Editors’ Introduction

Welcome to the first issue of Representation produced under the new editorial team at Newcastle University. Here, we outline our ambition and vision for the journal, detail the immediate changes the editorial team have initiated and introduce ourselves. These are interesting, if turbulent, times for representative democracy. The need for quality research in this area has never been greater. We want Representation to be at the forefront of these global debates.

Firstly, though we would like to thank the outgoing editorial team from the University of Manchester, Andrew Russell and Steve de Wijze. We gratefully inherit the systems they have built and consolidated alongside some of the articles published in this issue. As such, we would like to thank them for the innovations they have introduced, the ways in which they have broadened and internationalised the scope of the journal as well as for the painless and straightforward handover. We are well aware that it is due to their efforts that we inherit a journal with an increasingly global and upward trajectory. We are committed to continue their outstanding work and to increase Representation’s esteem, impact and global reach even further under our tenure.

Readers already familiar with the journal may know that the journal is owned by the McDougall Trust and published by Taylor & Francis. We are very grateful to the Trust for this marvellous opportunity and we are excited about working with them over the coming years. We would also like to thank Taylor & Francis for facilitating a smooth editorial transition and for the excellent support we have received in our new roles. Our sincere thanks also goes out to all the outgoing and remaining members of the editorial board – your contributions have been, and continue to be, vital for the success of Representation. Finally, we extend our gratitude to the anonymous peer reviewers whose help and advice is essential to securing the publication of high-quality papers, such as those in this issue.

We believe that the direction that the journal has taken from a specific focus on elections and electoral systems towards a broader attention to representative democracy in theory and practice, across the world, under the previous editorial team, has been very fruitful and led to a considerable expansion of the journal’s circulation and reputation. Moreover, it has ensured that the journal has greater relevance to academic and general debates about representative democracy throughout the globe. Therefore, while still encouraging submissions focusing on elections, electoral systems and voting behaviour we will continue with this broader understanding of representation and welcome submissions examining all aspects of political representation and representative democracy. This covers articles exploring both the supply and demand sides of representation, including a focus on political parties, interest groups, legislatures, social movements, democratic innovations and the public. We are interested in the representation of people, interests, beliefs, discourses and identities at local, national, regional and global levels. Similarly, we would like to expand, to an even greater extent, the geographical coverage of the empirical cases examined in the published works as well as open up the journal for contributions that study political representation outside of established liberal democratic systems. As such, we look forward to publishing outstanding and novel research on the interplay of institutions and different types of actors involved in the representative process. Last but not least, we would like to reiterate that one of the central aims of the journal is to showcase pluralistic scholarship on political representation, including theoretical and empirical accounts applying various approaches and methodological traditions.

We believe that it is this ecumenicalism that can place this journal at the cutting edge of research on representative democracy. There are of course already field journals that focus on elections, political parties, interests groups, social movements, legislatures, etc., but Representation is rare in covering all of these elements and the relationships between them. We believe that a pluralistic and holistic approach is required if the academy helps understand and address the perceived current crisis of representative democracy as it faces severe external and internal attacks. External threats include, for example, some of the effects of globalisation, religious fundamentalism, but also the increasing inequalities in distribution of resources around the globe, which are only likely to deepen due to global warming and climate change. Internal threats include declining trust in, and engagement with, representatives and representative institutions amongst the citizenry in established representative democracies. Political science is responding in an eclectic manner. On the one hand, we have seen the return of elitist interpretations of democracy, decrying the ability of the average citizen to engage meaningfully in representative democracy (Aitken and Bartels 2016; Brennan 2016). On the other hand, there has been an increasing interest in direct (Qvortrup 2017), participatory (Pateman 2012) and deliberative democracy (Bächtiger forthcoming) which all envision an increased role for citizens in politics to improve representative democracy. There does though seem to be a consensus that representative democracy is not performing as it should be even amongst its most ardent supporters (Fukuyama 2015) while some have predicted an end to representative politics (Tormey 2015). Our ambition is for Representation to not only capture and detail the richness of these debates accessibly but to advance them in new directions in a manner that can contribute to real world impact. To achieve this grand aim, we believe that a theoretical and methodological pluralism, as described above, is required. Hence, this will be the guiding mantra of the journal while we remain editors.

