that democratic representation ... More

This chapter sets out the normative guidelines of a democratic theory of representative government, which the ensuing chapters are meant to elucidate. It argues that democratic representation presumes a revision of the notions of both representation and sovereignty. As for the former, the chapter makes three main claims: that representation belongs to the history and practice of democratization; that different theories of representation are possible depending on the relationship between state and society; and that the political theory of representation is consistent with a democratic relation between state and society. As for the latter, it is argued that representation challenges the idea of sovereignty as unrepresentable will by bringing judgment into the politics of the sovereign; this revision is visible through representativity and advocacy, the two basic characters of democratic representation. These are the normative guidelines of representative democracy as an articulated strategy of law formation and surveillance and revocation, and of democratic representation as a middle path between an unconditional delegation and the refusal of any delegation, or between electoral authorization of an aristocracy and direct democracy.Less

Democratic expectations: the representation account

Darren Halpin

in Groups, Representation and Democracy: Between Promise and Practice

This chapter scrutinizes the dominant lens through which the democratic expectations of groups are viewed. It argues that group scholars have implicitly, but sometimes explicitly, viewed groups as ... More

This chapter scrutinizes the dominant lens through which the democratic expectations of groups are viewed. It argues that group scholars have implicitly, but sometimes explicitly, viewed groups as though they were all engaged in democratic representation. In turn, this has informed expectations that groups should be democratically accountable to their affiliates. Where group practices have not conformed to this picture, this is read as a group deficiency. The orthodox frameworks and lenses used to appraise groups have supported a rather pessimistic view of the potential for groups to be agents of democracy, because they do not practise it themselves. The chapter reviews a range of arguments that seek to weaken or outright challenge this representation account. It concludes that group theory is poorly served by an insistence on a relatively constrained account of representation.Less

Between representation and solidarity: (re)calibrating democratic expectations

Darren Halpin

in Groups, Representation and Democracy: Between Promise and Practice

This chapter proposes a supplementary metric to that of representation. It argues that whether a group should enfranchise those that affiliate to it depends on whether they also happen to be the ... More

This chapter proposes a supplementary metric to that of representation. It argues that whether a group should enfranchise those that affiliate to it depends on whether they also happen to be the constituency the group advocates for. Groups that advocate for non-human constituencies cannot enfranchise their constituency, so enfranchising the affiliates of such groups is not necessary for democratic legitimacy. The chapter identifies a framework for identifying those interest groups that are, in principle, capable of representation, and those of solidarity. It also demonstrates why the solidarity/representation distinction is not simply repeating other binary distinctions already in the literature.Less

The Bundestag: Institutional Incrementalism and Behavioural Reticence

Thomas Saalfeld

in Germany, Europe, and the Politics of Constraint

This chapter explores the evidence of a mismatch between the perceived importance of democratic, representative EU politics at the German élite level and institutional design as well as political ... More

This chapter explores the evidence of a mismatch between the perceived importance of democratic, representative EU politics at the German élite level and institutional design as well as political behaviour. It investigates the extent to which there has been a gradual process of Europeanization of representation at the institutional and behavioural levels. It examines how this adaptation has been mediated by institutional structures and traditions and why institutional adaptation to the growing quantity and qualitative importance of EU law has been so slow. It asks why German political behaviour in the process of democratic representation has been affected so little by European integration. The emphasis is less on the peculiarities of the EU as a political body than on the way elected politicians respond strategically to these structural constraints.Less

Elections and Fair Representation

James Lindley Wilson

in Democratic Equality

This chapter describes what appropriate consideration requires in terms of what are often called “aggregative” procedures—procedures for aggregating citizens' judgments into common decisions, such as ... More

This chapter describes what appropriate consideration requires in terms of what are often called “aggregative” procedures—procedures for aggregating citizens' judgments into common decisions, such as the selection of representatives. These procedures also include processes of election and voting on laws. Among other things, these requirements entail a shift in how people think about the responsibilities of representatives. Democratic representation requires an egalitarian synthesis of citizens' judgments, which is complicated by the fact that citizens render judgments at different levels of specificity. Citizens themselves differ as to how much discretion their representatives ought to have, and this disagreement should be reflected in representation. The chapter then argues that aggregative procedures must satisfy an “antidegradation” requirement that precludes rules and procedures that express or reflect a judgment that some citizen or citizens occupy an inferior political status. This is a kind of antidiscrimination rule for political decision-making institutions.Less

Democratic promises and practices: some empirical evidence

Darren Halpin

in Groups, Representation and Democracy: Between Promise and Practice

This chapter establishes how the solidarity versus representation distinction can be applied to empirical cases. Moreover, it illustrates that while the conceptual categories have some currency in ... More

