Claims of Contemporary Political Representation Theory
Debate on the Nature of Political Relationships
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.12797/Politeja.21.2024.90.17Keywords:
political representation, representative claims, political relationshipAbstract
In this work, I will attempt to address the question of what lies ahead for the theory of political representation after the “constructivist turn” that has dominated this theoretical field in recent years. In doing so, I draw upon the influential theory of Michel Saward, whose contributions have ignited inter-paradigmatic debates involving, among others, feminist authors and theorists advocating for radical democratic theory. In the article, I explore both Saward’s own arguments and the key propositions presented by his opponents. I emphasise that his assumptions not only necessitate a reformulation of the technical aspects of representation (its sources of legitimacy and principles of accountability) but also reveal the need for a theoretical reflection on the effects of new forms of “representative claims”. As I will endeavour to demonstrate, these claims lead us to a debate on the nature of “political relationships”, which I define as situations in which two or more political subjectivities mutually condition each other.
Downloads
PlumX Metrics of this article
References
van de Bovenkamp H., Vollaard H., “Representative Claims in Practice: The Democratic Quality of Decentralised Social and Healthcare Policies in the Netherlands,” Acta Politica, vol. 53, no. 1 (2018), pp. 98-120, https://doi.org/10.1057/s41269-017-0040-6.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/s41269-017-0040-6
Google Scholar
Butler J., Gender Trouble: Feminism and the Subversion of Identity, New York–London 2015, https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203824979.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203824979
Google Scholar
Celis K., Childs S., Feminist Democratic Representation, New York 2020, https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780190087722.001.0001.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780190087722.001.0001
Google Scholar
Cohen A., “The Inter-Est Between Us: Ontology, Epistemology, and the Failure of Political Representation,” Contemporary Political Theory, vol. 22, no. 1 (2023), pp. 46-69, https://doi.org/10.1057/s41296-022-00559-4.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/s41296-022-00559-4
Google Scholar
Decreus T., “Beyond Representation? A Critique of the Concept of the Referent,” Representation, vol. 49, no. 1 (2013), pp. 33-43, https://doi.org/10.1080/00344893.2012.742455.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/00344893.2012.742455
Google Scholar
Disch L., van de Sande M., Urbinati N. (eds), The Constructivist Turn in Political Representation, Edinburgh 2019, https://doi.org/10.3366/edinburgh/9781474442602.001.0001.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.3366/edinburgh/9781474442602.001.0001
Google Scholar
Disch L., “The “Constructivist Turn” in Democratic Representation: A Normative Dead-End?,” Constellations, vol. 22, no. 4 (2015), pp. 487-499, https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-8675.12201.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-8675.12201
Google Scholar
Disch L., Making Constituencies: Representation as Mobilization in Mass Democracy, Chicago–London 2021, https://doi.org/10.7208/chicago/9780226804477.001.0001.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.7208/chicago/9780226804477.001.0001
Google Scholar
Dovi S., The Good Representative, Malden 2007, https://doi.org/10.1002/9780470754948.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/9780470754948
Google Scholar
Foucault M., The History of Sexuality, New York 1978.
Google Scholar
Guasti P., Geissel B., “Saward’s Concept of the Representative Claim Revisited: An Empirical Perspective,” Politics and Governance, vol. 7, no. 3 (2019), pp. 98-111, https://doi.org/10.17645/pag.v7i3.2103.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.17645/pag.v7i3.2103
Google Scholar
Laclau E., On Populist Reason, London–New York 2005.
Google Scholar
Laclau E., Mouffe C., Hegemony and Socialist Strategy: Towards a Radical Democratic Politics, 2nd ed., London–New York 2001.
Google Scholar
Montanaro L., “The Democratic Legitimacy of Self-Appointed Representatives,” The Journal of Politics, vol. 74, no. 4 (2012), pp. 1094-1107, https://doi.org/10.1017/S0022381612000515.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/S0022381612000515
Google Scholar
Montanaro L., Who Elected Oxfam? A Democratic Defense of Self-Appointed Representatives, Cambridge–New York–Port Melbourne–New Delhi–Singapore 2018, https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108297721.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108297721
Google Scholar
Mouffe C., The Democratic Paradox, London–New York 2000.
