Representation in Minipublics

ABSTRACT

This article examines representation in the context of minipublics (i.e., deliberative citizen practices). Their organisation affects their deliberative and democratic qualities one of which is representation. Although descriptive representation is commonly referred to, this article argues that Michael Saward's claim-making framework is a better understanding of representation to use. It is argued that not only descriptive representation is a result of organisational choices, but also organisers create the missing bond between representatives and the represented by making representative claims.

Acknowledgements

I would like to thank Prof. Albert Weale for his comments and suggestions for earlier versions of this article. I would also like to thank the two anonymous reviewers for their suggestions and comments.

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes on Contributor

Volkan Gül is a Dr. Research Assistant at Dumlupinar University in Turkey. He had his PhD in Political Science (Political Theory) from University College London. E-mail: [email protected]

Notes

1 For a recent and critical discussion of statistical representation in deliberative polls, see Olsen and Trenz (2016).