Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of figures
- List of tables
- Notes on contributors
- Acknowledgements
- Editors' introduction: Rethinking the future of representative democracy
- 1 Representative democracy and its critics
- 2 Representative democracy and the populist temptation
- 3 The wider canvas: representation and democracy in state and society
- 4 Performance and deficits of present-day representation
- 5 Do parliaments have a future?
- 6 Engendering representative democracy
- 7 Representative democracy and the multinational demos
- 8 Diagnosing and designing democracy in Europe
- 9 Monitory democracy?
- 10 Representing nature
- 11 Democracy and representation beyond the nation state
- General bibliography
- Index
- References
4 - Performance and deficits of present-day representation
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 June 2012
Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of figures
- List of tables
- Notes on contributors
- Acknowledgements
- Editors' introduction: Rethinking the future of representative democracy
- 1 Representative democracy and its critics
- 2 Representative democracy and the populist temptation
- 3 The wider canvas: representation and democracy in state and society
- 4 Performance and deficits of present-day representation
- 5 Do parliaments have a future?
- 6 Engendering representative democracy
- 7 Representative democracy and the multinational demos
- 8 Diagnosing and designing democracy in Europe
- 9 Monitory democracy?
- 10 Representing nature
- 11 Democracy and representation beyond the nation state
- General bibliography
- Index
- References
Summary
The problem
Many observers of democracy insist that political representation is in crisis; even books have been entitled accordingly (Köchler 1985; Hayward 1996). The debate and diagnosis is probably as old as democratic political representation itself (Pitkin 1967), but the more recent debate was stimulated by an increase of participatory demands, the so-called participatory revolution of the 1970s that led Habermas to conclude that ‘the grammar of politics is at stake’ (Habermas 1987). The demand side is one aspect of this alleged crisis. The other aspect is whether politics still has the capacity to deliver public goods and to solve problems in the face of economic globalisation. Some have concluded that representation is in crisis from two sides, and that their interaction is reinforcing the crisis: higher demands for participation and effective state control coincide with the decreasing capacity of representative institutions to deliver.
If this pessimistic claim is true, both input and output legitimacy are in danger, and democracy itself is in question. In this chapter, I shall bring some empirical evidence to bear on the question of the degree to which the grammar of politics is out of step with the demands and wishes of people. Many studies start at the very end of the political process evaluating the question of representation, namely by comparing outcomes with demands. However, it seems worthwhile evaluating the process of representation itself.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- The Future of Representative Democracy , pp. 96 - 123Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2011
References
(1978) ‘Measuring representation’, American Journal of Political Science 22(3): 475–510.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
, , , and (1989) Dutch parliamentary study 1990, manuskript für das symposium on parliamentary research. Leiden, pp. 13–16.Google Scholar
and (1986) Political representation in France. Cambridge and London: Belknap Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
(1997) Making votes count: Strategic coordination in the world's electoral systems. Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
(1999) ‘Electoral rules and the calculus of mobilization’, Legislative Studies Quarterly 24(3): 387–419.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
and (1996) Representation from above: Members of parliament and representative democracy in Sweden. Aldershot: Dartmouth.Google Scholar
(1987) Theorie des kommunikativen Handelns (Vol. 2): zur kritik der funktionalistischen Vernunft. Frankfurt am Main: Suhrkamp.Google Scholar
and (2005) ‘Assessing alternative indices of democracy’, Political concepts: IPSA Committee on Concepts and Methods Working Paper Series (6), Mexico City.Google Scholar
(ed.) (1996) The crisis of representation in Europe. Abingdon, Oxon: Routledge.
, and (1992) ‘Public opinion and congressional representation’, Public Opinion Quarterly 56(2): 185–205.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
, and (eds.) (1993) Parlament und Gesellschaft: eine Funktionsanalyse der repräsentativen Demokratie. Opladen: Westdeutscher Verlag.CrossRef
(1989) ‘Political representation in Sweden’, Scandinavian Political Studies 12: 1–36.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
and Jr. (1994) ‘Congruence between citizens and policymakers in two visions of liberal democracy’, World Politics 46(3): 291–326.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
(1970) ‘Attitudinal determinants of legislative behaviour: The utility of role analysis’, in and (eds.), Legislators in developmental perspective. Kingsport: Kingsport Press, pp. 460–500.Google Scholar
and (eds.) (1999) The European parliament, national parliaments, and European integration. Oxford University Press.CrossRef
(ed.) (1985) The crisis of representative democracy. Frankfurt/M., Bern, New York: Lang.
(1984) Democracies: Patterns of majoritarian and consensus government. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
(2006) ‘The surprising significance of African elections’, Journal of Democracy 17(1): 139–51.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
(1988) Without consent: Mass-elite linkages in presidential politics. Lexington: University Press of Kentucky.Google Scholar
(1999) ‘Elite-mass linkages in representative democracies: Introduction’, in Miller, Pierce, Thomassen et al., pp. 1–8.
and (1963) ‘Constituency influence in Congress’, American Political Science Review 57(1): 45–56.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
, , et al. (1999) Policy representation in Western democracies. Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
(2000) ‘Political parties in parliamentary democracies: Making delegation and accountability work’, European Journal of Political Research I 37(3): 309–33.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
(2000) Elections as instruments of democracy: Majoritarian and proportional visions. New Haven, CT and London: Yale University Press.Google Scholar
(1986) ‘“Duverger's law” revisited’, in and (eds.) Electoral laws and their political consequences. New York: Agathon Press, pp. 19–42.Google Scholar
and J. (eds.) (1999) Political representation and legitimacy in the European Union. Oxford University Press.CrossRef
(2000) ‘Delegation and accountability in parliamentary democracies’, European Journal of Political Research 37(3): 261–90.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
and (1972) ‘Electoral choice and popular control of public policy’, American Political Science Review 66: 1256–68.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
(1991) ‘Empirical research into political representation: A critical reappraisal’, in , and (eds.). Politische Klasse und politische Institutionen: Probleme und Perspektiven der Elitenforschung. Opladen: Westdeutscher Verlag, pp. 259–74.Google Scholar
and (1999) ‘Introduction: Political representation and legitimacy in the European Union’, in and (eds.), Political representation and legitimacy in the European Union. Oxford University Press, pp. 3–24.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
, , et al. (1962) The legislative system: Explorations in legislative behavior. New York, London: John Wiley & Sons.Google Scholar
(1991) ‘Abgeordnete und Bürger: Parteien und Wahlkreiskommunikation als Paktoren politischer Repräsentation’, in , and (eds.), Politische klasse und Politische Institutionen. Opladen: Westdeutscher Verlag, pp. 325–56.Google Scholar
(1993) ‘Politische Repräsentation als Prozeß gesellschaftlich-parlamentarischer kommunikation’, in Herzog, Rebenstorf and Wessels (eds.), pp. 99–137.
(1999a) ‘System characteristics matter: Empirical evidence from ten representation studies’, in Miller, Pierce, Thomassen et al., pp. 137–61.
(1999b) ‘Whom to represent? Role orientations of legislators in Europe’, in Schmitt and Thomassen (eds.), pp. 209–34.
- 14
- Cited by