Google Scholar
Phelan P., Unmarked: The Politics of Performance, London–New York 1993, https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203359433.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203359433
Google Scholar
Phillips A., The Politics of Presence, Oxford–New York 1995, https://doi.org/10.1093/0198294158.001.0001.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/0198294158.001.0001
Google Scholar
Pitkin H.F., The Concept of Representation, Berkeley–Los Angeles–London 1972.
Google Scholar
Rancière J., Disagreement: Politics and Philosophy, Minneapolis 1999.
Google Scholar
Rey F., “The Representative System,” Critical Review of International Social and Political Philosophy, vol. 26, no. 6 (2023), pp. 831-854, https://doi.org/10.1080/13698230.2020.1808761.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/13698230.2020.1808761
Google Scholar
Saward M., “The Representative Claim,” Contemporary Political Theory, vol. 5, no. 3 (2006), pp. 297-318, https://doi.org/10.1057/palgrave.cpt.9300234.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/palgrave.cpt.9300234
Google Scholar
Saward M., The Representative Claim, Oxford–New York 2010, https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199579389.001.0001.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199579389.001.0001
Google Scholar
Saward M., “Shape-Shifting Representation,” American Political Science Review, vol. 108, no. 4 (2014), pp. 723-736, https://doi.org/10.1017/S0003055414000471.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/S0003055414000471
Google Scholar
Saward M., Making Representations: Claim, Counterclaim and the Politics of Acting for Others, Lanham 2020.
Google Scholar
Severs E., “Representation as Claims-Making: Quid Responsiveness?,” Representation, vol. 46, no. 4 (2010), pp. 411-423, https://doi.org/10.1080/00344893.2010.518081.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/00344893.2010.518081
Google Scholar
Severs E., “Substantive Representation Through a Claims-Making Lens: A Strategy for the Identification and Analysis of Substantive Claims,” Representation, vol. 48, no. 2 (2012), pp. 169-181, https://doi.org/10.1080/00344893.2012.683491.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/00344893.2012.683491
Google Scholar
Severs E., Celis K., Meier P., “Representative Claims and Beyond: A Study of Muslim Women’s Inclusion in the Flemish Headscarf Debate,” Politics, Groups and Identities, vol. 1, no. 3 (2013), pp. 433-450, https://doi.org/10.1080/21565503.2013.816633.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/21565503.2013.816633
Google Scholar
Severs E., Dovi S., “Why We Need to Return to the Ethics of Political Representation,” PS: Political Science & Politics, vol. 51, no. 2 (2018), pp. 309-313, https://doi.org/10.1017/S1049096517002414.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/S1049096517002414
Google Scholar
Schaap A., “Critical Exchange on Michael Saward’s The Representative Claim,” Contemporary Political Theory, vol. 11, no. 1 (2012), pp. 109-127, https://doi.org/10.1057/cpt.2011.42.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/cpt.2011.42
Google Scholar
Thomassen L., “All Claims Are Representative Claims: Response to Thomás Zicman de Barros,” Representation, vol. 58, no. 2 (2022), pp. 311-318, https://doi.org/10.1080/00344893.2021.1931952.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/00344893.2021.1931952
Google Scholar
Urbinati N., “Representative Constructivism’s Conundrum,” in L. Disch, M. van de Sande, N. Urbinati (eds), The Constructivist Turn in Political Representation, Edinburgh 2019, https://doi.org/10.1515/9781474442626-013.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/9781474442626-013
Google Scholar
de Wilde P., “The Quality of Representative Claims: Uncovering a Weakness in the Defense of the Liberal World Order,” Political Studies, vol. 68, no. 2 (2020), pp. 271-292, https://doi.org/10.1177/0032321719845199.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/0032321719845199
Google Scholar
Williams M.S., Voice, Trust, and Memory: Marginalised Groups and the Failings of Liberal Representation, Princeton 1998, https://doi.org/10.1515/9781400822782.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/9781400822782
Google Scholar
Young I.M., Justice and the Politics of Difference, Princeton 1990, https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctvcm4g4q.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctvcm4g4q
Google Scholar
Zicman de Barros T., “‘Not All Claims Are Representative Claims’: Constructing ‘The People’ in Post-Representative Movements,” Representation, vol. 57, no. 4 (2021), pp. 515-530, https:// doi.org/10.1080/00344893.2020.1853598.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/00344893.2020.1853598
Google Scholar
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
