Repräsentation

2019 ◽  

Representation is one of the controversial concepts in politics and is therefore hotly debated in political science, philosophy, sociology, historiography and constitutional law. The question ‘What is representation, how should it take place and what should it bring about?’ is therefore still relevant. One of the central questions in democracy theory is whether, in a representative democracy, the people from whom a state’s power emanates are represented in such a way that they can identify with the politics of the rulers. The decisive problem of political representation is the question of legitimacy. It is a question of trust as the basis of the legitimacy of politics. It is hard to gain the people’s trust but easy to gamble it away.

2019 ◽  
Vol 7 (3) ◽  
pp. 152-164 ◽  
Author(s):  
Petra Guasti ◽  
Debora Rezende de Almeida

The system of representative democracy is under considerable strain. Its institutions are struggling to maintain legitimacy, and its elected representatives are failing to keep their monopoly on (formal) political representation. An emerging multitude of (new) claim makers contests the authority of elected representatives as well as the functioning of the existing system of representative democracy by alleging misrepresentation. In this article, we identify a significant shortcoming in Saward’s claims-making approach; specifically, we argue that it offers little direction in addressing misrepresentation. We distinguish between claims of representation and claims of misrepresentation, and show how the latter can fulfill one, two or all three of the following functions: (1) they appeal to an enemy/antagonist (strategy), (2) identify causes of misrepresentation related to policies, politics, and polity (persuasion), and (3) claim to create a new linkage to “the people”, sometimes present themselves as new representatives (reframing). To test this proposed framework, we compare claims of misrepresentation in Brazil made by civil society groups (before and during the presidential impeachment between 2014 and 2016) and in Germany (focusing on the parliamentarians of the Alternative for Germany during the first six months of mandate). Our results suggest that claims of misrepresentation are not intrinsically democratic or undemocratic, but are instead ambiguous, have different manifestations and disparate impacts on the representative system. Our article contributes to the conceptual development of the claims approach and to further understanding several critical and current challenges to representative democracy.


Pólemos ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 71-105
Author(s):  
Daniel Fernández Cañueto

Abstract The article analyses how the features of modern political representation have developed in Spanish constitutional history from a multidisciplinary perspective (political philosophy, political science, constitutional law and literature). Between the eighteenth- to the twentieth-century, indeed, the Kingdom of Spain experienced transformations in the concepts of sovereignty, periodic suffrage, free public opinion, and the free and non-revocable mandate. The article also takes into account how the evolution of concepts at stake affected the evolution of the others.


2003 ◽  
Vol 93 (4) ◽  
pp. 1132-1151 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rohini Pande

A basic premise of representative democracy is that all those subject to policy should have a voice in its making. However, policies enacted by electorally accountable governments often fail to reflect the interests of disadvantaged minorities. This paper exploits the institutional features of political reservation, as practiced in Indian states, to examine the role of mandated political representation in providing disadvantaged groups influence over policy-making. I find that political reservation has increased transfers to groups which benefit from the mandate. This finding also suggests that complete policy commitment may be absent in democracies, as is found in this case.


Letonica ◽  
2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sergejs Kruks

Keywords: discourse analysis, general will, Latvian politics, political representation, Saeima Latvian citizens are characterised by a very low level of political activism. How can this be explained through an understanding of politics? Prior to the 2018 Saeima (Latvian parliament) election, voters were interviewed on Latvian television discussing the pronouncements of various members of parliament. The researcher explores the relationship between the comments of these voters and the way they feel their interests are being represented by the state’s law makers. Throughout the interviews, voters are critical of Saeima, yet they fail to clearly explain their interests. The generally agreed upon duty of MPs is to discover the general will of the people, and attempt to fulfil this will through law making. In Latvia, the concept of forming interest groups representing the desires of various groups of citizens to create public expressions of their opinions is not considered a viable resource for political action. The citizens being interviewed believe that they cannot expect to have their interests represented by Saeima and prefer individual strategies focused on non-political action.