This chapter establishes how the solidarity versus representation distinction can be applied to empirical cases. Moreover, it illustrates that while the conceptual categories have some currency in practice, there is not always direct conformance between the democratic promise of groups and their practices. These are scholarly categories that help us calibrate our expectations better, and with more clarity. But this is not the same as suggesting groups will or do in fact meet these expectations.Less

Elements of Democratic Representation

Mark B. Brown

in Science in Democracy: Expertise, Institutions, and Representation

This chapter discusses the importance of liberal rationalism, which illustrates the historical developments in science and politics. The current study suggests a framework for examining the purposes ... More

This chapter discusses the importance of liberal rationalism, which illustrates the historical developments in science and politics. The current study suggests a framework for examining the purposes of different institutions in view of their distinctive modes and elements of representation. Studies of different scholars and their writings on the concept of democratic representation and its elements — authorization, accountability, participation, deliberation, and resemblance — are discussed. One of the important studies of these elements is by Hanna Pitkin. The role of public officials and state and government authorities in democratic representation is also discussed, and the practices of science and politics are explored, including the institutions that normally contribute to democratic representation.Less

The Democratic Enactment of Representation

Joseph Lacey

in Centripetal Democracy: Democratic Legitimacy and Political Identity in Belgium, Switzerland, and the European Union

This chapter aims to understand the role of political representation in a theory of democratic legitimacy. Drawing on contemporary theories of political representation, the chapter attempts to ... More

This chapter aims to understand the role of political representation in a theory of democratic legitimacy. Drawing on contemporary theories of political representation, the chapter attempts to determine what makes acts of political representation democratically legitimate, while identifying the possible ways in which democracy can go wrong through certain kinds of representative practices. This account of legitimate democratic representation suggests that numerous aspects of a well-functioning democracy can lead to more than just the resolution of social conflict, specifically by contributing to the formation of a common democratic identity among members of the political community. By the end of this chapter, a central contention of this project will become clear, namely that the institutionalization of democratic legitimacy will produce powerful centripetal effects on the political community.Less

Liminal Representation

Michael Saward

in Creating Political Presence: The New Politics of Democratic Representation

Representation’s liminal qualities make it difficult to sustain a number of common distinctions that have been central to the study of the concept. After elaborating on the idea of liminality and ... More

Representation’s liminal qualities make it difficult to sustain a number of common distinctions that have been central to the study of the concept. After elaborating on the idea of liminality and defending an understanding of representation as practice, the chapter focuses critically on four distinctions: elective and nonelective; formal and informal; institutional and noninstitutional; descriptive and normative. Such distinctions are often deployed to map conceptually the field of political representation, drawing out the latter’s transitional or intermediate character. In the chapter, it is argued that we can productively embrace representation’s liminality, developing fruitful analyses which track its changeable character. Finally, the chapter shows how these critiques can contribute to an encompassing distinction between representative democracy and democratic representation, arguing that the former – often the sole focus of debates on representation – is but one (crucial) part of the latter.Less

The Crisis of Representative Democracy

Hélène Landemore

in Open Democracy: Reinventing Popular Rule for the Twenty-First Century

This chapter discusses the crisis of democracy. While this crisis can be attributed in part to specific empirical corruptions, which are themselves likely the result of contingent external shocks, ... More

This chapter discusses the crisis of democracy. While this crisis can be attributed in part to specific empirical corruptions, which are themselves likely the result of contingent external shocks, the crisis of democracy can also be traced, more fundamentally, to an original design flaw: the restriction of democratic representation to “electoral” representation. The main problem is that representative democracy was designed on the basis of electoral premises that prevent even its best, most democratized contemporary versions from reaching the full potential of genuine “popular rule,” that is, a rule that empowers all equally. The chapter then looks at the internal problems to a core principle of representative government: the principle of elections. It also addresses the “realists'” objections that there is no crisis of democracy since representative democracy is working as intended.Less

Decentralized Politics and Political Outcomes in the Andes

Kathleen O'neill

in The Crisis of Democratic Representation in the Andes

This chapter investigates the relationship between decentralizing reforms, political parties and political representation in Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and Venezuela. It analyzes changes in the ... More

This chapter investigates the relationship between decentralizing reforms, political parties and political representation in Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and Venezuela. It analyzes changes in the intergovernmental distribution of power which affects democratic representation by allowing for (or not) the election of representatives at the local and state level and evaluates whether improvements in representation at the local level offset serious deficiencies at the national level. The analysis indicates that the relationship between decentralization and political representation varies significantly across countries and over time within countries and that the effects of decentralization on political representation are experienced locally.Less