To enable the journal to achieve these ambitions, we need you. We, therefore, welcome submissions of original, significant and rigorous articles that meet the remit of the journal. In return, we promise a prompt, but robust referee process. As new editors, we have also made some incremental changes that we hope will improve the journal further. The first is to increase the word limit to 8000 words for all original research manuscripts, with immediate effect. We hope that this will allow for more in-depth examinations without compromising the possibilities to publish also articles covering the most recent developments in representative process. Also, following the practices of high profile journals, we will send final decision letters alongside all the referee reports (suitably anonymised) to the reviewers for any article they have assisted with in the review process. We believe this will help to shed some light in to the ‘black box’ of the academic publishing by increasing the transparency of the review process.

A third innovation is to develop a comprehensive social media profile for the journal that is rightfully expected from a modern top journal in any field. This will include a Twitter account tweeting recent submission as well as work previously published that links to current affairs. Please follow us @RepJournal. We have also introduced video abstracts which include brief interviews with article authors, enabling them to give a succinct, but engaging and accessible overview of their research suitable to lay audiences. Engaging non-epistemic communities with the latest research on representative democracy is one of the principal aims of the McDougall Trust. We share their conviction in the importance of this knowledge exchange. In due course, you will also be able to access virtual special issues on topical issues via the journal website. These will also be advertised via our Twitter account.

A further editorial change we have made is to sign-up to Data Access and Research Transparency (DART). Full details of the journal’s data access policy will soon be available on the journal website. We see this is a vital step to ensure that the research published in the journal is carried out in a transparent manner, allowing for ready critical assessments of the knowledge claims presented.

While some of these changes require additional contributions from the authors, we believe that these stakes will come with high returns as wider dissemination of the published research findings on social media will not only increase the visibility of the most recent articles amongst academics, but also open up pathways to wider engagement and potential impact.

In addition to submissions of regular research articles, we also welcome suggestions for special issues from prospective guest editors on any theme that relates to the journal’s remit. In particular, we are interested in publishing symposia on topical events and current trends. From time to time, we will issue specific calls for guest editors to co-ordinate a special issue on a specific theme. There are currently two themes for which we invite applications. Given the number of fascinating and unpredictable elections that have occurred around the world in recent years we would like to publish a special issue focusing on the 2016–2017 elections. These could include analysis of elections in France, Germany, the UK and USA amongst others. Another topical theme that has captured our interest is the relationship between direct and representative democracy. We, therefore, welcome special issue applications on referenda. Full details of our call for special issues can be found on the journal website. However, please do contact the editors at any stage to discuss your ideas, no matter how far developed.

The journal also publishes book reviews. However, unlike most journals we publish fewer but longer reviews of 4000–5000 words each. A review article could focus on one specific text or provide a comparative discussion. These reviews, therefore, provide an opportunity for a more sustained discussion and analysis of new books at the cutting edge of debates on representative democracy. They give space to the reviewer to make their own original contribution. In due course, we will have a list of books for review detailed on the journal website. However, it is possible to review books of your own choosing and we will obtain a copy for you. If you are interested in reviewing a book, please do contact us.

Finally, we would like to introduce ourselves in greater detail. Stephen Elstub is Lecturer in British Politics at Newcastle University. His main research interests are in public opinion, political communication, representation and political participation, all viewed through the lens of deliberative democracy. His research is normative but applied, utilising a range of quantitative and qualitative methods, locating his research on the critical intersection between normative political theory and empirical political science. He is author of Towards a Deliberative and Associational Democracy (Edinburgh University Press 2008), editor of Democracy in Theory and Practice (Routledge 2012) co-editor of Deliberative Democracy: Issues and Cases (Edinburgh University Press 2014) and co-editor of the forthcoming Handbook of Democratic Innovation and Governance (Edward Elgar).

Maarja Lühiste is Lecturer in Politics of Gender at Newcastle University. She is a comparative political scientist, mostly interested in the field of politics and gender. Her research, primarily utilising quantitative methods, focuses in particular on how different institutions – such as political parties, media (both traditional and new media) and electoral rules – either facilitate or hinder women’s representation across contexts and how citizens respond to that. Her research examining female candidates’ viability, news media visibility and their pathways to power have been published in leading international journals, such as the European Journal of Political Research, Politics & Gender and Public Opinion Quarterly.

We believe that we have joined the journal at an exciting time, due to both the recent trajectory of the journal and the current political climate that has pushed representative democracy to the forefront of academic and political discussions. During our tenure as editors we will endeavour to ensure that the articles published in Representation help shape these debates. We welcome and encourage your involvement in the journal irrespective of whether that is as article author, guest editor, book reviewer, editorial advisory board member, referee, or journal reader.