2021 ◽  
Vol 51 (4) ◽  
pp. 595-607
Author(s):  
David T. Konig

The controversy surrounding the Second Amendment—“the right of the people to keep and bear arms”—is, to a large extent, historical in nature, redolent of other matters in this country’s legal and constitutional past. But the historical analogies that might support the Amendment’s repeal do not permit easy conclusions. The issue demands that legal historians venture beyond familiar territory to confront unavoidable problems at the intersection of theory and practice and of constitutional law and popular constitutionalism. An interdisciplinary analysis of Lichtman’s Repeal the Second Amendment illuminates the political, legal, and constitutional dimensions—as well as the perils—of undertaking the arduous amending process permitted by Article V of the U.S. Constitution.


Africa ◽  
2002 ◽  
Vol 72 (2) ◽  
pp. 203-220 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ferdinand de Jong

AbstractThis article examines the traditional initiation of the former Senegalese Minister of Agriculture. At the age of fifty-five the Catholic Minister was initiated into the secrets of the sacred grove and thus acquired the status of adult man. The article demonstrates that Jola ethnic discourse, in which male initiation has become an important symbol, forced the Minister to enter the grove. His initiation turned him into a full member of the Jola ethnic group and qualified him as a trustworhty man capable of representing the people. In the campaign of the Socialist Party internal elections the Minister's initiation nevertheless became a major issue. The electorate did not show unswerving loyalty to ‘their’ Minister and nominated a non-initiate. The electorate suddenly changed their standards of apt political representation. The article contributes to the contemporary debate on citizenship and primary patriotism by showing that the Senegalese easily shift their position from subject to citizen, and thus empower themselves vis-à-vis elusive politicians. It also shows that politicians penetrate Jola practices of secrecy and thereby further the Jola's integration into the national public sphere.


Author(s):  
Leyre Escajedo San Epifanio

Recurriendo a García Pelayo, son bastantes los elementos de los actuales sistemas democráticos en los que cabría hallar, sobre todo en lo formal, una cierta homogeneidad armónica con sus precedentes históricos o referentes de Derecho comparado. De todos ellos, sin embargo, parece que la inviolabilidad regia es uno de los pocos —sino el único— de los elementos en los que se duda si las previsiones constitucionales deben interpretarse dentro del marco sistemático que les da cobijo o si, por el contrario, cabe la posibilidad de eludir ese marco y basarse en antecedentes históricos o referentes comparados para proceder a su interpretación. Pareciera que, al menos respecto del estatuto regio, se defiende no sólo una cierta suprapositividad sino, incluso, la supuesta existencia anclaje preconstitucional inamovible, ubicado lejos del alcance de la soberanía que reside en el pueblo. Desde la perspectiva del Derecho constitucional, aunque sin perder de vista la historiografía y, hasta cierto punto, la Psicología política, este trabajo aborda el estudio de dicho fenómeno, procediendo a una revisión histórica de la inviolabilidad regia y al análisis de las interpretaciones contemporáneas de la misma.Recalling García Pelayo, there are quite a few elements of the current democratic systems in which it would be possible to find, especially in formal terms, a certain harmonic homogeneity with their historical precedents or comparative law references. Of all of them, however, it seems that royal inviolability is one of the few —if not the only one— of the elements in which it is doubted whether the current constitutional provisions should be interpreted within the systematic framework that shelters them or whether, on the contrary, it is possible to circumvent this framework and rely on historical antecedents or comparative references to proceed with its interpretation. It would seem that, at least with respect to the royal statute, not only a certain suprapositive nature is defended, but even the supposed existence of an immovable pre-constitutional anchor, situated far from the reach of the sovereignty that resides in the people. From the perspective of Constitutional law, although without losing sight of historiography and, to a certain extent, Political psychology, this work addresses the study of this phenomenon, proceeding to a historical review of royal inviolability and an analysis of contemporary interpretations of it.


2020 ◽  
Vol 73 (1) ◽  
pp. 60-73
Author(s):  
R.B. Absattarov ◽  
◽  
I.A. Rau ◽  

The article examines the problem of the Pankis Valley in relations between Russia and Georgia in the Chechen wars, which has not yet been studied in socio-political science. The article discusses in more detail the issues of the peculiarities of the Pankis Valley and its population, and its ties with Chechnya, Georgia's support for Chechen militants, wide political representation, informational opportunities and media of Chechens in Georgia, Chechnya's rapprochement with Georgia and international Islamic terrorism, echo in the Pankis valley and etc. At the same time, the article also pays attention to debatable, controversial, conflicting issues.


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