Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-pjpqr Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-07-02T05:41:04.269Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

3 - Deliberative Minipublics and the Populist Conception of Representation As Embodiment

from Part I - The Contested Idea of Political Representation

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 November 2022

Claudia Landwehr
Affiliation:
Johannes Gutenberg Universität Mainz, Germany
Thomas Saalfeld
Affiliation:
Otto-Friedrich-Universität Bamberg, Germany
Armin Schäfer
Affiliation:
Johannes Gutenberg Universität Mainz, Germany
Get access

Summary

Amidst increased dissatisfaction with representative democracies new forms of direct political participation by ordinary citizens are becoming increasingly popular. There has been a proliferation of proposals for inserting deliberative minipublics such as citizens’ assemblies, citizens juries or deliberative polls in the political process. Indeed, many democratic theorists see these mechanisms as the best hope for overcoming the many representational “gaps” that afflict traditional party systems – gaps that have produced alarming levels of citizens’ apathy and disenchantment with democracy.1 However, despite the interest that these new forms of citizen involvement have garnered there has been little analysis of the specific nature of political representation that they involve.2 In which sense are citizens who participate in minipublics supposed to be representatives of the rest of the citizenry? Can they act both as citizens in their own right and as representatives of non-participants at the same time?

Type
Chapter
Information
Contested Representation
Challenges, Shortcomings and Reforms
, pp. 32 - 45
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2022

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure coreplatform@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×