The Future of Representative Democracy

Since the publication of Hanna Pitkin’s (1967) foundational work, political representation is generally conceived as the activity of making citizens present in the political decision-making processes that affect them. What it means to make citizens present has, however, remained subject to scholarly and societal debate. Some conceive of such presence in terms of patterns of congruence between citizens’ policy preferences and representatives’ acts. Others, then again, suggest that, in open and competitive settings, non-objection to the claims made on behalf of the people may be taken as proof of claims’ representative properties. Additionally, scholars with expertise in feminism and multiculturalism have problematized the assumed homogeneity of ‘constituents’ and the ways in which institutional features (like electoral districts) have privileged the representation of territorial and geographical groups over others. Increasingly, ecologists have called into question the myopia imbued in our representative institutions and the constraints it places on representing future generations and inanimate groups, such as climate or nature. Meanwhile, contemporary political parties, once central actors, and platforms of political representation, have lost much of their trustworthiness in the eyes of many citizens, and citizens increasingly call their representativeness into question. Growing portions of the population seem to feel under-represented or misrepresented. There are numerous claims to the effect that there is a representative disconnect between representatives and represented, between citizens and those that govern them. Such a notion of disconnect brings into question how and in what sense the problem can be located in any one of the elements that make up a democratic system of representation (such as parliaments, parties and citizens), or whether the problem is one of how the system is configured and the arrangements relate to each other. To address such questions, it is important to consider such notions as representative system (the full range of institutions and procedures that make up and structure political representation) and representative ecology (the broader context of norms, rules, institutions, and culture within which the representative system is embedded). Increasingly, consensus is growing on the need to ‘fix’ or future-proof representative democracy. Democratic innovations, like participatory budgeting, deliberative mini-publics, representation by lottery or the introduction of citizens’ chambers of other forms of permanent citizens’ participation in parliament, are increasingly discussed and used to complement or improve the presence guaranteed through traditional forms of political representation. The ‘systemic’ approach queries how such possible fixes can be incorporated into the broader workings of the representative system. This section welcomes theoretical, conceptual, and empirical papers that consider questions of representative disconnect and the prospects for the future of representative democracy, whether by focusing on specific elements or broader notions such as representative system and ecology. We invite papers that discuss these issues in relation to key concepts, theories, and practices of representation in historical and comparative perspective. The section welcomes panels and papers that reflect upon the inter-connection and interplay of various models of governance (including deliberative and participatory forms of democracy) at national, European, and international level, and across the globe. The section, additionally, welcomes papers and panels that introduce the perspectives of stakeholders, such as practitioners, politicians, citizens, and activists and/or that tackle normative concerns in the face of both anti-democratic resentments, and the persistent inequalities that characterize contemporary representative systems. The section is open to all panel proposals. Below we include a non-exhaustive list of panel topics: ▪️ Representative system and representative ecology: what are the defining features and what do these terms add to our understanding of political representation? ▪️ The claim-making paradigm: opportunities and challenges to studying political representation ▪️ Representative democracy in the face of inequality ▪️ Future-proofing EU representative democracy ▪️ What makes political representation democratic? ▪️ MPs' and citizens’ views on (the future of) representative democracy ▪️ Is there a representative democratic disconnect? If so, how profound: systemic or episodic; global or in specific sites only? ▪️ Representative democracy: integrating insights from participatory and deliberative theory